Wes Midgett Capstone

For my capstone I wanted to do something that would further prepare me for my future in college. Since I am going to art school next year at Temple University I thought it would be a good idea to practice my portrait drawings. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get quite as many done as I wanted to but throughout the process of drawing who I did, I made new friends and got to know people better. I also began to understand my own drawing style more and learned what I need to work on as an artist in the future.

- Portraits
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sAxkswzhTry08_vfQ5JESzcaGcsRcSlGPany-OPRav4/edit
- Bibliography 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QAAOx1BNM8BSXZun98vnFDED1P-ygMSyVLBmmw3SoG0/edit

Joseph Lee Capstone

https://vetpath.weebly.com/   (Capstone Link)


For my capstone, I decided to create a website the gives aspiring vets a step by step process on how to become a veterinarian. The purpose of my website is to help guide aspiring veterinarians on the path to achieving a career within the veterinary field. The site covers a wide array of topics that will span over the entire process of becoming a veterinarian. The topics include "Early Commitment to Academic Success", "Getting Involved", "College Preparation", "Externship Opportunities", and a Conclusion of finally being a vet. The reason why I chose this to make this my capstone is because I never had a step by step process for this career laid out for me. So I decided to create my own process based off of my detailed research and knowledge gained from volunteering at the Wyncote Animal Hospital. The process for my capstone went pretty smoothly for the most part. I had know problem with gathering all of my resources, working with Dr. Wade at the Wyncote Animal Hospital, and creating my website. The only issue was trying to balance both capstone work and regular school work. Looking back on everything I’ve done leading up to the publishing of my website, I realized that I learned so much from my own process. I now have a better understanding of what needs to be done in order to get into a vet school and I now understand the whole process of acquiring a veterinary licence.


Bibliography


“History of the veterinary profession.” RCVS Knowledge, https://knowledge.rcvs.org.uk/heritage-and-history/history-of-the-veterinary-profession/ . Before talking about how to be a veterinarian, I wanted to do some digging into the origins of veterinary medicine. To find out who was truly the first veterinarian. This source provided me with all the information I needed on the origins of veterinary medicine. According to this source, the first "animal healer" was a man named Urlugaledinna and he lived in Mesopotamia during 3000 BC. The first veterinary school was founded in 1761 in Lyon, France by a man named Claude Bourgelat. This source is credible because it was written by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in London, England.


“How Much do Vets Make a Year?” How to Become a Veterinarian, www.veterinarianedu.org/2017/06/how-much-do-vets-make-a-year/.  One of the reasons why I want to be a veterinarian is because I would get to do what I love and get paid a whole lot of money for it. This source provides me with a very detailed layout of the salary ranges for different kinds of veterinarians and their level of demand. According to this source, it turns out that Horse vets make the most money and they're in high demand. The credibility of this source is very good because it was created by Veterinarian.EDU. This is an organization whose purpose is to veterinarians in the right directions of their career path. This source has been very beneficial for me because before deciding what kind of vet I wanna be, I wanna know how good of a living I make make from that specialty. So reading through this source was very eye opening for me and it has inspired me to want to look more in the horse field of veterinary medicine.


“Kansas State University.” CVM Diversity | History: Prominent African Americans in Veterinary Medicine, www.vet.k-state.edu/about/diversity/history-aa.html.  As a black person that wants to be apart of a profession that is predominantly white, It is important to me that I learn about other black veterinarians in history. This source gives me a list of black veterinarians and brief summaries of how they came to be vets. This source is credible because it was created by Kansas State University, which happens to be a college of veterinary medicine. This page was written because they wanted to shed some light on history's vets of color. Finding this source was so inspiring because I never knew about any of these men or that there were many black veterinarians. Knowing all of this now gives me a legacy to live up to. To be that beacon of diversity like all the black vets before me.


Kramer, Mary Hope. “Learn About Being a Large Animal Veterinarian - Job Duties and More.” The Balance, www.thebalance.com/large-animal-veterinarian-125800. Out of all the veterinary specialties, I'm very intrigued by the large animal specialty. Big animals have always been interesting to me growing up because they just stand out. This source gives me all the stats on what it is like to be a large animal veterinarian. It talks about the education needed, the training, the duties, the career options, the salaries, and the job outlook. This source is credible because the author, Mary Hope Kramer, is an animal industry professional and writer with over a decade of experience of being a small and large animal vet. If I were to become a large animal vet, I would want to work with not just the farm animals, but also the large zoo animals.


Kramer, Mary Hope. “8 Steps to Start a Veterinary Practice.” The Balance, www.thebalance.com/how-to-start-a-veterinary-practice-125508. Even though I'm not sure if I want to start my own practice in the future, this is a great source to refer to now. This source gives you a detailed step by step process on how to smoothly start your own practice. It seems like a lot work, but it's an exceptional challenge in independency. The credibility of this source is very good because this article was also written by animal industry professional, Mary Hope Kramer. I trust her writing because as I wrote before, she has experience in the veterinary field. So it's good to learn from someone who's actually been through a process of becoming a vet and is a business woman.


“List of Veterinary Schools | Costs for Veterinary Students.” JobMonkey, www.jobmonkey.com/animaljobs/vet-schools/ . This source is credible because it is providing me with a long list of veterinary schools that are in the united states and in other countries as well. On this list, each name of the vet schools provides you with a hyperlink to their school website that has all the information you need in terms of in/out of state tuition, location, student to faculty ratio, size of the student body, etc. This source is beneficial for me because it helps me to know where to look for vet schools. Before this website, I really only knew of four or five vet schools, now I know all of them. I don't know which vet school I want to attend yet, but it is still nice to have some options.


“Steps to Becoming a Veterinarian (Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Major).” Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Major (Penn State University), http://vbs.psu.edu/majors/vbs/steps-to-becoming-a-veterinarian. This source is basically the whole premise of my capstone project. It is a whole step by step process that puts you on the right path to becoming a veterinarian. This source is credible because it was created by a higher education institution, Penn State University. Penn State is able to discuss this because they have their own veterinary and biomedical science major for aspiring vets such as myself. This source is very beneficial to me because it will be used as a referral for when I create my own step by step process to show in my prezi presentation.


“Summer Vets Programs.” PennVet, www.vet.upenn.edu/education/admissions/summer-vets-program. This source is actually pretty personal for me because I actually took part in UPenn' s summer vets program last summer and I learned a lot about the different studies in vet school, what it takes to get into a vet school, and the different professions within the veterinary field. This source was credible because it was created by the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. I will be able to benefit from this source a lot because it touches on the studies that aspiring vet students will have the options to take if the attend a vet school. I think this could be some helpful information for my presentation.


“ Veterinary specialists.” Veterinary specialists, www.avma.org/public/YourVet/Pages/veterinary-specialists.aspx. When aspiring to be a veterinarian, one must know all of the different specialties before coming to a conclusion on which one they want to be. This source gives you a complete list of the many types of veterinary specialties and a quick summary of what each specialty entails. This source is credible because it was created by the American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF). "The AVMA is the nation’s leading advocate for the veterinary profession. Representing more than ​91,000 members, they protect, promote and advance the needs of all veterinarians and those they serve." This source is very beneficial for me because I'm still figuring out what kind of vet I want to be. To see this list helps a lot because it'll help me weed out the professions that don't fit my needs.


Wulf, M., and A. Voss. “MRSA in livestock animals-an epidemic waiting to happen?” Clinical Microbiology and Infection, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 4 Mar. 2008, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-0691.2008.01970.x/full. This source is credible because the authors of this abstract are both microbiology veterinarians who both work for prestigious laboratorys. This source is about how veterinarians who specialize in large farm animals are in high demand to prevent the spread of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). MRSA is a zoonotic disease. What this means is that this is a type of disease that can spread from animal to human. In this specific case, MRSA has spread from pigs to humans. This source is beneficial to me because it helps me know what types of vet professions are needed in today's economy. When I begin to attend vet school after I finish my undergraduate education, I want to be able to secure a job that actually needs me.

Desarae Gilbert Capstone

https://dgilbert18.wixsite.com/website
Screenshot 2018-05-10 at 8.58.45 PM
Screenshot 2018-05-10 at 8.58.45 PM
​For my capstone, I decided to document Equal Flows activity throughout the year and create a Website. Equal Flow is a non-profit organization my fellow classmates and I created to work towards our goal of having free menstrual products for homeless women. This process overall started out by us winning our Junior year Invisible Issues competition. From here, we kept working by collecting donations, having a coat drive, handing out products to women in need, having a product-raising yoga class, and more. My website is a place where you can get to know Equal Flow better, see our photos, see our accomplishments, and listen to stories from people who have been homeless and shared their experiences. I also wanted our site to be a place where you can find other organizations that help homeless women as well in Philadelphia. Personally, I learned that even though I am surrounded by tall buildings and expensive companies every day, there are people that live on the streets when I go home. Learning how hard being homeless can be for women made me realize that it's even harder when you're suffering from not having the basic materials you need. We wanted to come together as young women and help where we can. Hopefully, my website fully captures the great experience this was to do as my Capstone.

Annotated Bibliography:

Homelessness, health, and human needs. National Academy Press, 1989.

 When I reviewed this source, it immediately gave me information regarding demographics, the growing rate of homeless people in the US, and how the composition of the homeless population has changed over time. As I started reading this source, I wasn't sure how it would help deepen my understanding of my topic, but as I continued on, this source gives great insight on general information of homelessness. I think this source will come in handy when interviewing some homeless women and simply understanding their point of views better. I feel as though this will also benefit me in being more sensitive to the topic when talking to people that live this reality every day.

2. Cray, Colin. How to Podcast: Equipment, Strategy & Skills. Wild Trails Media Publishing, 2016, www.indiana.edu/~sphk200/students/2016-How-to-Podcast-with-cover.pdf.
 
This source helped me because I didn't know much about creating my own podcasts. Looking over this book, it shows me the necessary steps I have to take in order to be successful. I learned exactly what a podcast is (a series of audio or video recordings) and how it can be the perfect way for people to listen to them on the go since they are usually audio. This source was helping in addressing the difference between an audio file and a podcast; an RSS feed makes it so that the listener would subscribe to the site and stay up to date on new podcasts. Although you can just upload an audio file onto a site, it will still count as a podcast.

3. “Creating a Successful Awareness Campaign for Native Communities.” How To Create A Successful Awareness Campaign For Native Communities | Native American | PSA Worldwi, psacorp.com/pgs/lgcy/t-creating-a-successful-awareness-campaign.aspx.

 This source relates to creating a successful campaign for Native communities, but I'm still using it because the same aspects apply. The information provided in this source is surrounded around measuring goals, being realistic with goals, identifying support, managing money and time, and paying attention to who your specific audience is. This information is important for my capstone given that all these things need to be taken into consideration regarding Equal Flows goals. The only limitation of this source is that it is specific to raising awareness for Native communities, but all the details can be used for other awareness campaigns as well.

4. Gelberg, L, et al. “The Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations: application to medical care use and outcomes for homeless people.” Health Services Research, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 5 Feb. 2000, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1089079/.

This source speaks on the model of access to care that is particularly applicable to vulnerable populations (specifically the homeless population). Topics touched on in this source include mental health, substance use, residential history, competing needs, and victimization. I felt that this was helpful for me given that I will be talking with homeless people and understanding the things the general public and I don't know about the struggles that homeless adults face will better my capstone as a whole. A limitation of this source is that the topic is broader than what my project is focusing on; It talks about homeless adults while we are focusing on homeless women specifically.

5. Johnstone, Melissa, et al. “Discrimination and well-Being amongst the homeless: the role of multiple group membership.” Frontiers in Psychology, Frontiers Media S.A., 24 Dec. 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4450171/.

 This source is helpful because it talks about the stigma and discrimination toward people who are homeless. Some information that I thought would be helpful is that homeless also experience disproportionate rates of health problems and associated social disadvantages. Like a similar source I did, I felt that this one would be helpful since I will be talking with homeless people and just understanding their lifestyles better will better my capstone. I selected this source because I figured it would be useful in what I am doing. A limitation of this source is it doesn't go into the specific groups of homeless people and each groups problems.

6. Editors, The PLoS Medicine. “Homelessness Is Not Just a Housing Problem.” PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000003.

 This source breaks down the causes of homelessness into individual factors such as drug and alcohol misuse, lack of social support, family background, including family breakdown and disputes. I found this source useful because it has a different perspective on homelessness. The actual roots of it and how it can affect the mind of a person. It talks about the multiple sides of this complex issue. I selected it because even though I didn't think it would be directly helpful for my capstone, I feel as though it will indirectly affect it. Looking over this article, I see the statistics that will help me understand how homelessness works.

7. Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “We should all be feminists.” TED: Ideas worth spreading, www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_we_should_all_be_feminists#t-1756032.

 This source was a Ted Talk mainly talking about gender and the culture we have that divides us as people. This source was helpful to me because in Equal Flow, receiving donations for menstrual products is apart of us helping women who can't afford these necessities. Tampons and pads are seen as a luxury item even though they are necessary sanitary items. The only limitation I could place is that this Ted Talk was only on gender, the topic was not homelessness, but it did still relate. I selected this source because women face homelessness differently (not dismissing anyone's struggles); if they don't have money for a meal or a jacket then they don't have the money for a menstrual product.

8. Fisher, Benjamin W., et al. “Leaving Homelessness Behind: Housing Decisions among Families Exiting Shelter.” Housing policy debate, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Jan. 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4170684/.

 This source talks about federally funded shelter or housing assistance programs and how they are potentially useful to homeless families. I felt that this would be beneficial for me in being knowledgeable about housing for homeless individuals. I found this source useful because it has a different perspective on homelessness. Limitations for me and my group are that we cannot provide this type of help, but it is still good to know. I selected it because even though I didn't think it would be directly helpful for my capstone, I feel as though it will indirectly affect it.


9. Fisher, Benjamin W., et al. “Leaving Homelessness Behind: Housing Decisions among Families Exiting Shelter.” Housing policy debate, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Jan. 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4170684/.

 This source provides information about Women and families and how they represent the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. I selected this source because the information on homeless women and families having subsidies prevent so much, so knowing the outcome of a shelter makes a huge difference. This complements my capstone since it is specifically about homeless women and their struggles. I found this source useful because it mentions how permanent housing can lead to helping formerly homeless families to maintain long-term stability. One limitation of this source was that, again, we cannot provide any type of housing, but this information is useful to know.

10.Days for Girls International | Turning Periods Into Pathways, 4 Nov. 2011, www.daysforgirls.org/dfg-our-approach.

 I thought this source might be useful given that is deals with donations and knowing how that whole process works. Looking over the site, there are pictures of girls and information about their movement. This program is about girls who have been silenced, who feel invisible, and know what poverty is like and that exactly what Equal Flow is about. The founder of this program talked about knowing what it was like for girls who dropped out of school because of lack of feminine products. I chose this source because it has the same values as my capstone and reflects the same mindset as us.

Jessica Celli's Capstone

For my capstone, I have reopened the SLA library. We had a soft opening on Thursday, and plan to be fully reopened on Monday. All of the prelabeled books have been restored and reorganized according to traditional library standards. This took longer than I had hoped, I wanted to be open by the new year. Unfortunately, because there are often events and meetings hosted in the space, I could not have proper time in the library in order to move this process along speedily. I also had a lot of hard workers (Thank you Pablo Salvatierra, Matthew Yemola, Harrison Wellner, Zoe Chernowski, Claire Byrnes and CJ Irwin-Diehl) to help me move the hundreds of books into a system that made sense. I hope to be able to hire my interns soon, and begin to discuss the move to Ben Franklin!


Also follow our instagram @sla_library
Andrew S. stopped by during our soft opening to grab a book!
Andrew S. stopped by during our soft opening to grab a book!
Using Booksource, our new electron sorting system, to complete checkouts
Using Booksource, our new electron sorting system, to complete checkouts
A reorganized shelf
A reorganized shelf
Andrew S. exploring al the library has to offer
Andrew S. exploring al the library has to offer
Pablo S. checking out a book during our soft opening.
Pablo S. checking out a book during our soft opening.
Bibliography: 

“15 Interesting JavaScript and CSS Libraries for April 2017.” Tutorialzine, tutorialzine.com/2017/04/15-interesting-javascript-and-css-libraries-for-april-2017.


This is a really interesting source about different library programs that could be used to code a library system. I am not familiar with computer code, but most of the programs come precoded and you can make adjustments to the code if you like. These would be interesting model to follow in the future, if the new head of the library after me is interested in computer sciences and could program their own library system as a capstone. I do not have the knowledge, but it is still good to have these programs in my head in case I decide to choose one of them, and know that I do have the power to arrange the system as I please.



Baird, Nicola. Setting up and running a school library. Peace Corps, Information Collection and Exchange, 2012, files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED536911.pdf.


This is a short book that gives step by step instructions on how to open a school library, which I have been following and found very helpful. This book was my inspiration for opening SLA’s library, if the Peace Corps can condense opening a library into 146 pages, I can do it in a school year. The book is written for teachers, but I believe a student could also take this advice to help open the library. On page 16 there is a list of steps a teacher should take generally to open the library, and I have been following the guidelines so far and have been successful in my plans to reopen the space.



Barile, Nancy. “Encouraging Students to Read: How to Get Your High Schoolers to Embrace Books.” Hey Teach!, 6 Dec. 2017, www.wgu.edu/heyteach/article/encouraging-students-read-how-get-your-high-schoolers-embrace-books.   


This resource is just a small article concerning how to get teenagers interested in reading. My biggest worry with the library would be that I would do all of this hard work, and the community would not use it. I think that with the advice given in this article, I can help get more kids interested in reading, and be able to put the space to it’s best use possible. It’s important to me to not only get the space to be functional again, but to also give the space meaning. This is more of a classroom guide, but I also think it will help the library promote reading in a positive light.



“DestinyExpress.” DestinyExpress.com, www.destinyexpress.com/.


This is a general guide for pricing for most of the library equipment that I would need in order to get the electronic equipment. This is really important for my Braskem pitch in figuring out how much money I will need for all of the equipment, and what equipment I can already get within the school. This source was a really important step for me to figure out if my capstone was a financially viable option for me to do. This resource provided a general price range for scanners, barcode labels, and printers.



“Dewey® Services.” Dewey Services, www.oclc.org/en/dewey.html.


This source is where I can buy the physical copies of the complete Dewey Decimal classification and the online version. This would be a helpful resource to have in the library mostly for the people working there, but also for anyone very interested in the system. The web version is very helpful because it constantly updates and changes, with new revisions being added instantly. It would be really great to be able to shelve our books in the most correct way possible. The physical book would be a really great resource to have, but I would choose the web version if I could only have one.


“Follett | K-12 Education Technology, Products, Materials, & Services.” Follett | K-12 Education Technology, Products, Materials, & Services, www.follettlearning.com/.


This is the website for the creator of an app that could actually link the whole library system to everyone’s chromebook through an extension. I would allow all of the students to check the libraries inventory, status of books, and the status of their checkouts. This could also allow the incorporation of ebooks into the library, which is something that I hadn’t thought of, and would be a great option for the library in the future. This is also the system that the School District of Philadelphia uses for organizing all of the districts libraries into their own systems.  



John, Chad. TED-Ed, TED-Ed, ed.ted.com/lessons/what-s-the-fastest-way-to-alphabetize-your-bookshelf-chand-john.


This video presents a couple different organizational theories for libraries, and teaches the most efficient organization theory for alphabetizing, called Quicksort which could allow you to sort over 1,000 books in hours, compared to the days it would take others. This video is presented by TedEd, a nonprofit that believes in the spreading of knowledge. I found this source useful because it presents ways of organizing books that I had never thought of, and will save me a lot of time in the future, when all of the books will need to placed in their respective order and when I am returning books to their order.



“LibGuides: Library Organization and Classification Systems: Dewey Decimal Classification.” Dewey Decimal Classification - Library Organization and Classification Systems - LibGuides at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 26 June 2017, guides.library.illinois.edu/c.php?g=439687&p=3091563.



This source is from the Illinois University and is an informational breakdown of three different types of official library organizational systems, such as the Dewey Decimal System, and the Library of Congress Classification. This source was really helpful in explaining the Dewey Decimal System, since that wasn’t taught in the classrooms. It also has a really great infographic that explains what all of the numbers on the labeling mean, which would not only help me, but educate other people on the importance of the system. The site also includes an extensive list of all the classes and subdivisions of the system, which is really helpful since I do not have all of the numbers memorized of the system.


 

FitzHenry, Sarah. “Fitz Between the Shelves Home.” ...Because libraries should be magic., fitzbetweentheshelves.com/.


This is a great blog recommended to me by Ms. Giknis. It’s a librarian who posts a lot about how she runs her library, and the events she hosts there. She’s a great person of contact should I ever need one, and she runs a great instagram page. This page is most of my influence for how I want to run the SLA instagram page for the library, and shows not only instagram organizational techniques, but library organizational systems and lists of books to include in the library. I really like the style of how Ms. Fitz-Henry organizes her library, and I hope to run the SLA library in a similar manner



Schroeder , Donna . “DDC 22 - Dewey Decimal Classification Edition 22 – Just ...” Kent State University Library, Ohio Library Council , Aug. 2003, www.bing.com/cr?IG=C79E4AE39A4E476BB80FED3A4B95899D&CID=0F8258BD5328611533D1533E52876070&rd=1&h=-IQISb6UubsB3iqo-hmCLZOf8QBMGXBBQO6FJ_OWtf0&v=1&r=https%3a%2f%2fwww.library.kent.edu%2ffiles%2fTechKNOW-July2003.pdf&p=DevEx,5064.


This source is an article written by the Ohio Library Council about the the Dewey Decimal Classification Volume 22, and what has changed since volume 21. This includes information about the newest changes to the Dewey Decimal System. I want to keep our non fiction section in it’s traditionally Dewey Decimal Organization, but all the new changes may prove this to be very hard. I think this source really brought to my attention that the Dewey Decimal system actually changes a lot, and is still a relevant and ever changing library subject.



Malachi Johnson Capstone

​Throughout all four years of highschool the only thing that remained the same has been my passion for soccer. Meaning that it only made since to make something that I have gathered four years worth of knowledge of. For my capstone I decided to make a documentary on the reality of making to to the highest levels of soccer. In other words the reality of making it past high school soccer. The reason as to why I decided to choose this aspect of soccer is because it resonated with me the most my junior and senior year where it counted most. However due to the fact that there was never consistent support of the soccer team, there was never someone to assist us in the conversation of what comes after highschool. Is it possible for us to play at a Division 1 college for soccer? If so what are the steps we need to take to get there. The most important part of making this film was the relationship and community that I have become associated with over these years. I was able to get a variety of perspectives on this topic by interviewing a specific collection of people of who I think properly represent high school soccer. My goal of this is to show this share this video with kids in lower grades or even entering high school with dreams of playing soccer in order to ease them off of any of the similar confusion that I had coming up in the leagues..


Annotated Bibliography 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LO0Kw2VpX_joLy8T2Muj_lYViB4ONGpyQ87R92Tq8fc/edit?usp=sharing

Noah Marant Capstone

Abstract:

My project was to take photographs around the city of Philadelphia and see if I can find any highly littered places to photograph. After that I would report them to Philly 311 and then they get a crew to clean that area that I took the picture of. What I did at first was think of a place in this big city and how I was going to get there. I thought about all these things for a really long time and decided that i'm going to do them whenever I feel like it. The best thing would be better for me to not schedule too much because of the work I have at school. I looked online for the most polluted areas in Philadelphia but couldn't find anything on the subject other than Philly 311 which only had information of where trash is being reported so I stopped looking online altogether. I how I was going to get to my preferred locations we're just walking so I could get a better look at the area's better than a car or trolley. Then I decided that rather than using my expensive rebel XL canon camera I was going to use my iPhone 6 camera because it would feel more natural taking a picture from your phone then an expensive camera not many people have expensive cameras and they don't carry them around that much but they carry their phones so it feels more natural taking a photograph with my phone.


slideshow of photographs i took

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vSTh9vEF1MwKqDfJXzueA-BDqQvkeHmLdHMvehvrwH4kZi9wTyLJPBwtbxTzK-54XX6woJoVoF84clS/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

WASTING PHILLY

Menduyarka Samuel Dennis Capstone

​Throughout the year, Ella Burrows, Tamir Harper and I mandated a social movement titled “My Justice Story.” It was moved along with the current events that came to light within everyday society. Gun laws and regulations, voter turnout and registration, political awareness, and official conversation were the main topics that we have come to cover throughout this movement. Our original idea was to have an event with TEDx, which came to a conclusion thanks to a denial for our license. Our next step was a partnership with Ignite Philly, which was a great one, but could not meet our time constraints. During our thinking process, the tragedy that is the Parkland school shooting came into fruition, and ignited students from Frederick Douglass High School to speak out against the policies put in place in regards to gun control. This swayed the emotions of the three of us, and we decided to ignite our own movement, as well as rekindle the movement started by the high school students in Florida. We held our own school walkout, which held a turnout of almost half of the student body at Science Leadership Academy, with news coverage coming from 6abc, NBC, PhillyCam, Vice, Generocity, and more. We held a voter registration drive, where students got the chance to register to vote if they were old enough. We set up a booth which contracted student-written letters to elected officials to encourage them to join students in the fight against gun violence. We recorded stories of SLA students sharing their hopes and experiences regarding gun violence, and crafted a beautiful website that entails the continuation of the movement, with hopes to entice students across the globe to help change gun regulation, and encourage students to get involved within the current government affairs. 

Bibliography Link: Here

Website Link: Here

Justin Mack's Capstone

For my capstone, I hosted a shoe drive throughout the month of April. I hosted this shoe drive to gain more experience in giving back to others who are in need. I also have a passion for collecting sneakers so I knew doing a shoe drive was exactly what I wanted to do. I noticeably found out that people tend to sell and throw away sneakers in good conditions, and hosting a shoe drive will instead attract people to give them away to a better cause. I worked with an organization called Soles4Souls which serves a mission of providing relief by distributing sneakers all around the world to the people in need. This shoe drive brought variety of pairs of sneakers from pre-owned to brand new, different colors and sizes. With my process of my shoe drive, I post this on social media and asked friends and family who had shoes they wanted to donate. After my shoe drive, I received over fourty pairs of shoes in different conditions and sizes. With the shoes I gathered, I sorted them out by sizes from youth and women sizes in one bag, and men sizes in another bag. I then drove an hour to New Jersey to hand deliver the sneakers to my local drop off location. I found this shoe drive very successful, as I felt like I was only going to receive a few pairs of shoes, instead, receiving and achieving over my intended goal of 30 pairs of sneaker donations.


Sorting donated shoes

Me organizing sneakers and tying each pair together

Putting the sneakers in a bag to get ready to ship

Annotated Bibliography


Ravenhill, Megan. The Culture of Homelessness. Routledge, 2016.


After reviewing this source, it provided a lot of experiences with the homeless as well as causes that impacts a person into becoming homeless. It also provides the impact on long-term homelessness and homelessness process of getting back on their feet into a house society. This source gives me more insight on how homelessness is caused and the process of living as a homeless. What I noticed was that this book was published in 2016, meaning that these are fairly recent news regarding the homelessness of the 21st century. This source is more of an overview over homelessness for my project and later on in this capstone process, use this morally as an introduction for my film and presentation.


“Characteristics of Persons Who Are Homeless for the First Time.” Psychiatric Services, 1 Nov. 2002, ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ps.53.11.1472.


This source showed the characteristics of a person who becomes homeless for the first time. Something that I notice is that this homeless project took place in Toronto and interviewed 300 people in a homeless shelter who had recently became homeless. They had more similarities than differences and a major similarity is from the way that they all had issues regarding childhood experiences that relates to housing. The people who have short term experience with homelessness, after 6 months, 60 percent will fall right back into homelessness and into homeless shelters. This source is credible to me because I can use this in the beginning of my documentation.


Uccioli, Luigi, et al. “Manufactured Shoes in the Prevention of Diabetic Foot Ulcers.” Diabetes Care, American Diabetes Association, 1 Oct. 1995, care.diabetesjournals.org/content/18/10/1376.


This source is credible to me because it explains the effects of people without shoes. Many homeless people do not have something to walk in. Homeless people are always on their feet begging for money, or traveling to somewhere safer for them. Many of the homeless can inherit foot ulcers which can be bad for the homeless. Researchers find that it can get worse when continuing to walk without treatment. This source was really helpful for me because I may run into a homeless who has a foot ulceration and providing a gift of shoes to them will be helpful.


To, Matthew J., et al. “Foot Conditions among Homeless Persons: A Systematic Review.” PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, 9 Dec. 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5147925/.


Foot problems are a common issue from homeless people, but are also very overlooked. This source summarizes the research about foot conditions and associated interventions among the homeless. Walking is a common form of transportation among the homeless which increases the risk of foot problems. Overall, the lack of health services because of financial resources prevents the homeless to recieve the right and best treatments. This source is credible to me because it gives me more information on why the homeless needs shoes more than anything. There are too many who walks barefoot especially in the cold and hot weathers.


News, CBS. “The Rise of Sneaker Culture.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 1 Dec. 2016, www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-rise-of-sneaker-culture/.


This source gives me an insight on “the sneaker culture” meaning that I learn more about how sneakers evolved and became important to the fashion as well as lifestyle industry. The gallery of particular shoes and the description about how its fame was created, showed that the particular choice of primary colors and geometric shapes, as well as the limited pairs made, which makes the demand for the shoe much higher. This source isn’t particularly going to make a big impact on my presentation, but it gives me a better reasoning to donate shoes to the homeless as a sign of giving them something they can cherish.


Johnson, Robert. “I Spent The Night In A Homeless Shelter-Here's What It Was Like.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 18 Jan. 2012, www.businessinsider.com/sleepingin-a-homeless-shelter-2012-1.


A reporter decided to see what it's like to be in a homeless shelter. He tried going into one in New York City, but he failed. He turned his way to Atlantic City where he somehow found a source that would take him in. The reporter explained that everything was well except for the bed, which was very tight and had trouble sleeping. This source is credible for my documentary because I am able to use this as a source on how homeless shelters are a good place for the homeless and with the amount of shoes I’m donating, it can be brought to a good home.


Silverman, MD Lance. “Two-Thirds Of Homeless Population Suffers From Foot Problems | Foot Doctor in St. Paul.” Silverman Ankle & Foot - Edina Orthopedic Surgeon, 22 Feb. 2017, www.anklefootmd.com/two-thirds-homeless-population-suffers-foot-problems/.


This source just like all my other foot sources, talks about the problems within the foot that the homeless has. Although this source provides much more in depth and main quotes from 2 students at Dalhousie Medical School in Canada, whose going out to these abrupted homeless populations. This is credible for my documentary because I want to run into these homeless people so that I can provide them a place to seek treatment. The shoe itself will not bring treatment, but ease foot problems and take some heavy weight off their feet.


dot, Toeslayer. “All about shoes.” The anatomy of the shoe, 1 Jan. 1970, allaboutshoes-toeslayer.blogspot.com/2009/10/anatomy-of-shoe-according-to-mcphoil.html


This source gives me the anatomy of a shoe which basically every part and function of shoe. It explains the different materials used, as well as how stitching works. It isn’t going to be used as a part of my project, but it is important for my process for just knowing more about a shoe and knowing every detailed part which gives my project informative based. I still find it credible because I am thinking about adding this onto the website I’m going to create for this project so that when I present, it gives details about it and how comfort plays a part within it.


“Best Sneakers For Walking.” Health.com, Oct. 2015, www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20680036,00.html#sketchers-go-step.


I chose this source as a primary source because when I get into the process of using all my funds for finding a sneaker I want to buy, this would be the source I would go to. It has the perfect pairs that are affordable, as well as essential comfort parts that would provide cushioning. These would be good pairs for the homeless due to the fact that they travel their distance by feet. It would not impact my presentation itself, but it would show within the core value of research on how I found a credible source for choosing sneakers.  


Fuller, Carey. “Homeless Shelter Systems and What They Don't Tell You.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 Oct. 2011, www.huffingtonpost.com/carey-fuller/homeless-shelter-parents_b_1035952.html.


In a homeless shelter, this post explains that there is no guarantee when going to a homeless shelter. There is a process that the homeless has to go through. Even if they go through the process, there is still no guarantee that they will be manageable to get into the homeless shelter. They explained that there is also eligibility requirements. The particular man writing the post explains that he had an addiction which would not provide him shelter. I find this source credible to me because it gives me more details about homeless shelters that not all outside sources would hear about.


Addison Zheng Capstone

Abstract:

For my capstone, I am doing is an essential drive for homeless teens in Philadelphia. Knowing how bad the statistics are right now, I wanted to help my community out. For the past couple of months, I have been telling my friends and families about my capstone and how I’m planning to step up in the Philadelphia community to help teen that are less fortunate. My friends and families have donated as much as $150 towards my capstone and they donated essentials like paper towel, tissue, soap, shampoo, and more. For the money I receive and continue to receive, it’s going to towards to more essentials due to the face there are a bunch of teens that are in need. What I did was I went to BJ’s and Walmart where I bought a bunch of stuff that was listed on the email that the organization have given me. Everything was hard when the capstone was first introduced because I didn’t know what to do but after I had my first idea (Clothes drive) I soon began to realize that it wasn’t going to work out. Then I quickly turned to an essential drive because I knew it was going to be much easier and more useful. Throughout this project I want people to learn that they can be the reason why we can make a change in the Philadelphia community.


Digitalize


Bibliography:


City of Philadelphia


Office of Homeless Services, Office of the Mayor. “City Releases Comprehensive Report on Youth Homelessness in Philadelphia | Office of Homeless Services.” City of Philadelphia, 15 Nov. 2017, beta.phila.gov/2017-11-15-city-releases-comprehensive-report-on-youth-homelessness-in-philadelphia/.

There are about 570 teen ages from 13 to 25 who were counted as being homeless. Nearly 30% of them has been in foster or been in a juvenile justice system. 78% of the teens graduated high school or they received a GED. For females teen more than 3rd of them were a mother or pregnant. These are the main cause on why teens are considered being homeless. There has been solutions to end teen homelessness which was led by Chapin Hall, who led ‘Voices of Youth Count.’ Philadelphia is the 22nd cities who was teamed up with Chapin and his efforts on ending it.


Generocity


7 things you should know about homelessness in Philly By Tony Abraham / staff. “7 Things You Should Know about Homelessness in Philly.” Generocity Philly, 13 June 2016, generocity.org/philly/2016/05/24/homelessness-facts-poverty-youth-government/.

In Philadelphia, about 400,000 people were living below the poverty line in 2015. In 2016, about 42 youth were found living on their own, no housing, no shelter. Teen homelessness is very serious in Philadelphia, every 1 out of 20 high schooler in Philadelphia has experienced homelessness. It’s gets worse, when child that are in foster care right now because when they get out of the system they will about 42% of the children that will become homeless. Teen homelessness has raised during the past years because the Philadelphia Covenant House (PCH) “doesn’t have the right service to meet the need.” How this is being used in my capstone is I can tell people the reality of teen homelessness and make sure people are aware of this issue.


Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania


“PEC Releases Report on Homeless Youth in Philadelphia.” Housing Alliance of PAorg, housingalliancepa.org/pec-releases-report-on-homeless-youth-in-philadelphia/.

One out of every twenty school in Philadelphia has been homeless or has been kicked out of their home or they were run away. Due to the fact they are homeless the chances of them dropping out of school is high which can lead to being unemployed and will be homeless when they turn into an adult. People need to step up and be aware about this issue in Philadelphia. There has been data about ‘Youth Risk Behavior’ and it’s about behaviors during childhood and early adolescence. It shows that the teens will turn to “alcohol and drug use, tobacco use, sexual behaviors that leads to unintended pregnancy and infections, and etc.” People should be informed about this issue and they should promote positive well-being for this vulnerable population. How I would use this towards my capstone is I could use the data and show what teen homelessness can lead them into.



NBC 10


Lattanzio, Morgan Zalot Vince. “Homeless Youth: A Silent Epidemic.” NBC 10 Philadelphia, NBC 10 Philadelphia, 25 May 2016, www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Fighting-for

-a-Home-The-Silent-Epidemic-of-Youth-Homelessness-332250942.html.

There are many reason to teen homelessness it can be from, runaway, abuse, rejection, systemic issues, and foster-care where the system basically forced you out of the foster when turning 18 years old with little to no support. In 2014 youth homelessness were at large, 66% of teens stayed with friends, 22% slept outdoors, 8% at shelters, 2% subway station, and the other 2% are other. In 2014, 31$ millions were going towards homeless care program, but only $1.1 million were actually used for them. It’s hard to find teens that are homeless because they blend in with everyone. Most of the teens don’t like being called “homeless” because it just makes them feel some type of way, so they just hide it from people. How this will help my capstone is I could pull quotes from this article and use it for my presentation.  


Project HOME


michaelgainer@projecthome.org. “Facts on Homelessness.” Project HOME, 4 Jan. 2018, projecthome.org/about/facts-homelessness.

The cause of homelessness in Philadelphia is because the lack of jobs. Philadelphia is 7 one of the highest in the nation in poverty rate. In Philadelphia other reasons why are homeless is because of ‘racial inequality’ it’s more likely for minorities (1.5X) and African American (3X)  face homelessness. Lack of affordable health care in Philadelphia is always a reason why people are becoming homeless, due to the high prices. There are so many other reason why people are becoming homeless in Philadelphia. Solutions to homelessness is finding permanent supportive housing for people, having more jobs, and etc. How I’m going use this towards my capstone is using this information, there are some stats that I can use to add on to.


Voices of Youth Count


“Home.” Voices of Youth Count, voicesofyouthcount.org/.

Voices of Youth Count (VoYC) is a national initiative designed to fill gaps scale of youth homelessness. They have been faced with runaway, unaccompanied homeless, and unstably housed. With the Voices of Youth Count, they are trying to end/ prevent this issue (youth homelessness). What they value is “transparency, integrated use of consistent, rigorous and mixed research methods, openness to broad community participation, authentic blending of diverse perspectives, and commitment to relevance.” How this will be helpful for my capstone is I can use this information for a slide in my presentation and explain how many people has already stepped up to work on this issue and what they are doing to fix/ find a solution to this.  



YSI Youth Service INC.


Administrator. “Homepage.” YSI Philly, ysiphilly.org/.

The YSI Youth Service INC mission is to help children and families in Philadelphia, where they offer accessible quality services to at-risk children and families. They are dedicated to strengthening family unit, helping teens, and child safety. For over 60 years they have upheld a tradition of excellence, dedicated to meeting children that are in need and for families. They are also a non-profit organization where they don’t make money from this. How this will help my capstone is I can give away some clothes that I’ve saved up that I don’t wear anymore and items to them, knowing that it’s hard for them I want to at least make them feel they got a helping hand.


Zoe Chernowski Capstone

My capstone is an analysis of energy use in SLA. I collected how much heating and lighting we are using and how much that is costing. I then designed and proposed ways to not only save the money we spend but also the amount of electricity we use. I did this by learning a lot of new skills. I learned how to CAD, how to 3D prints, how to run a large wide analysis, and how to manage costs. To see more detail on what I completed, please review my analysis document!
Energy Efficiency at Science Leadership Academy

Annotated Bibliography


“2016 Energy Benchmarking Report.” PECO, 2016,

http://www.phillybuildingbenchmarking.com/

This source is an annual report about energy consumption in Philadelphia in the year 2016. It especially breaks down the consumption of the percentage of school usage in the city. This report also shows how energy consumption in the city has changed over four years. This report is reliable since it is coming directly from PECO’s website; a major provider of electricity in the city. I plan to use this source as a way to show how my data can connect to our larger community, Philadelphia. I plan to include this data directly in my end report when comparing the city average to our average as a school.


Desjardins, Jeff. “What Uses the Most Energy in Your Home?” Visual Capitalist, 14 Nov.

2016, https://www.visualcapitalist.com/what-uses-the-most-energy-home/

This site shows an infographic of what appliances use the most electricity in an average household. I need this because I need to know the primary appliances I need to focus a lot of my analysis on when I collect the data in the school. This source shows me that heating and lighting are the things I may want to focus on when approving the amount of energy we use at SLA. This source is kind of reliable as the publisher of the site has done other infographics that have been referred to, but I am a little weary because it is data on a household and not a larger building or school.


“Electricity and the Environment.” Electricity and the Environment - Energy Explained, Your

Guide To Understanding Energy - Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=electricity_environment

This source explains the importance of lower one’s energy usage for the environment. I really want to include this source in my report to explain why my Capstone is important and relevant. The source even does talk about greenhouse gas emissions, so I need to make sure I reference the specific part about electricity consumption in my report. I do want to reference where our electricity is from and how it affects the Earth as well, which this source completely covers. I find this source very reliable because it is published from the United States of America’s government and from its energy department.


“Estimating Appliance and Home Electronic Energy Use.” Department of Energy,

https://energy.gov/energysaver/estimating-appliance-and-home-electronic-energy-use    

This source is a calculator like website which can help someone determine how much an appliance is costing them on their electricity bill. It is especially useful because the price calculator includes wattage of you appliance and price per state. I plan to use this to calculate how much our school would be spending if we had to pay these fees out of pocket. I would then use it to determine the solutions I want to implement and see the savings we gain. This source is reliable because it is sponsored by the U.S.’s department of energy in the government.


“Estimating Electricity Usage.” Calculate Your Energy Consumption | SaveOnEnergy.Com®,

SaveOnEnergy.com, https://www.saveonenergy.com/energy-consumption/

This site is a step by step guide on figuring out how much electricity different appliances actually use. It also provides a small section of different estimates of different appliances’ usage. The site even goes a step further and helps someone convert the rates they found into kilowatts per hour and then a month estimate. I plan to use this source to help me understand the data I will be collecting. Then I can use this guide to figure out some hypotheses on some of the appliances’ electricity and then later, cost. This source is reliable because the domain it is on is also a company that professionally deals with electricity conservation.


Guidelines for Writing Reports in Engineering. Monash University,

https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/567156/guidelines-writing-reports.pdf

This article is a lesson showing how someone should write a professional engineering report. This source explains the key parts of the report, as well as a more detailed breakdown of what structure it needs to have and what things need to be included in the report. It even provides examples of every section, which is very helpful. I would use this source mainly in the fourth quarter when I distribute this report I will write with my data and findings. I find this source really reliable because it’s written to especially teach university students by mature engineers with a degree.


Lanzisera, Steven, et al. Methods for Detailed Energy Data Collection of Miscellaneous and

Electronic Loads in a Commercial Office Building. U.S. Department of Energy, Apr. 2013,

https://eta.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/publications/methods_for_detailed_energy_data_collection.pdf  

This source runs through a longer official report on an energy use analysis in a larger building environment. This is especially useful as our school building is a larger building than just the average household. This report even walks through their data collection process using different technology. This source is also useful as a way to see how a longer report might look like to a degree. I would use this source as a model on how to approach my larger data collection process in February through April. I find this source very reliable because it is produced from a professional laboratory.


Meier, A, and HP Siderius . “Should the next standby power target be 0-Watt?”

Escholarship.org, 2017, https://escholarship.org/uc/item/566951pn

This source is another longer report on power consumption. However, this report talks specifically about the concept of standby power consumption. So, lights that are left on when they do not need to be, devices plugged in when they are fully charged or not in use, and other examples. This source is very useful to me as SLA uses a lot of standby power consumption and this source can help me think of a potential avenue to take (the standzero option). I find this source to be reliable as it is sponsored from the U.S. government and is produced from a professional laboratory.


Safar Hatami, and Massoud Pedram. Minimizing the Electricity Bill of Cooperative Users under

a Quasi-Dynamic Pricing Model. University of Southern California, 2010,

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5918/097ada30b8f50400c8a9abd5aba88bea8065.pdf

This source breaks down how to save money in a more mathematically based concept, using a quasi-dynamic pricing equation to complete the goal. The source helpfully breaks down time based pricing and runs through this scenario of an alternative environmentally friendly way of using electricity. This source is useful to me in running through on how to implement data collection (various sensors) and different cost optimization for saving energy. However, I am a little weary about the mathematics involved, but I plan to work through it and see how much I can include in my report. This source is reliable because it was produced in the University of Southern California from an electrical engineer.


Sexton, Joe. “Calculate How Many BTUs are Needed to Heat Home.” Inch Calculator,

Construction Calculators, https://www.inchcalculator.com/calculate-many-btus-needed-heat-home/

This source is a calculator like site where someone can determine how many BTUs it is necessary to heat and cool a room from their thermostat. This source also includes a climate zone option because the heating is also determined by the area in which people live. This site also provides explanations on what BTUs are and more information on thermostats and furnaces. I am going to use this source to determine how much energy we need to heat up a room for my data collection process. I have a source for this because our furnace may be hard to access in the building. This website is reliable to a degree, but it is sponsored by Amazon and other companies. It also includes links where the website’s data calculations are based on.


J'Lynn Matthews Capstone

My capstone project was to travel to Costa Rica on a field study to research water supply, security, and interactions. Before my trip, I did a lot of research to gather as much information on the topic as possible. I did not want to travel to a new country completely ignorant and blinded. Going into the project and trip, I knew that all of my research would not be feasible. Because most of the research I did were from secondary sources, I knew that I was not collecting the desired information, which made my trip more important. On the trip I was able to collect and gather as much primary sources as I possibly could; just being there and seeing everything for myself was also a primary source. The process was a little challenging since only a few natives spoke english. With the help from guides and a few of my classmates, I was able to understand and gather useful information. A lot of my information also came from observation. Any observation I would make, I asked questions pertaining to it to clarify my understanding. Arriving to Costa Rica, I was stunned by my ignorance and I wasn’t the only one. If a group of people were ignorant of the country’s lifestyle, then it’s for certain that a lot more people are too. Once I returned from the trip, I wanted to not only create a project surrounding water in Costa Rica, but on the small details of the country as well.

Annotated Bibliography


Bower, Kathleen M. “Water Supply and Sanitation of Costa Rica.” SpringerLink, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2 Apr. 2013, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12665-013-2416-x.

When I first opened this source, I thought it would have all the information I would need. It was titled “Water supply and Sanitation of Costa Rica”. This made me think that I would gather, if not all, majority of my information here. Although this source did not hold all of the information I needed, it did help with my process. This source is an article on water supply and sanitation in Costa Rica. It holds informations about environmental care and the sustainability of water resources. I found it by simply researching water systems in Costa Rica. This source supports my capstone by giving me thorough information about my topic. This article provided stats on population and supply of domestic water resources, which helps me get an understanding of how things happen in Costa Rica.


Porras, Nazareth. (2016).The Sixaola River Basin: Costa Rica and Panama. San José, Costa Rica: UICN, 12 pp. https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/content/documents/bridge_sixaola_english.pdf.

When I first found this source I was very impressed with the amount of information it provided. This source is a textbook article on the Sixaola River Basin. The basin is located between Costa Rica and Panama, right by the Yorkín community, which is relatively close to the Bribri community. The Sixaola River extends over 2,848.3 km2 (1099.73 mi2). 19% of the river is located in Panama and 81% in Costa Rica. The river plays a huge role as a watershed for several communities including the Bribri community. I found this information very useful since I will be studying the interactions between the people of the community and the river. Learning the aspects of the river gives me an idea of how it may be used by the community. This also makes me question Costa Rica’s interaction with Panama.


Blanco, Adrián Martinez, and Diana Ubico Durán. “Water Security in the Sixaola River Basin.” Peace and Conflict, Monitor, 30 Apr. 2014, www.monitor.upeace.org/innerpg.cfm?id_article=1043.

I found this source by researching the security of the Sixaola River in Costa Rica. I searched this topic because the security of the river is something to keep track of since the river is shared by many communities and multiple countries. When I found this source, I thought it was pretty useful because it identified challenges within the basin and communities and how security impacted different communities.  This source is an analytical article on the security of the basin, as a whole. Parts of the article focuses on Costa Rica and other parts focuses on Panama. Overall, this article gives me information on how the two countries are dependent on each other.


“The Binational Commission of the Sixaola River Basin Draws Municipalities Together for the Environment.” IUCN, 19 May 2016, www.iucn.org/content/binational-commission-sixaola-river-basin-draws-municipalities-together-environment.

When I found this source I thought that it was a perfect representation of how Costa Rica and Panama works together. I found this source by researching collaborations of Costa Rica and Panama with respect to the Sixaola River. It basically explained what companies and associations are involved and what roles they play in taking care of the basin. It also elaborates on why it is important for the two to do so. This source is very helpful because it allows me to see how certain associations take stances on specific human resources. It also helps me because it answers many of my questions of how the two countries come together.


“POV Call for Entries Broadcast Season 2018.” POV, PBS, 2017, http://cfe.pov.org/POVcfeSubmissionGuidelines.pdf.

When I found this source, I thought it was very helpful for my final product. Initially, I wanted to make a documentary and post it on the SLA homepage. This source is an article and flyer for a documentary competition. I found this source very helpful because for part of my final project I will be creating a documentary. Since this documentary will be on water supply, security, and interactions with the Sixaola River in Costa Rica I want to share my findings with more than just the SLA community. I feel as though more people in the world would be interested in my projects and its findings. This source also benefits me because it helps advertise my project. But overall, I want my documentary to be a learning experience to many.


Stinson, Jim. “Shooting the Journey: A Guide to Vacation Video.” Videomaker, 1 Mar. 1995, www.videomaker.com/article/f2/1404-shooting-the-journey-a-guide-to-vacation-video.

When I found this source, I thought it was very beneficial. Because the basics of this documentary is the journey that I will be on, I wanted to learn how to properly record my trip. Since I have never recorded any type of experience or journey before, I thought it would only be right to research how. This source is very helpful because it teaches me how to keep track of what I record and what things I should record. Rather than just explaining what to put in a documentary, it explains how to acquire certain aspects.


Fisher, Sky. “How to Visit The Largest Indigenous Community in Costa Rica.” Epicure & Culture, 7 June 2017, https://epicureandculture.com/bribri-travel/.

This source is basically someone’s personal experience in the  community themselves. It gives a perspective of the things that happened or that’s going to happen. It’s basically a “what to expect” guide. This guide explains things that someone usually wouldn’t wonder; like, how do you get to the actual community? Well, the community is only accessible by boat. This is very useful information, especially since, I will be journeying their myself. This source gives me an idea of what everything will be like. It also allows me to prepare for the tri and the many encounters within it. This source also provides ways to get involved with community; whether it’s for vacation, touring, or service work.


Fariña, Ana Lucía. “Bribri Women Lead the Way in Community-Based Tourism in Costa Rica.” Cultural Survival, Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine, Mar. 2012, www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/bribri-women-lead-way-community-based-tourism-costa-rica.

This source is an article story written by a Costa Rican tour guide. In this article they reflect on the indigenous people of the Yorkín and Bribri communities. Since we will be invading a community, I wanted to study the people that’ll be there. I wanted to know their background and history so that I was not completely oblivious and ignorant of their growth. I found this source very helpful because not only did it elaborate on the people, it explained the culture and history behind it. It made me aware of some of their struggles and how they may overcome them. It also points out the diversity in the community; gender, age, and color diversity are uniquely important within Costa Rican communities. This source also points out some future goals that the native people has made.


“Making Documentaries: A Step By Step Guide.” Desktop-Documentaries, www.desktop-documentaries.com/making-documentaries.html.

I found this source by looking up ways to prepare for a documentary. Because I am planning on filming and creating my own documentary, I searched the proper steps in order to do so. I’ve made a documentary before, in the past, so I’m not completely in the dark of how to create one. But since it has been a while since I’ve done so, I didn’t want to miss any components when creating one. When I was looking for this source I thought it was the best one. It basically has the whole thought process and timeline laid out for the planning, filming, and editing process. Not only does it have the process broken down, it also has instructions and examples on how to do it.


Gabriel Garcia-Leeds Capstone

For my capstone, I wrote and recorded a 4 song EP. I focused on challenging myself in both songwriting and production. I wanted to make something that was musically distinct, while still remaining accessible and easy to listen to. Everything on the EP was performed by me - drums, banjo, vocals - and by having total control over the direction of the project, I was able to let myself experiment with the music.
All of the songs were composed during the recording process; I would initially start by recording an instrumental idea - a guitar melody, a unique rhythm - and then add new layers on top until I felt happy with the song. The vocals came last - I didn’t write lyrics and vocal melodies until after I had put together the rest of the songs. This was the most natural songwriting method for me, since I could focus on giving the songs as much depth and complexity as I wanted, while still giving myself room for exploration. This project was the first in which I spent a lot of time mixing. After everything was recorded, I spent hours mixing each song, listening to them in a variety of formats (headphones, speakers, car stereos) to make sure that it sounded good wherever I listened to it. After finalizing the mixes, I mastered the EP. 
I learned a lot about home recording, and how scientific and technical the recording process can become. Overall, the main thing I took away from my capstone was that there are so many components of producing music - especially your own - and that it can easily become a stressful and overwhelming process. The end result, though, makes all the effort worthwhile.

Link to EP:
https://soundcloud.com/use-1388463630/sets/bouquet-for-the-bird/s-up7qE 
Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ktdFIk44ID4R4t4lpu_L38cZLi3CJ5csFaHBN-1vZ7-34/edit?usp=sharing

Job Shadowing

I volunteer at 5 different locations and I will pick which one I would like to have as my current paid job. Lately CCT (the bus service I can use sometimes) has not been on time and we would have to cancel the job shadowing. This shows that sometimes that CCT is not always reliable and I cannot go to long destinations for job shadowing. I will work at a place called Philadelphia Fight which helps people with STDs.      


Matthew Yemola Capstone

Abstract Paragraph

For my capstone I decided to combine carpentry with little bits of economics sprinkled in. I build woodshop cabinets for personal use and documented the price of materials, tools used, and pricing of on the market cabinets. The goal of this was to try and figure out which is cheaper, building your own furniture vs. buying it? Going into this my initial thought was building your own would be cheaper at the expense of qualities    I produced three cabinets using 2 seperate designs and compared their pricing to that of market cabinets that were a similar size. The construction of the cabinets was also taken into account as I tried to make them look very nice and this was a high factor in deciding if they were actually worth it or not.

The process was very simple consisting of mainly 3 parts. Research, construction, and reflection. Through this all I produced what I viewed to be usable cabinets that were made at an affordable price. After this I added together all the costs for production and compared these cabinets to that of purchasable ones. Ultimately the final verdict was very hard to make as there were more and more variables that appeared over time. It came down to actually how much you're producing being the biggest factor. The final decision was that buying cabinets off the market is ultimately better.



Cabinets

Bibliography


Seattletable, and JFP1213. “MÖCKELBY Bench - IKEA.” IKEA US/EN, IKEA, 30 Nov. 2017, www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30348259/.


This source shows me the problem to the pricing of big stores. I think that the big stores should be less expensive. I think the big stores are bad, scammers. Who do scams on the costumer which is not good. Particle-board, which is what this bench is made out of, is not very much money. In fact, particle board is a really bad material that would only cost like 30 dollars or so. (check other source). So this bench shows that there is a significant price markup for like no reason. Which I could hopefully fix for the school, by creating benches and stools and chairs and maybe tables, at the price of the resources not the big companies which scam!  


Steph, et al. “3/4 in. x 4 ft. x 8 ft. Particle Board Panel-ru1191248096000000a.” The Home Depot, 23 Jan. 2018, www.homedepot.com/p/3-4-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-Particle-Board-Panel-ru1191248096000000a/202518919?MERCH=REC-_-PIPHorizontal2_rr-_-100058485-_-202518919-_-N.


I used this source mainly for materials reason. I wanted to find what materials would be the best to use for their price. I needed to figure out what kind of wood I was going to use and what the reason was for best using that species of wood. However before I decided this I needed to figure out if using real wood was even worth it. The other option was to use manufactured wood, Mainly plywood or MDF. Pricing for manufactured wood is of course cheaper as it's not real and is cheaper to make. However this price comes at the cost of quality. I decided in the end that used real wood was the best option for me as it was still relatively cheap to use pine and it's easy to handle.


Dahl, Timothy. “How to Build a French Cleat Shelf to Hold Virtually Anything.” Popular Mechanics, Popular Mechanics, 14 Nov. 2017, www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/how-to/g2340/how-to-build-a-french-cleat-shelf/.


I needed to know how I was going to hang my cabinets once I made them and I already had some ideas in my head. I had already decided on french cleats. mainly because of their strength and effectiveness, along with the fact that they are easy to install. While I have a basic understanding of how they work I haven't used them for an application that would be holding this much weight and needed to know that the best way to use them was. Ultimately it doesn't come down to cleats themselves but rather where they are hung and the way there hanging on. You simply have to make sure they are secured to a stud.

United States, Congress, Engineering Principles and Practices. “ENGINEERING PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES for Retrofitting Flood-Prone Residential Structures .” ENGINEERING PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES for Retrofitting Flood-Prone Residential Structures , FEMA.

https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1506-20490-1062/fema259_front_matter.pdf


Now this source was used in a weird way. I didn't need my cabinets to be made flood proof nor did I plan on making the school flood proof. I used this source to look at the structures of houses and how they're built. I would use this to determine the placement of the cabinets along with gaining more knowledge on hanging them. I needed to know if there was any danger is using certain stud to hand the cabinets. This also gave me information on best placement of cabinets for potential house damage which wasn't what I needed but is something I incorporated into determining pricing. If you DIY cabinets you have more power to make them damage proof.


Lake, Matt. “Detectors Can Find Just the Right Spot to Drive That Nail.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Apr. 2001, www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/technology/how-it-works-detectors-can-find-just-the-right-spot-to-drive-that-nail.html.

This source was used to purchase a stud finder or use different methods to find studs. This is a small part of everything however it still is something you must buy if you want to DIY this. If you don't want to buy one thought there are different methods to use in finding a stud. You can tap on the wall and when it no longer sounds hollow there is most likely a stud. The issue with this though is to determine if there is a stud there or not, you must drill into the wall. If you feel force after drilling through the drywall then you've found a stud. If you don't feel this force then congratulations you just put a hole in your wall.


Todd. “Fusion 360 | Free Software for Students, Educators | Autodesk.” Autodesk 2D and 3D Design and Engineering Software, Fusion 360, www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/students-teachers-educators.


I wanted to use CAD for this project just to show that its easy to use and can even give you a slight edge in creating your own cabinets versus mass market cabinets. I decided on using fusion 360 because it's free to me and I already had a basic understanding of how it works. However after using it I discovered a variable I didn't account for. While the process of using it was easy and it definitely helps people with the building process I didn't take into account the price when its not free. It costs a lot and almost definitely puts mass market cabinets as a far cheaper buy.


"Figure 2f From: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic Revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: E7720. Https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720." doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f.

https://www.nationalofficefurniture.com/resources/design-tools/price-lists


I needed to use something to get a general idea of pricing of market cabinets and what my competition was. This source was extremely valuable as it showed me how cabinets are priced based on all different things. It mainly though allowed me to pin my pine cabinets against other market pine cabinets. This allows me to have an even ground because the two products are so similar, materials wise. This source also allowed me to look into customization of market cabinets and how different feature influence the final price more than others. This gave me the ability to show which was a better option based on needs of the person.

Sawyer, Tom Y. "Statements of Profit and Loss and Cash Flow: Plan for Profits and Ready Money." Financial Modeling for Business Owners and Entrepreneurs, 2014, 231-54. doi:10.1007/978-1-4842-0370-5_11.

https://www.business.qld.gov.au/running-business/finances-cash-flow/managing-money/more-profit


This source was used to help me find the total price it would be to make the cabinets accounting for all the tools, materials, and other things used. Aside from that this was also used to help me try and minimize  the amount of money I needed to spend while still producing the best quality work I can. The main thing this source helped me with though is determining the tools used and helped me control the price. The tools I used are very expensive and right off the bat they can cost more than a whole set of cabinets. This source though reminded me that you can use different far cheaper tools to produce similar quality work.


"Figure 2f From: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic Revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: E7720. Https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720." doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f.

https://www.wwgoa.com/how-to-build-cabinets/


I had an idea of how to build cabinets but this source was the main thing I used in helping determine my final design and how I was going to put these together. This site caused me to change a lot in my design along with how I was choosing on holding everything together. This also forced me to look at how I would construct doors and connect them for the first time. I also had to consider the amount of weight these cabinets would be holding. While I originally thought the weight they hold would be exclusively apart of how I hung them, It also slightly about how they are held together. So i had to reconsider what I would put in these along with how much they can hold compared to market cabinets.

"Figure 2f From: Groom Q (2014) The Distribution of the Vascular Plants on the North Frisian Island, Amrum. Biodiversity Data Journal 2: E1108. Https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.2.e1108." doi:10.3897/bdj.2.e1108.figure2f.

http://scottmcgillivray.com/design-renovations/know-your-limits-diy-vs-contractor/


My final source was used to help determine if the person who was taking on the DIY challenge could actually handle it. While the price is still the biggest element that must be considered the person is the second biggest factor. Something could be extremely cheap but if the person isn't right they cant handle it and then buying your own market cabinets is better. This also made me consider the average tools that someone already has. So aside from personality, the other factors that the person should be evaluated on it experience and tools they already own. The tools they already own is a massive factor as it cuts a lot into price and the quality of the work.


Ryan King Capstone

​ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

From doing my capstone I have learned alot of important things about myself my community and ways that I can go above and beyond to help other people who dont hve the nessecry tools availbel to help themselves.I am proud of what I was bale to be an asset to my community through assisting in raising school spirit and being able to help the less fortunate be able to get to a more rfijned place in their lives.First I did alot of research to get a feel of wht is actually feesable.I decided to partner with SLA CC SPIRIT Commitee to bring fun events to the students of SLA for a small fee which a piece of would go twoards aidning people in need or bringing awareness to the community about what is going on and exactly how they can help.The final product of my capstone was a relly humbling and eye opening experience that I am proud to have been able to do.Being able to help bring someone to a homeless rehibilation center from where they previoulsy were mkes me really proud to be able to do.I have lerned that it does only take 1 person to truly make a difference within the community and be able to be an example of an upstanding communty member which at the end of the day is what I and what everyone should aspire to be.


Kate Kopf // Capstone


In a city, your stomping ground is anywhere you choose, but, my true stomping ground was always the small three block radius around my house. My childhood is full of memories from those few blocks so it only felt right to pay respect to it in my senior capstone. I wanted to not only say a final goodbye to where I grew up, but gather advice from the community I had been learning from since day one. After identifying my theme, a podcast seemed the best way to present the project. They not only act as the modern storyteller but are portable personal anecdotes that capture the organic voice of each subject. Even better, they can be listened to everywhere - especially walking through the very neighborhood my subjects spend their days.

That’s exactly how I imagine people listening to my final project - walking through my neighborhood, each house and episode holding a new story. I’ve learned a lot through this year in both technical aspects (editing audio, sharing podcasts, recording) and in storytelling (asking questions, casual interviewing, forming a narrative) but the lessons from my interviewees have been by far the most meaningful. I truly believe that each and every listener can benefit from what my neighborhood has to share. My short series covers ordinary people of my community but their lives and life advice are truly extraordinary. Each episode examines everything from The American Dream to the LGBTQ+ film industry and the monumental life lessons we can learn from it all. I’m Kate Kopf. Welcome to my Stomping Ground.



Podcast Available on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, Overcast, and Linked Below.



Tom Wallison Capstone

My capstone involved me going through the process of creating a novel. I learned the difficult research process that is involved in writing something that is realistic fiction. With my specific story, I wanted to create a story that reached into the absurd, with both character committing suicide, but still managed to maintain an air of realism. This was evident in my research, which included novels that were similar in nature but still didn't quite hit the mark according to critics. It also included empirical studies on mental illnesses, especially in teenagers, to see if the story I was telling could feel reasonable to the average reader. I came up with a story, and wrote a portion of it, which I showed to a variety of people, some even with experience with mental illness, and after some feedback from each of them, I am confident that I was able to create a story that managed to seem reasonable even through its absurdities. While it may have not become a totally complete story, this learning experience was incredible, and I've really understood the difficulties people face when writing.

Sample from Ruth

You look up to the roof of the school, and there you see Ruth standing on the edge, of which she throws herself off of.

You run towards her destination, thirty feet below her start. In your rush, you trip on some elevated sidewalk, and fall down fully, scraping your upper left arm and right hand deeply, tearing a hole in your pants. You hurriedly get yourself up and continue your sprint, but it is already far too late. When you make it to her, Ruth is simply a mess of limbs, no movement at all in her body. You take hold of her. On her head there is a dent, in the center of which there is a gash with her brain exposed, blood pouring out. Her eyes have rolled back into her head, one damaged to the point of where there is blood dripping down the outside corner onto her face and down her cheek.

You lay her on your lap and hold her face. The blood from her eye and the gash in her head mix together. You cry out, first in disbelief, then again in horror, and then again in anger. The mixture of blood is joined by your tears as you sob deeply, disgusted by yourself. You are sure you could have prevented this if you had just done something different, something better. This was your fault, and you felt that grief immediately.

Bianca had stood up to come after you, but you had been quicker and she had stopped, so she was stalled behind you standing, stunned. She has never seen you like this before. She has no idea how to help.

Weeks pass. Ruth’s memorial service is on December 23rd. One portion is a private setting with an open casket, and the other portion is more public and had a closed casket. You are invited to and attended both. Bianca comes with you to the public viewing but chooses to exclude herself from the private one, which you don’t particularly mind. It is generally uneventful, at least any more so than funerals usually are. You grieve alongside the family, with exchanges of tears and condolences, and then all parties eventually depart.

The next day is December 24th: Christmas Eve. You spend this day with your own family. The world felt like a different place: emptier, but besides being blue for most parts of the day there is nothing unusual that happens.

On Christmas Day you spend it with your family in the morning and then spend the afternoon with Bianca. You have lunch together, talking about how your celebrations with your family had gone. You both talk about the gifts you’ve gotten. Your mood improves as the day goes on. You’re able to forget about and for the first time in a while, as Bianca lies on your shoulder in the backseat of a taxicab on its way to your home, with the sun being in a state of just giving enough light that the streetlamps don’t turn on, but dark enough that it’s clear the day is ending, you close your eyes and truly smile, actually feeling happy. The cab drops you off at your house, and Bianca exits with you and comes inside.

You’re both quickly to the living room and onto the couch. The place is temporarily yours, and you take full advantage of that with your method of physical interaction with Bianca. She eventually stops you, not out of disapproval, but out of the need for a break so she could procure something from her purse. She takes out a small blue rectangular box, which she hands to you, and inside is an analog watch. The clock face is white, with brown numbers and hands, and a silver wristband. As you look in awe, your mind eventually turns to horror as you realize that, in your grieving, you had neglected to get a gift for Bianca.

As you reluctantly tell her, she is visibly annoyed in her movements, but she at leasts acts understanding in the words she says. However, as you explain that it was your grief for Ruth that led you to forget, Bianca gets significantly more upset, and yells that you don’t care about her. You apologize, but tell her that having your best friend die in your arms could muddle up the life you otherwise knew. She tells you to stop being such a bitch about it, and it’s been enough time; get over it. She’s tired of always feeling like the second most important girl on your mind. You tell her she doesn’t understand, and wish she would be more empathetic. She explains that she wasn’t beaten up this long even when her mom died, so it’s not that she doesn’t understand, it’s that you’re weak. You let her know that you can’t imagine how awful a person someone would have to be to be so accepting of their own mother’s death. To this, she responds by striking you on the cheek with her nails, cutting your face, and you strike her back. Your hand slams on the side of her head and knocks her aside. With tears welling up her eyes, she lets you know how much of a faggot you are before kicking over a potted plant, running out of your home, and slamming the door behind her, leaving you standing with an upturned plant and a claw mark on your face.


Bibliography

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. S.l.: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2018.

This novel tells a story of a young girl in high school was sexually abused and how she dealt with it. In my novel, there is also a high school girl who is sexually abused, and while I plan to have her deal with it in a different way than the character in this book dealt with it, the thought process of the girl in Speak will be useful, as I am both not a girl and I have never been sexually abused. It becomes difficult to personally relate with a character who is, so to have some sort of reference to how this girl dealt with it, keeping in mind that people deal with the same thing in different ways, is useful to writing such a character.


Asher, Jay. 13 Reasons Why. New York: Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin Random House, 2017.

Over the past year, 13 Reasons Why has been the big boy of stories about depression. People seem to criticize it a lot for how unrealistic the story is. It’s too theatrical, and it seems like it’s trying to make a show out of a mental illness. The tragedy of losing a close friend doesn’t really seem as fleshed out as it could and probably should have been. In my story, I want to avoid these sorts of things. My novel will probably seem very theatrical; the characters go through some particularly extravagant events, so I’m constantly worried about trying to keep it as realistic as possible. 13 Reasons Why is very useful as a reference to making sure I don’t fall too far out of real life.


Green, John. Paper Towns. New York: Penguin Books, 2015.

One of the things I wanted to do when setting out to write this novel was to write a book that had a resolution that was not a traditional “happy ending”. In Paper Towns, there is a resolution, and the ending feels like an ending, but it’s certainly not the expected ending. The main characters, who we expected to meet back together and start a romance or something along those lines was far from what actually happened. Instead it’s more of a somber ending, where the story is over, so it’s a resolution, but it breaks expectations. That’s something I want to emulate in my writing.


Mathieu, Jennifer. The Truth About Alice. New York: Square Fish, Roaring Brook Press, 2015. =

In this novel, the main character “causes” the death of another character, but it was due to something she had limited control over, which was the irresponsibility of the other person, yet the main character feels guilty for the death. In my story, there will be a similar dynamic of the main character “causing” a death that he has limited control over, yet he feels mostly responsible and very guilty about it. I’ll use The Truth About Alice as a reference for the dynamic that I’m trying to create.


McCarthy, Cormac. No Country for Old Men. London: Picador, 2010.

This book inspired me to write a novel in the first place. I really enjoyed the storytelling style of both the book and the movie. They both use a minimalist style: there is the story, and that is it. There is no explanation as to why the story went the way that it did other than the logical conclusions that the reader made themselves. The events are described, using limited figurative language or attempts to call on emotion. There is no real explanation as to why things happened, leaving the reader to have to justify the events themselves. I really want to emulate that.


Niven, Jennifer. All The Bright Places. NY, NY: Ember, 2016.

In this novel there are two troubled people, one male and one female, and they both are considering suicide by jumping off of a building, which happens to be the same building at the same time, but after a conversation, they both choose not to do so and they become friends. One of the characters in my novel does actually kill themselves by throwing themselves off of a building, and the main character feels very guilty because he feels like he hadn’t done enough to stop that. The fact that both of the characters in All The Bright Places are considering suicide and then are convinced not to by someone else shows that, if the main character had done more, maybe he could have saved his friend. Any evidence I can get that would justify the guilt the main character has for a death that is almost totally not his fault is something that I find useful.


Shen, X., X. Zhu, Y. Wu, Y. Zhou, L. Yang, Y. Wang, Q. Zheng, Y. Liu, S. Cong, N. Xiao, and Q. Zhao. "Effects of a psychological intervention programme on mental stress, coping style and immune function in percutaneous coronary intervention patients." PloS one. January 22, 2018. Accessed January 24, 2018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29357358.

This is a study on the effects of therapy on depressed patients. The result is that therapy helps depressed people, which conceptually seems obvious, but one of the things I have learned through my research is that depression is very unpredictable. This basic understanding, while seemingly obvious and useless, is incredibly useful because the main character will end up very guilty for their friend’s death because he didn’t get her help. The fact that getting her help would have maybe saved her life makes the grief actually feel much more relevant and justified.


Smith, April R., Tracy K. Witte, Nadia E. Teale, Sarah L. King, Ted W. Bender, and Thomas E. Joiner. "Revisiting Impulsivity in Suicide: Implications for Civil Liability of Third Parties." Behavioral sciences & the law. 2008. Accessed January 24, 2018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2597102/.

This article is on the liability of third parties, such as prisons and universities, in a person’s suicide. It speaks of this in a legal sense, and the prior understanding was that there was too little predictability in suicides, so there is not much those parties can do to prevent them. However, new information is showing that there generally is some sort of plan. One of the comparisons made was to that of an umbrella in a car: people include an umbrella in their car to plan for a rainy day, and generally don’t think about that plan until the day it actually rains. There is some event that leads to a final suicide, but that does not mean the act was fully impulsive. This serves as a sort of justification to the characters’ deaths, and the feeling of grief is reasonable as the plan of suicide was mentioned.


Vizzini, Ned. It's Kind of a Funny Story. New York: Hyperion, 2015.

In this novel, the main character is a young adult whose life seems to be falling apart. Things were fine, and then it seemed like all sorts of things just started to fail and it eventually drove him to wanting to kill himself. His response to this was to call a suicide hotline, and he got placed into a mental institution, and the story proceed from there. In my novel, I want to have a similar story of life seems fine, but then everything starts to fall apart and drives a character insane. The additional story inside of the mental institution is not particularly useful, but there are friendships that form between multiple troubled people, so that could be helpful.


"Major Depression." National Institute of Mental Health. Accessed January 24, 2018. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression.shtml.

This sort of story that I’m writing seems to be told a lot. Depression in high school has plenty of novels written about it, almost to the point of thinking that there can’t possibly be that many stories to tell. However, this statistic shows that there is an enormous amount of adolescents that are depressed, justifying the story. While the outcome of the story is a little extreme, there are so many people in the world and so many of them are depressed that surely this story can happen at least once.


Chuckie Copeland Capstone

I set about my capstone with a grand envisionment that it would encompass everything I wanted my capstone to be, a digital time capsule that new generations of SLA students can access and reflect on from the new SLA location. It would be full of photos, interviews, and possibly videos, all showing what the old SLA looked and felt like. I compiled some articles about the school move, took a handful of photos but I was never able to fully take video and therefore had to scrap that part. At that point however I was midway through the year, I had to buckle down and focus before it got too late. 

I realized there reason I had not taken videos was the fact I was too broad in my capstone focus, therefore I decided that SLA moving schools should be my top priority. I set my sights on something more realistic and tangible, rather than trying to force my capstone to be exactly what I wanted it to be. I spent the rest of the year taking time to interview teachers and students from each grade so I could get a wider and more balanced view on the feeling of the SLA move. Since the interviews were to be my main focus, I adjusted my website accordingly, less text in favor of more listening. The website is mean to let the interviews I took, speak for themselves so as not to dilute the opinions and generalize the feeling of those I interviewed, and let their voices be heard. I am happy with the way my website ended, a concise clear picture of the SLA community in 2018 at its most candid. 


Lukas Hoffmann Capstone

I am a German exchange student who is spending this school year in Philadelphia at SLA; I am part of the Rotary Program. Rotary is a Non Profit Organization with members world wide and one of their actionfields is the Exchange Program where high school students worldwide are able to go on an exchange year. During this year I had a wonderful experience and this is where my Capstone comes into play. I recruited, prepared and helped future exchange students in their preparation for their upcoming year abroad. An important event was the RYLA conference, a weekend long conference for sophomores and junior hosted by Rotary. During this conference I worked on getting many of these high school students to sign up for the exchange program. At the end of the weekend multiple students signed up, with many of them choosing Germany as their country of desire.

Rotary also hosts orientations for future exchange students where I helped out to prepare the exchange students what they will have to expect, different parts of their application etc. I also promoted the exchange on other occasions. One of them was in Langhorne, PA where I advertised the exchange program on a fair to interested people. Other events included promoting the exchange program in front of the so-called Gundaker Foundation or on other fairs

I addition to this I also created where a website about the Exchange program where you can also find interviews with people involved into the program.


Website: https://lhoffmann187.wixsite.com/exchange

(The page "My capstone process" will be edited once my process paper is done.)

Annotated Bibliography:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hAFLciW0pIMl_KWvN0TSI-a2PQZbJ9O0k682sBWemsA/edit?usp=sharing

During an orientation where I helped to prepare future exchange students for their upcoming year

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IMG_5611

Working and promoting the exchange in a Sunday fair in Langhorne where we presented the program to the public

IMG_4713
IMG_4713

Me working during the weekend-long RYLA conference where I (successfully) worked on convincing high school students on going on exchange

FullSizeRender (5)
FullSizeRender (5)

Posing with a future exchange student who decided to go to Germany due to my efforts

IMG_4761
IMG_4761

Snapchat screenshot of one sophomore who is also going to Germany for the exchange. It’s a picture of my business card from Rotary

Tony Brown Capstone

For my capstone I made a speaker with interchangeable faceplates. The faceplates have different arrangements of speakers on them so they each produce a different sound. If your listening to music and you want more bass just change the faceplate or if the music your listening to would sound better with less bass just change it back. The faceplate with more bass would also sound nice if your watching Netflix on your computer. To my knowledge this is the first speaker of its kind.
These two pictures show the wood that I got cut at Lowes
These two pictures show the wood that I got cut at Lowes
Theses two pictures show the start of the box
Theses two pictures show the start of the box
This is the completed box
This is the completed box
This is an unfinished faceplate
This is an unfinished faceplate
This is the finished product
This is the finished product

K, Mike. “How Can an Underpowered Amp Damage Speakers???” AVForums, AVForums, 18 Sept. 2002, 5:49, www.avforums.com/threads/how-can-an-underpowered-amp-damage-speakers.47762/.



Arnyk. “Which Album (CD or Vinyl) Are You Listening to Now.” AVSForum.com, 4 Dec. 2013, 5:02, www.avsforum.com/forum/91-audio-theory-setup-chat/1467908-underpowered-vs-overpower-speakers-worse.html.



Team, Writing. “Subwoofer Enclosures.” Crutchfield, 5 Aug. 2013, www.crutchfield.com/S-qMSr1pAGYbW/learn/learningcenter/car/subwoofers_enclosures.html.



Little, Larry. “Sk10y.” AVSForum.com, 3 Dec. 2018, www.avsforum.com/forum/113-subwoofers-bass-transducers/1238901-sub-woofer-cut-off-frequency-setting.html.



Gordon, Whitson. “How to Properly Set Your Subwoofer's Volume (Without Shaking the Roof).” Lifehacker, Lifehacker.com, 8 Dec. 2015, lifehacker.com/how-to-properly-set-your-subwoofers-volume-without-sh-1506136549.


Alexa Siegel Capstone

Over the past several years, art therapy has become a very popular form of treatment for special education students and kids with other behavioral, emotional or psychological issues. For me art therapy has been my favorite way of learning. It teaches different types of skills such as learning academic skills, symmetry which is a math skill and social skills as they are more engaged with each other.  It is also a fun way for students of all ages to learn because they get to see what they are creating.For my Capstone I went to Greenfield and did projects with the students in Mrs. Serra’s class. We did different projects such as painting pumpkins and painting hearts for Halloween and Valentine’s Day. In order to plan this project I had to research different ideas and send them to Mrs. Serra to get them approved, once she approved them I had to go out and buy the supplies and get them ready for the students. The hard part of this project was finding something that worked with all the students and their disabilities. In the end of this Capstone I have gained experience in working with children with disabilities.


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art therapy

Art Therapy is More than Just Making Nice Pictures

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/art-therapy-is-more-than-just-making-nice-pictures_us_5609be20e4b0af3706dd8e26

This source provides information about art therapy and why it is important for children to be introduced to art. It explains how art therapy isn’t just making nice pictures it is a way of learning.



Art Teaching For a New Age

https://www.chronicle.com/article/Art-Teaching-for-a-New-Age/140117

This source provides information about teaching art to a new age of kids.



Ten Reasons to Let Your Kids Paint

https://picklebums.com/ten-reasons-to-let-your-kids-paint/

This source provides information on why you should let your kids paint.



The Value Of Art Therapy For Those On The Autism Spectrum

https://the-art-of-autism.com/the-value-of-art-therapy-for-those-on-the-autism-spectrum/

This source provides information on how arts and crafts are good for those with autism.


Destiny Patton Capstone-Giorgio 2018

Much of this past year at the Science Leadership Academy (SLA) has been spent crafting a project that means a lot to me. For senior year, we have to create a culminating piece of work, or Capstone, that requires at least 80 hours of work. The direction we choose is 100% up to each student, with the only requirements being 3 week updates on our progress and approval from a teacher and mentor. For my Capstone, I decided to write a children's storybook in German. 

This idea was inspired by an exchange program with SLA and a high school in Frankfurt, Germany that I participated in during my junior year. We visited Frankfurt for a week and ever since then I have been interested in German language and culture. I decided to dedicate my Capstone time to teaching myself German and sharing what I learned. Over the school year, I have used German Rosetta Stone and Duolingo to increase my knowledge of German. While this task was easier said than done, it has been incredibly rewarding to recognize words in a language I knew almost nothing about when before starting the project. 

My final product is a hand written and illustrated children's book. As a person who has not taken an art class since freshman year, I felt myself struggle to draw and paint the pages in the book. That being said, I am incredibly proud of my final product and could not be more happy about how it looks and my personal growth. 

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PHuiH3bqcAD_texh8ywR3q9rtQE5laWGupN3RcMw9Dc

Asher Swartz Capstone

For my capstone, I explored wood joinery. I started with and focused on dovetail joints by hand. I had to do of research at first to figure how to actually make dovetails. I found plenty of sources, I just had to find the right ones. Eventually I found a set of tutorials that were suitable. Then I had to actually try to make the dovetails. While they aren't necessarily extremely difficult, as my mentor told me they're very easy to mess up. I did four dovetails by hand, and one with another method. My first, which I knew from the start weren't going to turn out well, didn't turn out well. For my second set, I used a different hand saw which helped. For the third, I used the bandsaw to see if it improved my work. It did, but not by enough to warrant the hassle. For my fourth I sharpened and improved my tools, which did help. For my fifth, my mentor set me up with and helped me use a dovetail jig to make a rudimentary box. 
My final product is my array of finished dovetails. They are a skill that takes years to master, and I showed my progression with each piece. Each was an improvement on the last. For each one, I took what I learned and augmented it with a new technique. Joinery, especially hand joinery, is a complex and difficult skill, and I only began to scratch the surface with my work.
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1. Bridgewater, Alan, and Gill Bridgewater. Making wood handles, hinges & knobs: the perfect touch for cabinetmaking. Sterling, 1998.

This book, which was recommended and lent to me by my mentor, is probably one of the less useful ones for my specific capstone, but still interesting nonetheless. As I’m not planning on making something with drawers, I most likely won’t have a chance to use the handle making techniques listed in this book. My design isn’t final, however, and depending on the difficulty I may very well decide to add decorative pieces. Also, carving these handles by hand involves a lot of chisel work, which I need to practice. I may create some of the simpler examples to this end.


2. Dahl, Timothy. “How to Cut Gorgeous Dovetail Joints to Up Your Woodworking Game.” popularmechanics.com, Popular Mechanics, 2 Feb. 2016, www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/how-to/a19197/how-to-cut-dovetail-joints-woodworking/. Accessed 22 Jan. 2018.

This source gives me a few resources. It doesn’t contain much information on its own, but it does link to a few other videos. It’s where I found the Paul Sellers tutorial. It also includes two other videos about how to make dovetails using a table saw and router jig. These aren’t methods I’m particularly interested, but they’re good to have nonetheless. Popular Mechanics is an important magazine, that many people read and trust. They don’t usually focus on woodworking, but the videos they link to are sound and from some websites that I use as sources, which I discovered independently.


3. Greef, Jeff. Marvelous wooden boxes you can make. Betterway, 1996.

This book is also from my mentor, meaning it has been read, reviewed, and approved by another woodworker. The author is a professional woodworker that has published articles in Fine Woodworking, among other places. This book doesn’t focus as much on the type of project I will use for my final, but showcases and details projects that would be good to practice fine joinery on. There are a good few chapters on type of dovetailed boxes, as well as other types. It might not be as helpful as some of the other books for my final project, but a major goal and core value of my capstone is improving my finer skills, which making a small, detailed box could help me do.


4. Haydon, G. “How to Dovetail.” Instructables.com, Instructables, 2 Apr. 2013, www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Dovetail/. Accessed 22 Jan. 2018.

Instructables is a source Mr. Kamal swears by. It mostly consists of at home maker uploading their tutorials and how-tos. And yet, many users are very good at doing what they do, and all types of interesting projects end up there. This source is in depth and detailed, and was a little tricky for me to understand at first. Their process is more complicated than the one I used. But it provides good information and an alternate way to do things. It also provides good explanations of how and why to do things, and details measurements to use for other sizes and types of wood, which will come in handy later.

5. Kirby, Ian J., and John Kelsey. Making joints: techniques, tips and problem-Solving tricks. Rodale Press, 1996.

This book, from my mentor, goes into lots of detail amount many types of joints which I will use in my final project. It was the first thing I looked at as it is very good for beginners. It details pretty much anything you would need to know in the process of making joints starting with buying the wood. I used it for my dovetails, but also for mortise/tenon joints and for some project ideas. It’s my all around most useful, generally applicable, resource that I will keep on hand and refer back to as I craft my various projects.


6. Rodel, Kevin. “Coffee Table Puts Joinery on Display.” Finewoodworking.com, FineWoodworking, 1 July 2005, www.finewoodworking.com/membership/pdf/8732/011178038.pdf. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.

Fine Woodworking is a fairly highly regarded magazine that deals with more complex techniques, as the name implies. This article is a detailed description and walkthrough of the making of one particular type of coffee table. It features diagrams and design schematics and instructions and explanations for all of these. The design is meant to show off joinery, so it is a good concept for me to look at. It mainly uses mortise/tenon joints, which I haven’t focused as heavily on. In general, the design and process will make good reference material for my project, and I may use certain elements, but my final design will most likely not be based on this source.


7. Rodriguez, Mario. “All About Dovetail Joints.” FineWoodworking.com, Fine Woodworking, 12 Sept. 2005, www.finewoodworking.com/2005/09/12/all-about-dovetail-joints. Accessed 22 Jan. 2018.

Another source from Fine Woodworking, this article in particular was very informative about some of the history and theory behind dovetails, as well as common types and what each type is best used for. They give some good numbers and ratios to use. They try to include pictures, but none of the links work which limits the effectiveness of this source. This is good for thinking about dovetails, and not much else, as it doesn’t provide much more information. It may have been more useful if I hadn’t also read better, more specific source, but as it stands I didn’t gain much.  


8. Savage, Adam. “Learning How To Make Dovetail Joints with Adam Savage - YouTube.” youtube.com, Tested, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIpN8yWEqNQ. Accessed 22 Jan. 2018.

This source shows someone else’s process learning to make dovetails which is useful in a few ways. Seeing other people learning and making mistakes can warn you of things to do and not to do that watching a master can not. This source is Adam Savage learning how to make dovetails, starting from a similar place as me, sort of. He obviously has a lot more experience, but the type of carpentry I have done is similar to the type he usually does. Adam Savage is an accomplished maker, and has a lot of expertise in many ways forms of making. Seeing someone of his pedigree learn is especially helpful.



9. Sellers, Paul. “How to Make a Dovetail Joint - The Three Joints - | Paul Sellers - YouTube.” youtube.com, Paul Sellers, 17 Feb. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCYjoj6cfno. Accessed 22 Jan. 2018.

This was my main reference in actually creating the dovetails. This source consists of Paul Sellers, a well known master woodworker, going through his process of making dovetail joints by hand. I found references to this on a few other sources, like Popular Mechanics. I watched it once through at the beginning to check if I would be able to do what he does, and he used tools that I had easy access to and a process I could follow. I referred to this video many times while making my first few dovetails because he details his process slowly and clearly. I also used other videos of his as a guide for chisel sharpening.


10. Tables and desks. Time-Life Books, 1994.

A book from my mentor, this one deals with the making of tables and desks. Seeing as how I’m making a table, this provides a lot of information. It talks about important things other sources overlook like wood size changing with moisture, something I was warned to look into. It gives some tables featuring common dimensions of types of projects which I can refer to depending on my design, and diagrams them too. It also shows common joints to use for each application. It goes on through every step of making a table or desk. This will be very helpful when designing my final project.