Brandon Jones Capstone

​For my Capstone, I was decided to apply my knowledge of our core values towards a topic that I've been interested in since childhood. I decided to conduct months of research so that I could learn the in's and out's of creating a Gameboy. However, I didn't want to just create any ordinary Gameboy, but instead one that didn't rely on cartridges to play games. Luckily I came across a Youtuber named Wermy and a website called Sudo Mod, who shared my interest. I watched and read tutorials and decided the best way for me to apply what I've learned was to create a manual that incorporates aspects of the videos I've watched and the tutorials I've read. I chose a manual because not only did it give me a sense of nostalgia, but it let me demonstrate the knowledge I gained. Prior to this project, I had very little experience with computers and programming. After completing this, I feel as though I can understand new and interesting concepts similar to the one that I worked with. Creating this manual has taught me the value of research and how it can be used to create great things.

Link to Manual with pictures:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1GPMuVPqN-i_qim-5QZFDmEphnUMQ8RCejfgAKcLkxag/edit#slide=id.g1dfc0d3581_0_0 

Link to Annotated Bibliography: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dl4Ym_eo5Ui6dS4rBbRz2SbZx9ZSvnR_2q86ArZmn_M/edit

Food Access in Philly

Hi! My name is Simon and I am in SLA. I’m doing my You & The World project about the food access in Philadelphia. We saw in the first post that the food quality is directly related to a lot of criterias, like the place you live in. The price is probably the most important factor, that is why this issue is very controversial and not fair: it is way harder to get healthy and fresh food when you’re disfavored. For more information, click on this link.  


A lot of relevant information have been found since the last post, and I think that I have been very well surprised by the survey responses (even if they are some stain points). The first thing that surprised me is the number of people who are bringing their own lunch at school (26 people ought to 49 responded “yes”), which is a good sign because most of the people who do so bring healthy food. But let’s remember that, sadly, almost 60% of the people don’t!

Screenshot 2017-05-15 at 9.18.18 AM.png

This is the proportion Yes and No on the question, that's a pretty good result!


Secondly, another good point was what people eat at home, for dinner. Out of 49 answers, most of the poeple (like 90%) mentioned pastas or rice with chicken (that’s the most common dish I noticed!) and sometimes with vegetables, like broccoli. I am really nicely surprised on this point because I thought that most of the people use to go to a restaurant eating alone a such of non-healthy food (even if some people said they used to do). In the same register, I saw that people don’t often eat outside of the school, which is also a positive point.


Screenshot 2017-05-18 at 9.01.53 PM.png

As I previously mentioned, a lot of people eat chicken and/or rice!

Through all of the data given, many links can be drawn with my initial researches for the first post. First let’s see the relationship between the area where people live and the quality of the food they eat. In the survey, most of the people considered that they use to eat healthy, let’s analyze this!

Screenshot 2017-05-18 at 3.01.19 PM.png

One of the question of the survey, asking how healthy people think they eat…


As we can see, most of the people (43 out of 49) consider that, on a scale of 5, they give themselves a score between 3 and 4, which is actually pretty encouraging, even if we can reconsider the question of what people consider as healthy.  

While doing researches, I found new interesting facts about the food access in its globality. A very interesting one is the food desert. This is a phenomenon defined as large regions in the country where it gets very hard to get fresh food, mainly fruits and vegetables. In Philadelphia, this pattern is sadly increasing since a while. As says this article and a couple other sources, the issue makes the healthy food access harder for those who don’t live close to grocery stores and have to take public transportations for a long time, around an hour. This issue just complicates even more the organization of the city in term of proximity.


To get all this data, I made a quick survey that I sent by mail to people from my highschool, including few teachers. My questions were mainly answered by multiple choices question or via scales. Before starting, I had a lot of European stereotypes or common says, like that the American East Coast eats very bad food, that most of the people are overweight… This wasn’t very conscious but I was still concerned about it! Obviously, this is kinda true, but not totally. What I mean by this is that a lot of progress are being made, like associations, global realization, and that’s what I took conscious of while doing my researches! My personal opinion is really changing: I think that a lot of the people have the goal to eat healthier, they can just missing ways of doing it.

Though, everything is not totally clear and I am still wondering about few facts. For example, if people use to eat dinner in family, or other habits about food.


For more information, you can check my Annotated Bibliography.


Here is the link to my survey, where all my images are from.  


(sorry for the non-cropped images, slate didn't paste them correctly!)




Amanda Bolli Capstone

Ultimate frisbee

For my capstone I held an ultimate frisbee clinic. I thought this would fit  my interest because after high school I want to continue to play ultimate frisbee and be able to make it to nationals. Everything leading up to the event was prep work for the event. I wanted to bring awareness to the athletic department at Science Leadership Academy. I focused on Ultimate Frisbee because I have been play for fours year and I thought it would be cool to teach others how to either get better at playing or learn how to play in general.  By doing this project I learned to be the leader. It was a challenge to keep my patience because not everyone would pay attention to what was being shown. Doing the prep work was probably the best part of this project. I was looking up drills to run and of course there are so many skill levels and it was hard to chose each drill because I wasn’t sure the skill level that would attend. Overall I think my capstone was a success because everyone who showed up had a lot of fun and as each day came to an end it was like a weight got lifted off of my shoulders.


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Chhievling Seng Capstone

I had done my capstone with TEVA Pharmaceuticals Internship. For my capstone, I had been giving out surveys to the current interns in order to assist my mentors on improving the program through positive and informative feedbacks. I had been giving out the surveys since the start of the school year and had been gathering them in order to evaluate what has been going well and what can be modified. The purpose of my capstone project is mainly to gather feedbacks and present them in a way that would allow my mentors to create new and more enriching activities for us current interns and new coming interns this summer. As a part of this project, I had created a website where I would use the survey responses to write about the overall experiences of the TEVA interns and my personal experience on collecting the surveys, analyzing the responses, and co-facilitating the Women in Stem Panel.



​Click here for the website!


Click here for the bibliography!




Benjamin Simon Capstone

Capstone: http://www.theempireofphilacollegebball.com/


For my capstone, I expanded upon my website called The Empire, which covers college basketball in Philadelphia. When I first started The Empire with my co-founder William Derry, who graduated from SLA one year ago, we had to design a website and create a domain. We also had to find a way to create a following. That started with contacting media representatives at each college to secure press credentials. This way we could interview players and coaches, attend games as media, participate in press conferences, and seize all of the opportunities regular media members have. As a result, we were able to better compete with other sites covering college basketball. 

Over the past year, I’ve continued working on the site and using our press credentials to attend events as media, which were expanded this year. While in our first year we could only go to Penn and St. Joe’s games, this year we secured press credentials at Drexel, La Salle, and Temple. We created a YouTube channel and additionally established a GoFundMe page to help increase resources for the site in the future. Throughout the maturation of the site, I’ve learned about writing, professionalism, and the in’s and out’s of being a true sports journalist. Creating and editing content on near weekly basis has given me constant practice. I’ve also had to learn how to write professional emails and act properly in media events. I’m excited to continue building The Empire as the city's go-to college basketball sites. 

Bibliography: 

Anderson, Monica, and Andrea Caumont. "How social media is reshaping news." Pew Research Center. N.p., 24 Sept. 2014. Web. 02 Feb. 2017. <http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/24/how-social-media-is-reshaping-news/>.

The article is used to understand the ways in which social media is redefining news circulation. The article displays the modern day use of social media in multiple different formats, providing clear infographics, data, and words. It is clearly labeled and touches on a couple topics, including the comparison between varying social media sites, the use of news in social media, and how social media affects the news. The article provides details when to post articles, where to post articles, and how to post articles in order to get the best circulation on social media. The Pew Research Center is a highly regarded group that consistently completes fantastic research. 

Barca, Jerry. "Benjamin Simon Interview with Jerry Barca." Telephone interview. 15 Feb. 2016.

Jerry Barca, a sports journalist for Forbes, completed an interview with me where he spoke about what is expected of journalists who cover college athletics. What are they allowed to do? What aren’t they allowed to do? Where is the line drawn? He has been around the business for awhile and was able to share a lot of his experiences in the interview. Barca is a highly regarded journalist who has written multiple books about sports, including one about the Notre Dame football team in the 1980s. He is an expert on college athletics and has dealt with them since he was in college himself. 

BBC Academy. YouTube. YouTube, 26 Oct. 2015. Web. 02 Feb. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHUn6zSGEJ8>.

The video gives multiple vantage points for the listener to learn about interview techniques. Throughout the video, a narrator explains the skills that he uses as an interview and he then shows examples from his own interviews. The video flashes from the narrator speaking about the techniques he equips with actual interviews to scenes from BBC’s newsroom, where the journalists are having a meeting. The source gives an opinion of interviewing  principles. Instead of reading a source, it was interesting to actually listen to someone’s opinions and hear them put those skills to work in an interview. It helped to visualize and understand how professional journalists navigate through interviews. The video was created by BBC, one of the world’s leading news outlets. They are very successful and it is a result of strong interviews. Their opinion is credible. 

Crichton Danny, Ben Christel, Aaditya Shidham, Alex Valderrama, and Jeremy Karmel. Journalism in the Digital Age. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2017. <https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/2010-11/Journalism/index.html>.

The site focuses on how journalism was once widely recognized as the “fourth estate” of government and how it has changed over the past centuries. It provides an idea of how media needs to progress with the new landscape while also giving background on media’s history over the past century. Where is journalism headed? How can new websites be designed to match that? It is important to understand the trend of journalism before diving head first into it. Written in a scholarly tone, the site was created by students at Stanford and is full of fantastic information that shows its trustworthiness and well researched aspects.

DeMers, Jayson. "50 Free Ways To Increase Your Twitter Followers." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 17 June 2015. Web. 02 Feb. 2017. <http://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2015/06/17/50-free-ways-to-increase-your-twitter-followers/2/&refURL=&referrer=#4f2aa24c6560>.

One of the most important aspects of running a website is having a strong social media following. Twitter is especially significant in the journalism world. In order to build a website in today’s world, a social media presence is imperative. The site was used to help brainstorm ways to better The Empire’s reach on social media. The more followers that a website has on their Twitter page, the more circulation that their articles can receive. The cited article was released by Forbes, one of the most well known business magazines in the world. The author, Jayson DeMers, is a former CEO and founder of a marketing firm. Reliability was not in question when reading the aritcle as it was clear that DeMers had a clear sense of how to build a Twitter brand. 

Feinstein, John. The Legends Club: Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Valvano, and an Epic College Basketball Rivalry. N.p.: Penguin Random House, n.d. Print. 

One of John Feinstein’s most recent books, The Legend’s Club, documents the story behind the historic rivalry between North Carolina coach Dean Smith, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, and North Carolina State coach Jim Valvano. The book gave an in-depth view into college basketball and how it operates. It also displayed how good research has to be done and how to craft a well researched story. The book was written by John Feinstein, who is highly regarded sportswriter, and has written 35 books with two New York Times best sellers. He was also a student at Duke and writer for the school newspaper when Smith, Krzyzewski, and Valvano were coaching. He is very knowledgeable on college athletics and has been around the game for multiple decades. 

Gelb, Zach. "Benjamin Simon Interview with Zach Gelb." Telephone interview. 25 Mar. 2016.

Zach Gelb completed an interview with myself. Gelb is a former WHIP radio host and student journalist for the Temple media outlets, During the conversation, Gelb provided ideas about how to deal with being a journalist covering college athletics. Different than Barca, Gelb is younger and at the time of the interview, he was just finishing his work with the Temple athletics. Temple is one of the teams that The Empire covers, so he was able to specifically reference how to handle working with the Temple athletics department. He also knew how to navigate the newly changing landscape of journalism because of his youth. He provided ideas of how to attract followers, connect with sports information directors, and create connections with other journalists. Gelb is definitely a reliable source which is backed up by his large following and extensive experience journalism experience.

"How to Write a Profile Feature Article." Student Voices. New York Times, 1999. Web. 2 Feb. 2017. <http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/writing/voices.html>.

Writing a feature article is a great way to capture someone or something’s story. In this article, the New York Times captures different ways journalists should go about writing basic feature articles. It gives 14 bullet point tips, along with a longer explanation in paragraph form at the end of the post. The article gives a really clear set up about how journalists should go about writing feature story. The New York Times is one of the world’s most trusted media outlets. They are well respected and have a long track record of success. Although the article was created in 1999 and journalism has since changed, the basics of how to write a feature story is still the same. This source is clear cut, easy to understand, and one of the most direct teachings on feature articles available online. 

Mencher, Melvin. News Reporting and Writing. 8th ed. N.p.: Mcgraw-Hill College, 1999. Print.

The book’s chapter on interview principles provided clear information about how to do a strong interview. It starts with a fictional story about man who is trying to quotes for a good article from a poor interviewee. Throughout the chapter, the author explains the rules interviewers are expected to abide by. The book is used to gather tips about how to create the best article from an interview. It also explains the distinction between interviews for feature articles and news articles. The book is full of great information and is referenced on many sites, including Columbia’s School of Journalism, as a source for learning about journalism techniques. The author of the book, Melvin Mencher, is a Nieman Fellow at Harvard and was teacher at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism for 28 years.  

"Social Media." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2017. <http://ethics.npr.org/tag/social-media/>.

One of the most important aspects of journalism today is social media use. This cited source specifically documents the different guidelines that NPR staff members are expected to follow for social media. It is important to read and understand the NPR social media ethics handbook as an aspiring journalist because it gives clear instructions as to how to handle social media. Although not everyone is a staff worker for NPR, it is helpful to view the expectations that they hold their writers to. This site gives great insight to the do’s and dont’s for their journalists on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or other networks. NPR is one of the country’s most trusted media outlets. It’s legitimacy and track record is a product of how they compile guidelines like the one here.

Kai Burton Capstone

My capstone project is a natural website complete with video testimonials of natural haired beauties, and a lovely photo gallery showcasing the beauty and diversity of natural hair that people of color process. Originally I planned to record a podcast and take a photo shoot for every person I interviewed, but a quarter of the way through the process someone suggested camera interviews and I realized that an on screen interview would demonstrate an even deeper message. I set up a room in SLA that would be used for both interviewing and the photoshoot. I used a black backdrop and asked every person the same questions. I began with basic questions about how different people did their hair and then I transitioned into asking question about how different people interact with their hair. Since I have never taken a digital video or digital photography class at SLA Isabella D’Angelo and Hanna Dunakin assisted me throughout the majority of the process. During the project not only was I able to learn about how people treat and feel about their natural hair, I was also able to learn about how to use recording and editing equipment. Learning about video and photography equipment was not apart of my learning plan for my capstone, but picking up those skills made my capstone even more fulfilling.


Website Link: kburton9.wixsite.com/naturalhair


Link to my bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wCIKCuE7FVG92dz-7yBPp-jLAMQ5EZ89ZqcxNVEwZl8/edit


Annotated Bibliography

Byrd, Ayana. "If Big, Natural Hair is in, Why Don't We See it On Television?" NBCNews.com. NBCUniversal News Group, 27 Jan. 2015. Web. 02 Feb. 2017.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/if-big-natural-hair-why-dont-we-see-it-television-n294016

This source explores the recent movement of natural hair, coming from famous women on screen. The recent increase in celebrities deciding to sport their natural has led to more regular women gaining the confidence to sport their natural hair as well. However, women of color are still not wearing their natural hair on screen. Thi source explores the lack of diversity on screen that leads o a confusion within the movement. Women are asking how they are expected to look up to other black women for their color, if they don’t see the same thing expressed on the big screen.


Byrd, Ayanna and Tharps, Lori. “Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America.” St. Martin’s. 2001, 2014.

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=KERWAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=black+hair&ots=hsUTWNTEmn&sig=epnVycx-Mmd_75J3fm4MNSvj5MY#v=onepage&q=black%20hair&f=false

The stigma of natural hair on black women has been a long fought battle, starting as early as the 1600’s. The issue, however was not prominent until the 1920’s. This novel by Tharps and Byrd tells the struggle of black hair, when black women were first assimilated into the American Society. This source is crucial because it shows the initial struggle of black hair and the movements and waves that black hair has gone through, including the call for a more “uniform” look. I will use this book as a history book of sorts to frame the foundations of this capstone.


Hargro, Brina, "Hair Matters: African American Women and the Natural Hair Aesthetic." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2011.

http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1095&context=art_design_theses

What this source uniquely addresses is the push back from white America to try and rid the country of the uniqueness of black people. The idea of eurocentric beauty comes from the idea of making African American people feel out of place in this world, white world. In an effort to assimilate black people they tried to get rid of of black culture specifically black features, and that is what this article illustrates. The idea of whitewashing America was to make black people feel uncomfortable, because they knew it was not possible for them to completely assimilate to the community.


Johnson, T.A. and Bankhead, T. (2014) Hair It Is: Examining the Experiences of Black Women with Natural Hair. Open Journal of Social Sciences.

http://file.scirp.org/pdf/JSS_2014010814473478.pdf

This source gives information on black hair outside of the context of a prejudice white America. Instead it gives the stylistic timeline of black women who did not succumb to the attempted assimilations of white America. As well as the meaning and story for black hair. In other words it indicates why natural hair is so crucial to the development of black women in this country. The last biggest thing from this source are the prejudices that are present within the community of black women. It answers questions like, why is there a such thing as good and bad hair?


King, Vanessa and Niabaly, Dieynaba (2013) "The Politics of Black Womens' Hair," Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato: Vol. 13, Article 4.

http://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=jur

This journal takes a more personal approach, asking black women how they feel about relaxing their hair or leaving it natural. Taking into account the research behind how actual women feel about their actual hair, takes a more personal approach to the project. It illustrates how effective the idea of euro centricity is getting through to the masses. It also addresses the judgment that some women receive for choosing to relax their hair. It helped me to understand that and empathize with women that I don’t share the same experiences as. Which ultimately adds to the authenticity and reality of my project.


Koff, Stephen. "U.S. military changes rules on women's hairstyles after Rep. Marcia Fudge and Congressional Black Caucus say they show racial bias." Cleveland.com. Cleveland, 13 Aug. 2014. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2014/08/us_military_changes_rules_on_w.html

A popular hairstyle that many women of color chose to wear are dreadlocks. Up until recently the US government did not allow officers of the military to wear this style. Because it was such a prominent part of black culture, I used this source to understand how the government condoned such a blatant racial bias. It shows how not just society but the government accepted the exclusion of black people and turned a blind eye. The government  realized how they were institutionalizing racial bias and got rid of the ban. But it is interesting to see how the ban was conducted.  


Myers, Meghann. "New Army regulations OK dreadlocks for female soldiers." Army Times. Armytimes.com, 5 Jan. 2017. Web. 02 Feb. 2017.

https://www.armytimes.com/articles/new-army-regulations-ok-dreadlocks-for-female-soldiers

This source also explores the ban that the military imposes on natural hair. And dives into how black women felt forced into wearing wigs and relaxing their hair. However this goes more into specifics with other fashions of protective styling that black women tend to sport, such as cornrows and twists. The enforced regulations illustrate how big and how far apart your braids and or twists can be. The army wanted to enforce uniformity, on the other hand, some people saw this as another method of controlling black women. This article addresses how the army regulates all types of hair despite the race of the person.


Sutton, Tajh. "5 Things to Ask the Next Person Who Calls Your Natural Hair 'Unprofessional'" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 11 Apr. 2016. Web. 02 Feb. 2017.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tajh-sutton/next-person-who-calls-hair-unprofessional_b_9661216.html

This article also gives a more personal account of black women interacting with their natural hair in today’s world.  Because natural hair was stigmatized, today the more women who wear their hair naturally the more questions they get asked. The questions get frustrating because natural hair should not be a novelty, but the sad truth is that it is. Some inquiry’s are harmless, but some go as far as to say that natural hair is unclean, dirty, and unprofessional. This article explores the fact that in today’s world, black women are still dealing with critics about their hair from other races.


Thrasher, Steven. "A Personal And Political History Of The Afro." BuzzFeed. Buzzfeed, 5 Nov. 2013. Web. 02 Feb. 2017.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/steventhrasher/a-personal-and-political-history-of-the-afro?utm_term=.dudvMLJbw#.xi2MX9JpE

This source is amazing because it gives the history of the power and message behind the afro. The afro meant more than taking back black natural hair, but it was also a message to the government that black people were not disappearing. This source is unique because although natural hair is back and better than ever there are still negative stigmas attached to having an afro. The issues attached with afro’s also deal with colorism and issues of hair pattern that can be attached to wearing your hair naturally. Great strides have been made but, there are still aways to go, is the point of this article. It is important to recognize the piece of the battle that we still have to fight.


"Natural hair movement drives sales of styling products in US black haircare market." Natural hair movement drives sales of styling products in US black haircare market | Mintel.com. Mintel , 17 Dec. 2015. Web. 02 Feb. 2017.

http://www.mintel.com/press-centre/beauty-and-personal-care/natural-hair-movement-drives-sales-of-styling-products-in-us-black-haircare-market

A big part of black pride is supporting black owned businesses. This article deals with the booming industry that now is the natural hair business. Women are in need of products to support their newly natural hair and are now flocking to companies like shea moisture and jane carter. The companies are supporting black women and black women support them back. The system is making black business boom which is great for all black people. The increase in black business was an unforeseen benefit of women claiming their manes. The new natural hair craze benefits everyone.


Mark Gucciardi-Kriegh Capstone

For my capstone I wanted to push my content creation to it’s limits, so I created numerous new pieces of artwork across a variety of different mediums. My goals were to have two semester long project as well as producing a variety of smaller pieces across the year, eventually compiling them all into a personal portfolio website. Over this past year I have taken over 100 photos, designed 50 unique pieces in photoshop, recorded a podcast, and shot 3 videos.


The process of creating the work wasn’t as challenging as compiling it into a final website to serve as a portfolio, since my work spans across many different mediums. Balancing several projects at once was also a challenge, eventually I stopped recording my podcast because of this, and the music video I shot isn’t in the best shape it could be.


Over the course of the year I have seen a vast improvement in what I have made, comparing the first short video I shot to the second really showcases the jump in quality and confidence in my work. Overall I’m very proud of my capstone, despite falling victim to my own ambition. The skills I have learned and developed through this process will stay with me for the foreseeable future.


Link to website Markkriegh.com (due to hosting issues it hasn't been updated to latest build)
Link to my instagram and youtube hosting most of my content from this year.


Jared Bauer Capstone

​Jason Greene II and I founded the Sports Statistics and Analysis Club in January of 2016. We wanted to expand our reach to middle schoolers and decided to teach basic lessons about sports statistic. Originally we targeted working with older eighth graders at Greenfield, however, they did return our calls. We turned our attention to fifth graders at Science Leadership Academy Middle School (SLAM). We thus reinvented our idea for the content of the lessons. Instead of focusing on more complex weighted averages we began focusing on topics such as calculating averages (with and without a calculator) and bar graphs. For each lesson (excluding the last lesson where the children presented their final projects) we created a slideshow to go through with them. At the end of the first lesson we assigned them a project  (which I will also put as part of this submission). In summary, the students were asked to calculate ten averages from either the MLB or the NBA. The final presentations were not as successful as we hoped due to the gap between our third and fourth lessons, as SLAM focused on PSSA prep for six weeks.  By that time many of the students had forgotten about what we had taught them, which made the final presentations messy and not focused on the math. However, Jason and I firmly believe that if the lessons would have been closer together there would have been a great increase in the quality of presentations.

Project Description:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MM7lFjwAXWp5o9QNQi35hdaNxYYuUkJjC8AOLYq6DfI/edit

Lesson Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/u/1/d/1dSYmI-b20-D2jT2tLBJM7BN0KOPlaD9RwvBe-m0iTn8/edit?usp=drive_web

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1y3H3vdKH-crrE7cSrvyAZZZxpVOKpgfoOz9w8tlLCaw/edit#slide=id.g1b3fa04b50_0_45

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_HWvShg834gYVdWHU3eTrzKzOO26U71k2bzI2PwMKbQ/edit#slide=id.p

Photos of Students Presenting:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx0m9poGPxVNNkxBUVpWUS1QUVU


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Sianneh Vesslee Capstone

For my Capstone I had the chance to look at how Cuba reports it’s news and what kind of information do the Cuban people have access to. I decided to do this project because I had the opportunity to go to Cuba with eight other girls and four teachers for a program. I chose this as my research project to cover while I was there. For my final project, I decided to write an article myself and talk about my experience and how they report their news and what the Cuban people see in the media. It was very challenging at first to get real answers from the people that we were able to talk to, which made sense considering how strict their government is. However, the more we got to interact with people like our tour guide and the speakers, the more I was able to understand that they word their answer in a certain way to answer my question. I was started to catch on and see that their problem are subtle and we can say whatever and do whatever you want, but it’s what you do and say that get you in trouble or labels you as trouble maker. It was a very eye opening experience and it made me want to not only visit Cuba again, but also travel to more places and learn about different cultures

Article: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MWHF2_IIlkYCCWX1JVQnhq2XLJ4dtVMjfdyrC1YFUSY/edit?usp=sharing 
 Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cu1uG3zGRvKO_m55ah9RFBzvmYUQd3lkmfFPr7AJyFs/edit

Original Research and Planning: You And The World Project

In blog post #1, the issue of the effect on children with an incarcerated parent or parents was discussed. In the first blog post, we learned that a child with an incarcerated parent tend to have behavioral issues, and cannot cope or be around other people and kids that have normal families. The effects are wrecking, and can sometimes last a lifetime, but some are temporary. Their behavior, social life, education, health, and daily life periods are affected in some type of way. Since the first blog, my research has expanded and more information has been collected. Important information like the effect of behavioral issues to why the gender of the parent matters has been deeply investigated. Proper original research was handled and taken into consideration. Here are more details about parental incarceration and the effect it has on children and teens.


To get a deeper understanding, I chose to do an interview. This interview specifically targeted a  child or teenager who have or had a parent going through incarceration. I wanted to also interview someone who was more mature and comfortable talking about their issues. In that,  I asked my sister Nashay McCord if she could take part in my project and complete the interview. She said yes and created a movie/video answering the interview questions. From this original research and source, I learned that incarceration affects everyone differently and there are different responses to some of the same situations.


Nashay during the interview sharing her opinion.
Nashay during the interview sharing her opinion.
In the interview, Nashay stated that she has major anger issues that she can’t seem to control. Part of this is because her father is incarcerated and sometimes unable to reach her and calm her down. Often there are situations where you need a certain parent of a certain gender to help with certain issues. Completing this interview helped to finalize and make certainty of children being deeply affected by parental incarceration. Also from this interview and further research, I learned that the effects follow you as you get older and become more exposed to life and the situations and people that it brings along. As you will see in the video, I asked questions like, how does parental incarceration personally (socially, educationally, and daily) affects you? Do you feel that the communication between you and your father could be improved? What is your opinion about the justice system creating fair and easy ways for you and your parent to communicate better and see each other more? Reasons I asked these questions was to get a solid answer about a teenagers affected life. Me and my sister are two different people struggling with the same problem. So to see her responses and to compare them with my own personal opinions, now I see that incarceration is handled differently by certain people. Not all have the same effects and not all can grasp the understanding of controlling themselves and getting through certain situations. This information doesn’t just go for the two of us, but is widely broad and applies to everyone who has or is experiencing parental incarceration.

Me and Nashay's father. A picture of him that was taken and sent to me and Nashay.
Me and Nashay's father. A picture of him that was taken and sent to me and Nashay.
Just a few of the letters and pictures my father wrote and sent to me throughout the years of his incarceration.
Just a few of the letters and pictures my father wrote and sent to me throughout the years of his incarceration.

Anastasia Petropoulos Capstone

Through 2016 into 2017 I studied the responsibilities of a Mitigation Specialist. Mitigation is a practice in the field of criminal justice which consists of heavy research within cases concerning defendants involved in crimes strongly concentrated on homicide. Mitigation specialists investigate and collect all records and contacts documented throughout their client’s life in order to compile a timeline of the information. Mitigation can be very valuable in regards to the sentencing of a defendant.
I became interested in this topic through my kickboxing teacher, Erin, who went to school for psychology and is currently working with a non-profit organization called YSRP, Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project, to mitigate the cases of juvenile lifers in Pennsylvania. After agreeing to be my mentor, Erin provided me with various sources including redacted files of pre sentencing social history’s, a mitigation workbook, and a two-day Mitigation Training Series in Baltimore. These sources gave me insight to the type of information I would be gathering and the tools to use during my investigations. The climax of my research were the two juvenile lifer resentencing trials I attended with Erin. They were very emotional days, however I learned that without the help of mitigation these men might have never been given a second chance at life outside of prison.  Throughout my delve into the field of mitigation I have composed a file of all of the notes and documents that are crucial to the profession, which you can view with the link below.


This capstone has aided me in the decision to pursue this field professionally at John Jay College of Criminal Justice!

Bibliography:

Indee Phillpotts Capstone

For my capstone I wanted to further my sewing skills and incorporate some form of media while being able to do something creative. I decide to create a clothing line that I then did a photoshoot for. For the first couple of months of the process my main focus was on designing and sewing the clothes. I chose all of the fabric that was used and based some designs off of video tutorials or pictures I saw online. After creating all of the pieces I found models for each look as well as the location for the shoot. During the morning of the shoot I supervised hair and makeup and with the help of one of my mentors styled each model. All of the photos used were taken by myself. The pictures were then edited and used to create a website which showcases each piece, kind of like an online look book or magazine spread. Working on this project helped me expand my knowledge in sewing and designing. I now know how much time, effort, and energy goes into each part of making clothing, editing pictures, and creating a website. I plan on expanding and continuing to use this project as a platform for the things I love to do.


Website link: https://empresselona.wixsite.com/theempressline


Link to annotated bibliography: https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1KqZpXuhPPNbYim1XowsFBjSkMPE3rpAd7rtsNZG_NXE/edit?usp=sharing



Gabrielle Cromley Capstone

For my Capstone, I coached a PeeWee softball team consisting of seven and eight year old girls for the 21st Ward Fillies Softball League. Throughout the fall and winter, I researched sports psychology in children, coaching methods, the impact of team sports on children, as well as drills and games. During these months, I helped with moving the equipment to storage for winter after the fall ball season ended. I also worked to prepare the concession stands, fields, equipment, and team for the opening day. During March, I made my own drills and practice plans with the guidance of my fellow coaches. Practices began in April and we have practice for an hour twice a week. I am now beginning to incorporate my practice plans into them as well as lead practice. Since opening day in April, the team has had eight games and stands with a record of 6 wins and 2 loses.

Throughout my research and experience with coaching, I learned that teaching children is arduous and requires creating fun, innovative, and memorable lessons so that they have an impact on the child. I also realized how important it is for children to grow up with a healthy lifestyle and how sports cause social and mental growth with competitiveness, teamwork, and compassion. I will coach this team for the rest of the season and I will continue my passion for softball by being an assistant coach for the Science Leadership Academy Rockets in the fall.

Photo Album, Drill/Practice Plans, & Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lHR99r5D1aT_wC16XoJpc-llMS6r0-sucDyGGOjNdIY/edit

Feeding Starving Children- Road to Recovery

Blog Post #2

Siarra Cummings

Feeding Starving Children

In my first blog post I told you guys that I decided to do my project on feeding starving children. My first post was basically about my views on the issue and my passionate reasons on making this more aware. I talked about different organizations I would like to get involved with like feed my starving children organization. Also a little background story on why I chose to do my You and the World project about this topic.   

I decided to go deeper in my research of starving children and I looked at the whole world and what they were doing about it. One of the website I came across is Do Something. Do something is an organization that lists facts about world hunger and gets the word out.  They do different campaigns across the world and take action on feeding starving children. 98% is the percentage of world hunger that is in underdeveloped countries. Most countries in Asia and Africa has the highest count of people suffering from hunger. 1 in 15 children die from being malnourished in underdeveloped countries as well. Sometimes it’s not about whether or not a parent can feed a child, it’s about where they live and if they have enough resources to get food. Some parents don’t have the right resources to get out of the places they live and affects their family and them as well. The organization’s main focus is on everyone not just children and I think that’s important too.  


This is a map from Unicef about children in different countries dieing from hunger related issues. Most of the children dieing reside in Africa and Asia as I stated in the last paragraph. Every 10 seconds a child dies from hunger related issues and it’s sad.  We lose about 3 million children every year from cases like this. That’s why I wanted to research this problem and see what people were doing about it. The problem is decreasing since organizations like FMSC and the Hunger Project have gotten involved.

In my research I have learned a lot of things about my topic. People are aware of starving children and they are doing something about it. I decided to research more on what people are doing about it and what countries are doing well with helping others. Most of you already know about the Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) organization that was stated in my last blog post. They are one of the biggest organizations worried about this problem in the world but we need more. I decided to look up organizations that were helping kids with hunger and a website that popped up was Save The Children.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to complete my interview for my project but I did get most of my questions answered from the Feed My Starving Children organization. I already knew that they were a Christian organization but I wanted to know why. When I talked to one of the ladies that worked at the organization she said the it’s God who call them out to give food to the malnourished children. Like when I went to one of their packing sites every time they ship food out to children they don’t know sometimes if it’s actually gonna get there (thankfully 99% of the meals get where they need to go). So they pray over the food and I think it was a wonderful thing to experience and watch. One of their main saying is food is the foundation, it all starts with the food. As of now they have 3 nutritional based foods. Each pack of food serves a different purpose. They have Manna Pack Rice which is their first product and what they make the most of. They get volunteers to actually make these Manna Pack foods so we can all help and have that purpose.

Check out my annotated bibliography for more!

The First Look Into the Truth

The First Look Into the Truth

In the previous blog post, I talked about two things: deep poverty in Philadelphia and hunger as a result of it. In this blog, I’ll be talking about the same thing, except it’ll be told by a woman who has been through the worst possible situations. But before I tell her story, I have to inform the new viewers about what deep poverty is.

IMG_7517 (2).JPGThis is a picture my mom took of me while writing down notes I took when I was conducting my interview. I was writing down what the lady was saying and made notes to myself.


Deep poverty is when someone is living under the income of $6,000 a year. The difference between poverty and poverty is that you would have to be making under $20,000 a year to be considered living in deep poverty. Even though Philadelphia has the highest number of people who are living in deep poverty within the Nation’s most 10 populous cities, it has a low range of homeless people living on the streets. About half the people living in poverty are living in deep poverty. I personally thought with the amount of people living in deep poverty that the number of homeless people would be more than 700 in Philadelphia.

IMG_7518 (1).JPGThis is a picture of me talking to the lady. I was asking her a question about her experience with hunger.

For the original research plan, I conducted a formal interview about a 26 year old African American’s experience. I was originally going to do a field observation, but I couldn’t arrange a time for one. The questions that were asked to the person I interviewed were basic, straightforward questions. I’m going to include some question and answers that I think are important to hear. I started off the interview by saying my name and what the interview was about; Kyla Gladney-Enos and deep poverty. I then told the time and the date; 7:19 PM on May 5, 2017.

The first question was, “How long have you lived in deep poverty and what was your experience like?" She answered, “Umm, I’ve been living in deep poverty since I was about 16. It’s kind of hard, but if you know how to make it work, then it’s not as hard as you think it is.” I didn’t know a lot of people have budget plans, but they do. I’m starting to think more and more people are coming up with plans. The second question was, “Did you ever experience hunger? If so, how did you manage paying your bills and feeding yourself? If not, what did you do to help yourself not be hungry?” She answered, “Umm, yeah, I experienced hunger a couple times. Uh, I would just like work. If I was working, I would always try to pay half of the bills, and try to buy food with the other money.”

IMG_7678.JPGThis is a picture of my work after I was finished taking notes. The left monitor has the interview questions, while the right monitor has my notes.

Writing the questions were not that hard. I didn’t spend a lot of time stressing over my questions. While I was asking the questions, I should have asked more questions about her answers because that would have given me a deeper look into her life. My questions were answered the way I wanted them to be answered. She answered them in complete sentences and gave a brief synopsis of her experience. I already knew a lot about this topic, so I didn’t really learn anything shocking, but some of the things she said surprised me. I personally think kids who grow up in poverty have a hard time getting out of it because that’s what they know. I’m still wondering how people who are living in deep poverty don’t wind up being homeless because as time goes on, prices of simple things start to increase. For my Agent of Change part of this project I think I’ll make a care package for the lady I interviewed. I’ll have nice quotes and museum information that she could use.


This is the link to the recorded interview, and this is the link to my annotated bibliography!

Cacy Thomas Capstone

Writing music is hard, and writing good music is even harder. These were the two main thoughts that ran through my mind while completing my Capstone. My original project idea was to write a full album, but as time went on and I evolved as an artist, I noticed not all of my music was inspired by the same ideas. There was no central theme between songs and I did not feel right about producing a bunch of music just to reach the count needed for a full album. So out of the 10 songs I have written, I took the 4 most recent and made them into an EP, and I cannot say how happy I am with my decision to do so.

I learned a lot in the process of making this EP. The main takeaways I gathered were that collaboration is key, time management is huge, and preparing for failure is a must. Throughout the school year I learned so much about who I wanted to be as an independent artist, but really I learned the most while actually recording my songs. After 2 failed attempts, I was finally able to record my music much later than I anticipated. Due to time constraints I was unable to perfect my vocal recordings as much as I would have liked to, but nonetheless I am proud of what I have done.


If you'd like to learn more about my inspiration for this project check out my annotated bibliography here.

If you'd like to listen to my music you can find it here on my Bandcamp page.

Thanks!
Stuck Cover
Stuck Cover

Yasmeen Collins Capstone

Throughout this year I have been working with Wordsworth to complete my capstone. The community umbrella agency changes the lives of families and guarantees that they will have a safe and healthy life. Wordsworth has the ability to help children conquer different behavioral problems, emotional, physical abuse, homelessness, and more. They provide homes for children and a safe environment for parents to come to when they need to see their children. My capstone consists of me working side by side with one of the directors to host an event for children who are traveling from home to home and need the basic toiletries to carry with them (toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, etc.) I had hoped that I would be able to have the gift bags set up on a table and as the families came in for a visit I could hand them out. However, after having a meeting with my mentor I found out that I was unable to take pictures of the families and personally give them the gift bags due to restrictions around confidentiality. Therefore, I left them at the agency and throughout the course of the week case managers brought a gift bag to each of the children. After completing this capstone project I have given a deeper thought into “it’s the little things that matter” because after coming back to see how everything went the families were grateful and the children were happy to have something of their own. In the end that made me feel good because I was able to be a catalyst for change.


Bibliography:



  • "Turning Points for Children Community Umbrella Agency Services | Philadelphia, PA, Child Abuse Prevention, Foster Care Services." Turning Points for Children Community Umbrella Agency Services | Philadelphia, PA, Child Abuse Prevention, Foster Care Services. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.


I included this source because it directly relates to my capstone. I am working with this agency and giving the baskets filled with toiletries to the case managers. They will hand them out to the families during “supervision” which is the time that a parent has to spend time with their child. This agency finds placement for children and offers opportunities for children to live better lives. As we know, these children are experiencing lot’s of different changes that aren’t necessarily positive, but having the necessities they need will be helpful and make them feel more comfortable when going to a new place.


  • Statement:


This statement explains how the Community Umbrella Agency is helpful and this event will be beneficial to the children. It also gives a brief overview of some positions people have at the job and how they support the children. I am working side by side with the director to grasp an understanding of how things work, what days will be good to host the event, etc. Also, this statement written by my outside menor gives some insight on how my capstone is personally useful and puts them at an advantage. I selected this source because I thought this was interesting a different type of source to include into my bibliography.


  • "ACF Family Room Blog: New Data will Benefit Foster Children and Adoptive Families." Child Welfare Information Gateway. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.


This source provides information about child welfare and foster care among children in America. I selected this source because it gives a better explanation of what the agency's purpose is and how my capstone can be applied. It explains the process and how things work within the organization. Lot’s of resources are incorporated into this source and it allows you to view the different types of data and statistics. This source is helpful if you are trying to understand the procedure. This source isn’t directly related to my project, but it gives some background of the overall point of this source.


  • Article: CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.


This source provides information about how foster children have little to no support and resources in their lives. Often foster children are moved from home to home until they reach 18 and they aren’t given anything. My capstone provides small toiletries (soap bars, shampoo, toothpaste, etc.) so that they have some things to travel with. This will ensure that they are more comfortable and have some things for themselves. I found this source useful because children aren’t always comforted properly when going through these different changes in their lives so they need all the help that can be given to them.


  • University, Princeton. "The Future of Children, Princeton - Brookings: Providing research and analysis to promote effective policies and programs for children."  - The Future of Children -. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.


Children who are in foster care are more at risk when it comes to behavior problems and expressing their emotions. Often they travel from home to home and have nothing of their own. My capstone gives them a chance to have somethings with them and make their stay at different places more pleasant. This source also fits into my interests and life goals because I want to reach out to the community and be able to perform outstanding works of community service. I feel like I could improve the community service and this project would be a great way to get involved.


  • "For reasons of poverty: a critical analysis of the public child welfare system in the United States." Choice Reviews Online 27.10 (1990): n. pag. Web.


This source is in a form of a book and it explains the safety permanency and well being of children in the Philadelphia county child welfare system. This book includes different fields pertaining to social work, psychology, sociology etc. I selected this source because it helps to clarify several different concepts related to my topic. Having sources that aren’t directly related, but still apply are important because they give an overview of everything. This will provide the audience with some evidence of the job description and how children are put into place for different things. Also, books give a deeper understanding of things and make you view things from a different perspective.


  • Kortenkamp, Katherine, and Jennifer Ehrle Macomber. "The Well-Being of Children Involved with the Child Welfare System: A National Overview." Katherine Kortenkamp. The Urban Institute, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.



I selected this source because the children experience a lot of trials and tribulations throughout their life. They are forced to leave their homes and move from place to place without any of their belongings sometimes. Having my capstone at this place will help the children to feel more secure and like they have something of their own. Children in the welfare system don’t usually feel at home and experience a lot of emotional issues. Creating baskets filled with toiletries and taking time to focus on them individually will mean a lot and be very useful. These children should be put first.




  • "Minority Children and the Child Welfare System: An ..." N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2017.


Even when children are put into the system they aren’t always treated the best. If they have some type of support then they can feel like they can depend on someone. I selected this source because it has some statistics, research studies, and more. It provides information about foster children in general and how the process works and what happens. My senior capstone is for all children and on this website it talks about discrimination that occurs between the children and other negative things. This article makes good points about children in the welfare system and examines many different things.       



  • Robertson, Marjorie J. "Homeless Youth: Research, Intervention, and Policy." N.p., n.d. Web.


Children who are apart of the system have experienced some type of abandonment and have to learn to cope with that. These children experience different types of abuse, go through intellectual problems, and more. Although my capstone won’t fix these issues it will assist them when it comes to needing something and having that feeling of knowing someone cares. This policy that I read talks about mental health, different studies, and homelessness among children. This isn’t exactly a source that would usually be used for my topic, but it does have a few points that talk about problems, changes, history, etc.



  • "Homeless Children and Youth." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.


I selected this source because unlike the source above it is in a form of a book so it’s more personal. It identifies the youth; struggle and more. Many people overlook the type of baskets I’m going to prepare for the children, but in reality they are much needed. The agency I’m working with is open and focused on the well being of children and making sure they are first. The agency is involved with the families and interacts with them often so that everyone that comes in feels like they have a place. Working side by side with this agency is beneficial to them and also helps me.




Logan Smith Capstone

Baking has alway been a passion of mine. Though I bake all the time there are many avenues of baking I haven’t explored. For my Capstone I am creating a Bakery Blog called Mad Batter. To create my blog I will be using wix.com. With this blog I will be baking different desserts and writing about my progress or faults as a baker, the difficulties of the dessert, and how much my friends/family liked it. I was also able to learn more about baking in general and will be sharing my opinions on the perfect desserts. As a senior I am trying to determine a career to choose, since baking is a prominent part of my life I would like to explore this passion and maybe be able to determine if this is a career I want for the rest of my life. Since I will be baking I had a chief as my mentor, her name is Kimberly White. She has recently graduated from a culinary school and has baking training so it was great to learn some of her skills. Even though this project was for a my capstone I had so much fun cooking and experimenting with different recipes.


Website Link: 

https://lsmith603.wixsite.com/madbatter

Bibliography:
  1. Doucleff, Michaeleen. “Cookie-Baking Chemistry: How To Engineer Your Perfect Sweet Treat.” NPR, NPR, 3 Dec. 2013,

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/12/03/248347009/cookie-baking-chemistry-how-to-engineer-your-perfect-sweet-treat

This source provides information about the chemistry of cookie baking. While baking is an art it is also a science, filled with chemical reactions. By playing with ingredients in any recipe it’s chemical reactions can be tweaked to make the perfect cookie. The website first considers the three major steps to baking cookies;the spread, the rise, and the color/flavor injection. During the spread the cookie loses its structural integrity causing the cookie to lose its ball shape and spread. What causes the cookie to rise is the water in the dough, as the cookie starts to rise the vapor pushes through the dough.  Soon the baking soda and powder start to break down causing the cookie to rise further. Lastly the color and flavor is cause by caramelizing, the sugar in the cookie breaks down turning into fragrant brown liquid giving the cookie it’s taste and smell. The second process that cause flavor and color is called the Maillard reactions darkens the cookie and gives the cookie it’s nutty flavor. One small change in the cookie could change the cookie. For example if the butter is melted the dough will be wetter and spread farther.


  1. Dispatch, Charlie Boss The Columbus. “Cakes & Chemistry: the Science of Baking.” The Columbus Dispatch, The Columbus Dispatch, 24 Nov. 2013,

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/science/2013/11/24/1-cakeschemistry.html

Food is very complicated, because it includes basic science. Each ingredient has a job, that make a cake edible but also stable. For example flour provides the structure and baking soda gives the cake it’s airness. All of the dry ingredients have to be mixed in the right order because they are all competing for water, if mixed wrong it could make your cake clumpy. This sources is useful to me because it emphasize how important it is to follow a recipe. If I put my ingredients in the wrong order then I could ruin the pastries I am making .


  1. Erdos, Joseph. “Butter vs. Margarine: Which Is Better For You (And For Baking)?” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 20 May 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/20/butter-vs-margarine_n_1363458.html

This sources explains the Differences between butter and margarine and which one is better to use in baking. Butter is better for baking because it contains a high fat content which gives the best result of flakiness and tenderness. On the other hand butter has high cholesterol and saturated fat. Margarine is good for cooking but is bad for baking. Though margarine isn’t good for baking it is healthier. Margarine has zero trans fat, low saturated fat and zero cholesterol. This website is usual full to me because when it comes to baking I want to make my pastries healthy but also taste. By knowing the difference between butter and margarine I now know what effect each has on my pastries.




  1. Severson , Kim. “Red Velvet Cake: A Classic, Not a Gimmick.” The New York Times , The New York Times Company , 12 May 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/14/dining/red-velvet-cake-from-gimmick-to-american-classic.html?_r=0

Red Velvet has taken the world by storm. The cocoa cake with the red undertone is the base of items from lattes to candles. By the 1930 the recipes for red velvet cake were showing up in the West Coast and Mideast. It is most likely that this cake started with the elites. Meanwhile in Austin, Texas John A. Adams was selling vanilla cake and red dye thus making a lot of money.  Many companies used this tactic to trick the people into thinking they had red velvet cake, making red velvet very popular during World War II. Armed with dye and recipes cooks fanned out  to promote their product. From there the cake soon became a top seller.



  1. Duszynski, Elizabeth. “Candace Nelson of Sprinkles Cupcakes.” The Everygirl, The Everygirl LLC, http://theeverygirl.com/feature/candace-nelson-of-sprinkles-cupcakes

This source is an interview of Candace Nelson, not only does she own her bakery, Sprinkles Cupcakes, she is also a judge on the show Cupcake Wars. Throughout the interview Candace explains what affected her decision to go into the cupcake business and how she learned to run a business.  The interview also includes the difficulties of finding the perfect spot for her business and how difficult it was own a business at such a young age. Considering that I want to review all the aspects of baking/owning a bakery it is helpful for me to know the complications that come with owning a bakery. This interview is also tells me that it is possible to own a bakery at a young age and be successful.



  1. Chen, Susannah. “Are Sorbet, Sherbet, and Sherbert the Same Thing?” POPSUGAR Food, 31 May 2014, http://www.popsugar.com/food/Difference-Between-Sorbet-Sherbet-Sherbert-7216977

Though sorbet, sherbet and sherbert seem to sound the same they are slightly different. Sorbet is generally a fruit-based frozen treat. Sorbet doesn’t contain any milk or dairy product. Sherbet is similar to sorbet in the fact that it is fruit based, the only difference is that sherbet contains less than 3% of milk. If sherbet contain more milk than 3% it would be consider ice cream. Lastly in other parts of the world sherbert is a fizzy powder stirred into drinks. It is useful that I know the difference between these frozen treats because they are often confused for each other. By knowing the difference I am improving my knowledge of all treats.

  1. Sever, Shauna, and Leigh Beisch. Real Sweet: More than 80 Crave-Worthy Treats Made with Natural Sugars. New York, William Morrow, 2015.

Though a sweet should never be healthy this source has provided multiple ways to make a treat both sweet and a little healthier. The book gives a detailed list of real sugars that can easily swap out the fake sugar with. Considering that 80% of the world white sugar is processed until it is unrecognizable. The book also goes into detail about the health benefits of grains and starches., natural add ins to give the sweet flavor and the  tools needed to make your sweets,  Just like any bakery I need a recipe book. This sources clearly explains the recipes and step by step instructions to insure that my sweet is the best.



  1. Doutre-Roussel, Chloé. The Chocolate Connoisseur: for Everyone with a Passion for Chocolate. New York, Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2006.

This source provide a brief history of chocolate. In 1000 BC cocoa trees were growing in the  Amazon. From 600-1500 AD the Mayans and Aztecs used this cocoa to make a spicy drink. Slowly the recipes for this delicious treat spread over Europe then soon reached England. By 1765 chocolate arrived in America and the first chocolate factory opens in Dorchester, Massachusetts.  The love of chocolate soon spread all across America. By 2004 about 600,00 cocoa beans are eaten per year and only 5% are used in chocolate bars. I think this sources is useful because it is teaching me the history of a main ingredient in the cooking considering most pastries are surrounded by chocolate.


  1. Klopfer , Brady. “8 Tricks That Make Boxed Cake Mix Taste Like Homemade.”WonderHowTo, WonderHowTo, Inc, 8 Oct. 2015,https://food-hacks.wonderhowto.com/how-to/8-tricks-make-boxed-cake-mix-taste-like-homemade-0162021/

Boxes cakes always get mixed reactions, some people sing their praises while other berate them. In either case a box cake can always be improved.  This website list eight tricks to improve a box cake. For example milk can be substituted for water to make your cake taste instantly homemade. Or add mayo to improve the texture of the cake. There are going to be times when I don’t want to make a cake from scratch so by using these tricks I will be able to have the taste of a homemade cake but the easiness of a cake from the box. I can also share these tricks with family and friends to help them improve their cakes.


  1. Kohnke, Luane, and Stacey Cramp. Gluten-Free Cookies: from Shortbreads to Snickerdoodles, Brownies to Biscotti: 50 Recipes for Cookies You Crave. South Portland, Me., Sellers Pub., 2011.

One thing that makes a cookie is gluten without gluten baked goods could become rubbery or to crumbly. On the other hand some people can’t have gluten because it makes them sick, thus gluten-free sweets were born. The Gluten Free Cookie book explains what is gluten free and can be included in a cookie such as nuts, fruits, eggs, and salt. Most of these things people already have in their refrigerator. It is also to useful to know because it also breaks down exactly what I would need to change to adjust my sweet treats. This sources is helpful to know because if I were to own a bakery I could serve those that can’t have gluten.


Felix Schafroth Doty Capstone

Film is my life. For the past two years I've been consumed by filmmaking and other related hobbies and they've turned into a career. As a content creator it's hard to kickstart a career without a portfolio. My capstone was to create a 'personal portfolio,' a summary of my work here at SLA, and a representation of who I am as an artist. To present all of my artwork I created an instagram, @SD.THE.DP, and a website.

I love photography. To keep myself constantly taking pictures I tried 'a picture a day.' This didn't quite work out, but I did take pictures almost every single day and I've posted regularly on instagram. Currently I have a portfolio of 16 images that you can find on my website.

I love filmmaking and have become more and more interested in the art of cinematography, so I created a cinematography reel. All of the shots included are mine, and I also edited the reel itself with a little help from Lyle Seitz' music. It isn't so much the reel that's my capstone, it's all of the films I've made over the last two years at SLA. You can find my reel and three of my best films on my website.

Basically, this capstone is me turning my passion into my career, and it's starting right now. Tomorrow I'll use this website in an interview to get a job as a film instructor.

MY WEBSITE (with my cinematography reel and photography portfolio): https://schafrothdoty.wixsite.com/website
MY INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/sd.the.dp/

MY ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:


B and H. YouTube, 22 Nov. 2011. Web. 03 Feb. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIMCFVlbEz8>.


This is a two hour long talk that I watched in chunks to learn every little detail about The Headshot (professional portrait style photograph). This style of photo comprises the bulk of my paid work, so watching this in depth talk by one of the most successful headshot photographers working today was a treat. I got to apply a lot of this knowledge in some of my earlier photoshoots, and cannot stress enough how much this talk has helped me reflect on my own shoots, as well as teach me things independently of my own experiences.


Kenworthy, Christopher. Master Shots. Vol. 1, 2, &3. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2011. Print.


This book was an inspiration. It’s a compilation of cinematic shots and movement. The book is a fascinating translation from the cinema to the page. It’s also a really in depth lesson, and takes me from basic cinematography to something more advanced and applicable.


Nerdwriter1. YouTube, 23 Mar. 2016. Web. 03 Feb. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgnNakO6JZw>.


It’s hard to pick a favorite video essay from the channel “Nerdwriter1” but I can try. This video in particular is on Hitchcock blocking a scene. The entire channel is a goldmine when it comes to video essay content and production. There’s a focus on film, but there are also video essays on politics, literature, and other forms of art. I use this channel as a resource but also an inspiration when making my own video essays.


No Country For Old Men. Dir. Coen Brothers. Perf. Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, and Tommy Lee Jones. Paramount, 2007. Online.


This film is another inspiration. I think, personally, that it might be the perfect film. It uses clinical camerawork and reserved close ups and movement to hold the audience at the edge of their seat. I aspire to make something this great someday.


Profoto. YouTube, 26 May 2015. Web. 03 Feb. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbPS6-KFStE>.


This is another video/talk/guide from the same photographer who talked about headshots, Peter Hurley. This one is about lighting the face on location, something I have had to do on every single photo or video project, either paid or for school or for fun, and a skill I am learning to master. As a cinematographer and photographer, lighting is one of the most powerful tools in my toolbelt, and I can use lighting of the face to enhance the talent on screen. This video taught me a lot of what I know about lighting the face, and ever since I watched it about a year ago I have put an effort into lighting every single production I take apart in.


Pyter, Mariya, David Greenberg, and Andrew Karasik. "Panel Discussion #3 (Making a Feature)." Rough Cut Film Festival. Philadelphia, PA. 19 June 2016. Lecture.


This panel discussion was centered around the viewing of and discussion about a feature called “Stomping Ground.” The movie was produced in a single day with a shoestring budget (if any budget at all) and was proof to the audience of the lecture that a feature film was attainable. It has been a very informative and influential experience, and while I don’t aspire to create a film like “Stomping Ground,” I learned more from that panel discussion than I have in entire weeks of lecture in other classes.


Pyter, Mariya, Pascal, and Douglas Herman. "Workshop #2 (Directing)." Rough Cut Film Festival. Philadelphia, PA. 18 June 2016. Lecture.


This workshop has been the richest two hours of film experience I have had so far in my career. It was centered around the production of a sample short film, and was guided by a professional Director and a professional Cinematographer. Every attendee at the workshop was filling some required role in the production of the film, and I was AC, or Assistant Camera. The preceding workshop centered on Cinematographer, and these two combined are still my favorite experience in learning filmmaking that I have ever had.


Quiet Cinematography - Floating Weeds. Perf. Andrew Saladino. The Royal Ocean Film Society. YouTube, 2 Feb. 2016. Web. 3 Feb. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ra0xEQ8yaU>.


As I enter the trade being specifically a cinematographer, I have had to form my own opinions on cinematography as an art form, and what constitutes good or correct cinematography. This video essay which I saw only recently put a lot of my floating ideas into words, and helped me consolidate some thoughts to come up with a thesis of sorts. This video essay proposes that “good” cinematography and “practical” cinematography are two different things; good is showy and flashy, and practical helps tell the story. Ideally you have some of both, and ideally all of your good is practical and most of your practical is good. I used the ideas behind this video essay to teach a rough cut workshop during EduCon.


Rocket Jump Film School. YouTube, 03 Mar. 2016. Web. 03 Feb. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAH0MoAv2CI&t=8s>.


This video essay centers on editing, and specifically cuts and transitions. This, along with another video essay on the same topic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q3eITC01Fg), has helped formed by opinions on editing. It has created a base for a lot of what I hold to be true, and when communicating with other editors or teaching others editing, I use pieces and quotes from these two videos.


Spencer, Jamie. "How To Make A Website - A Simple Guide For 2017." Make A Website Hub. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2017.


This website is created by Jamie Spencer, a website creator since the birth of the internet. Although I have been using this and will continue to use this as a website creation guide, there are a lot of branches to different incredible resources (slashed prices on website creators and domain names, tips and tricks on the marketing rather than just the website creation, and much more).

This will be my main resource when building (and maintaining) my website. It is a very simple step by step guide, but it’s more than just a recipe. Rather than just telling me what to click on to get a fine website, it’s teaching me about the craft and helping me understand how to make a better website. It’s the perfect blend between a guide for a beginner like myself and an in depth lesson for someone who wants to learn.


The Slanted Lens. YouTube, 05 June 2015. Web. 03 Feb. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfFT_8_gpCI>.


This is a video I watched a year or so ago about pricing photo/video shoots, and it’s stuck with me since. The information in here has helped me determine the process for pricing my work, as well as the individual prices themselves. It has been all around the biggest influence on my prices. Another great video by this same channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3su9Xzls7Kg) goes even further into the relationships between pricing and websites.

Animal Poaching; The Difference Between Us and Them

In my last Slate Post, I talked about the interview with a former hunter Matthew Ossowski. This time, I went bigger. The last post was all about poaching. I did even more research and learned new things about poaching. Most of this information is local. I surveyed 58 people, and these were my results.

I asked people multiple “True”and “False” questions to see what people know about poaching. There were some questions that are mixed with different amount of answers of “True” or “False”. For example one that people found hard was “Endangered animals should be kept in zoos”, 75.9% of people said “False” and 21.4% said “True”.
From Survey
From Survey
Then there were some that were all one either “True” or “False”. For example the statement was “Poaching only happens in one place” and all 58 people said “False”.
From Survey
From Survey
Over time people made multiple suggestions on how to make the survey better. One of them was to put a don't know/not sure option. I realized that after already getting responses. After reviewing these responses, I saw the very last question and thought these responses were interesting. This statement was probably the hardest to answer for a true and false. The statement was “People poach only for money. The answer was literally 50% “True” and 50% “False”.
From Survey
From Survey

For this post, I was wondering how much people actually know about poaching and how they would answer. I got my results by making the survey. These results helped my research because I saw poaching through other people’s eyes.  What people don’t know is the poachers feel. I found a website that interviewed an actual elephant poacher about his experiences. This is what I found:

The poacher (I will call him “the poacher” because I don’t want to intrude privacy) said that he only went hunting at night. He said that he did it for money for his family. He also said that he felt inhuman, like he didn’t want to but felt like he had to, so he did. He said that his family didn’t know he did this, that could never know. The only thing they knew was that he had a job, he then went home like nothing happened and was a normal father. The jail life changed him. He wasn’t allowed to go outside. They said he had done the worst crime than anyone else in there.

After he got out, he knew things had to change. When he did get out, he went straight to the wildlife authorities to get a job. The interviewer asked about what he would do to stop the elephants from being poached, he had the same idea that I did, to teach people the importance of the animals that are being poached.

Now that I have seen through the eyes of a poacher, I see why he did it. Although it was a bad choice and there were other options, I understand why he did it, not saying that I would do it, because I wouldn’t. However, my opinion has changed a little. Like Mr. Ossowski said in my last slate post, “ however if you're doing it to feed your family because you're poor, you know legally yeah it's wrong, if you're just doing it to eat, okay. But if you're doing it just to kill something or make money or something. I don't agree with that.”. This poacher was doing just that, making money for his family, any money he made would go straight to his six kids and wife.

Although I have done all this research over the course of this project, I am still wondering how cold hearted people have to be to actually start poaching. Unlike the poacher I wrote about who acted upon family, some people do it for other reasons such as to sell them to companies, some people work for the companies and people make them into jewelry.

For my “Agent of Change” portion of my project, I will set up a group to talk about the subjects of animal poaching, and the importance of just some of the animals that are being poached. Or I will make website so everyone can see it, and talk about the topics I mentioned.


If you want more information on these websites, please visit me Annotated Bibliography.


Jason Greene II Capstone

For my capstone, I teamed up with Jared Bauer to teach a class at Science Leadership Academy Middle School (SLAMS) on sports statistics.  Jared and I are co-founders of the Sports Statistics and Analysis Club at SLA so we wanted to do a capstone together based around our club.  We decided that we wanted to teach middle school students about sports statistics.  Studies have shown that students that have a hard time learning math in the early stages of their education career, will have a harder time learning math later on.  Jared and I believed that sports statistics is a fun and easy way to learn basic math skills so we decided on teaching sports stats as our capstone.  After trying to reach out to our respective middle schools, we decided that we wanted to teach our lessons at SLAMS because of the connect the two schools already had.  We worked with Mrs. Hamilton, a math teacher at SLAMS.  We coordinated with her for lessons and when we would come in.  We also worked with Mrs. Bushnell, our in-house mentor, do help us make lessons for our classes.  Our capstone was made up of 4 classes.  We also created a project for our students to complete during the classes that they would then present to us on the fourth class  The first three classes were us teaching them different sports stats and allowing them time to work on their projects.  The project was them calculating different stats of their favorite MLB or NBA player.  On the fourth class, all the students presented their projects to us and then we ended with an ice cream party to celebrate their projects.  


Link to Photos https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B7A7F0ZYyhrrYUNIMUV1aHltckk?usp=sharing

Link to Project Description

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MM7lFjwAXWp5o9QNQi35hdaNxYYuUkJjC8AOLYq6DfI/edit?usp=sharing

Link to Lesson Template

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sxks3MuOejhPRwo_01tttaUKPNMtp7eGXkp-xlgtqEw/edit?usp=sharing

Link to Annotated Bibliography

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EBvSg6shXTOKPBEm4PKCiaS1k3h1HZ9IvvYB6FUJN-o/edit?usp=sharing


Domestic Violence


In my first blog post I talked about my personal experience with domestic violence as well as someone else's. I talked a lot about my father and my step father. My mother's father was an abuser  so she married another abuser thinking it was normal. I talked about another woman who went through an awful relationship where she was abused both physically and mentally. She was kept away from her family and friends for what she thought was love  IMG_1498.JPG

This is a picture from 2003 of me, my dad and my sister

For my original research I did an interview with  my mother. I saw her go through a lot of domestic abuse and I wanted other people to know her story. I asked 5 questions about her experience and the long lasting effects of domestic violence.

The first question I asked was “What’s your experience growing up and being married to an abuser?” She said that growing up with an abuser she made it seem normal. In her eyes everything wasn’t good or bad, just normal. She said she hated yelling and the constant anger around her house. “I hated the yelling.  That was probably the worst part as it never seemed to end and happened all the time.  Nothing was ever good enough for my father.”  Then when she grew up she married a man who was similar to her father. He yelled and threw things. Nothing was good enough for him either.  SHe had to lie to her friends about bruises and she wasn’t allowed out without his permission. She said canceling plans was a regular for her. He didn’t allow her to go out when she wanted to. “I routinely had to cancel plans with friends because I wasn't allowed to go out and I remember one time that we were supposed to meet a friend out for lunch and he would not even let me call to cancel because he was so angry, so I had to just have her waiting at a restaurant and us never show up.” She had to leave her friends waiting in restaurants because he wouldn't let her out.

The next question in my interview was “Why did you stay?” She said her main reason for staying how long she did was that she wanted a 2 parent home for me and my siblings. Her mom stayed with her father until all her kids were grown. My mom thought maybe things would get better. She thought that having a 2 parent home was better for us and she relied on the hope of everything getting better. “ My mom had stayed until we were grown and I thought that it would be better for you to grow up in a two parent home.  It had been my experience and I wanted that for my kids too.  I really normalized the experience and thought that in time, it would get better.  Clearly, that didn't happen.”

The third question was “How did you get out?” She said that she got out when my father left. He left once and came back. My mother being thinking things could still change she let him back. He then left again. This time she didn’t know where he went, she didn’t know when he would be back. Almost a year later he came back. My mom had been on her own for almost a year. She got her confidence back and knew she could do this on her own so she didn’t let him back. After that he was gone for good.

The fourth question was “What do you think now about your actions and choices then? What advice do you wish you could give yourself?” My mom said that looking back at everything she knows life was hard but she wouldn’t change it. After all this she has me and my siblings. She just hopes that we don’t have relationships like that in the future. She hopes that everything is better in the future.

The last question I asked her was “What were the long term effects after you you got out?” The main effects she mentioned was self esteem issues. “Depression and self-esteem issues are definitely long lasting impacts of the experiences I have had.”

I did some research about the long term effects of domestic violence. Many people experience depression. A lot of people feel unworthy of real relationships and healthy relationships. Other people experience post traumatic stress disorder. They suffer from flashbacks and nightmares.

There was a woman who was in abusive relationship for years. She was not only physically abused but she was verbally abused as well. Her abuser called her things like “whore” or “slut”. It took  her a while to finally recover after she was out of the relationship. She felt unworthy of a good healthy relationship. ALthough she finally got her life back, she will have to deal with these feelings of depression and anxiety for almost the rest of her life.

My Annotated Bibliography






Speak Up For Those Who Can't

Hello! Welcome back to my blog. If you didn’t read my first post, please read that first, so you will understand more about the topic that I am going to talk about. In my first blog, I talked about industries harming animals, for example, puppy mills, fur farms, pet stores not taking care of their animals. I talked about what secret industries do to animals and that they don’t tell anyone what they do to the animals. I am going to talk for them, to be the animals’ voices. This is important because a reasonable amount of people that took my survey knew about this, but not everyone. I am going to show what people know from looking from my survey. I want to show the world that animals are being harmed. I made a survey so it will help me see if people really do know if they know about this. The result were quite shocking.  

For our project, You and the World, we get to decide if we get to do a interview, survey or a field observation. For the past 2 weeks, we had to do an interview, survey, or field observations for our topic. For my topic I chose to do a survey. In my survey I asked questions like…

  • If they are aware industries harming animals?

  • What do they know about it?

  • What do you know about puppy mills?

My results were surprising, not a lot of people know what puppy mills are or what industries are really doing, some of the results were just unnecessary or unhelpful. Here are the results below if they heard about puppy mills.


Results of ‘Have you ever heard about puppy mills?’


The survey that I made gave me a different perspective on what other people know about industries harming animals. I thought a good amount of people knew that industries are harming animals, but they didn’t know what is truly happening to them from looking at the results I received. It was proven that 84% of people were aware of industries harming animals and 16% of people didn’t know about it. In my survey, I asked a question “What do you know about industries harming animals?” lots of people said they don’t know, but there were a few people that went deep into this, “I know the fur industry can harm/injure/kill animals for their fur. Factory farms abuse animals and give them no room to move around in and have the animals live in their own filth. Puppy mills inbreed and leave dogs in small cages. I also know that zoos and circuses abuse animals to do tricks for them.” “I know that a lot of farms and and other industries that produce meat often times are where animals are sent to be slaughtered, and while they are there they are tormented, starved, squished and crowded together and have no relief. Their necks are broken, and many are fed things that make them larger but are unhealthy for their systems.” I was happy to see these informational result, but that is only a few people, I want more people to know about this problem.

Results of ‘Do you support industries harming animals?’

I asked a question on my survey if they support industries harming animals and the results is above. As you can see 8% of people supported industries harming animals. 10% is neutral and 82% does not support industries harming animals. I want to change that and I need a solution.

Agent of Change is what is a solution or how you are going to help this situation. My Agent of change is I will be fundraising for a animal shelter. I want to do this because the government actually does not provide money to shelter which is crazy and sad. I am going to step up to provide money, by doing a fundraiser to a shelter, Paws.


Hopefully, this will be a trend, helping shelters. We will start off small then go on and help all animals around the world. I can’t do this alone so we can work together to stop this problem. For more information click here for my bibliography.


Aaron Watson-Sharer Capstone

For my senior year capstone project, I continued to follow my passion and completed a historical website about the history of Nicaraguan Baseball and the game's life today. For me, I love the game and my heritage for the most part is strongly rooted in Nicaragua, so I wanted to make the first legitimate website on Nicaraguan Baseball in history. It can be a very useful source to anyone with similar interests. I covered active Major League players from Nicaragua, the game's origin and local legends, one who happens to be a late relative of my cousins, Stanley Cayasso. I conducted interviews when I had the privilege to go to Nicaragua, which were very enriching and helped construct a more honest website.

I struggled on finding a concrete capstone project idea. I flirted with a handful of ideas, including one where I go camping and use no technology for a week. That would've been hard to pull off. I had to get realistic and I chose to do something I mostly enjoy to do. Talk and write baseball. The process at first was simple. I'd say in March it really picked up because I had pages on my website to fill and that's not easy. I learned a lot about what I like, and that baseball still is my favorite topic in the world. Always something new in baseball, even in a historical Nicaraguan website.

http://nicabaseball.weebly.com

Pedro Castillo Capstone

T-shirt Front
T-shirt Front
T-shirt Back
T-shirt Back
My name is Pedro Castillo and for my Capstone, I worked with two friends to start/begin a small company that creates clothing with a meaning. Our main goal is to enlighten the youth by making clothes that makes us all feel like one people. For this capstone, we launched and released our first drop, the staple “pill logo t-shirt”. It is supposed to represent the idea of revival after hardships in one’s life. When starting our company, Yùmèn, we had an idea for a project all about sunflowers, the meaning of them, and how it impacts us as humans. We moved forward with it and later saw that the project was much too expensive and we had multiple problems with the “business” that was doing printing on the t-shirts. We decided as partners that we would change our plan to creating a staple shirt that represented us a company. That is when I personally decided to do more research on the way people think, act, and feel about clothes and eventually, with the help of my partners, I was able to create the pill logo t-shirt. After the creation, we spent multiple weeks trying to plan out how the release would work; we also spent that time trying to polish our site. We launched on May 5th and the t-shirts are now sold out online. Yùmèn is more than just a Capstone for us and that is why we still have much more work ahead of us.

Capstone Bibliography


  • Catarinella, Alex. "Our 5 Favorite Emerging Designers We Saw At Berlin Fashion Week."Grailed: Dry Clean Only. Grailed, 24 Jan. 2017. Web. 29 Jan. 2017. <https://www.grailed.com/drycleanonly/berlin-fashion-week-fw17>.

    • This source is important for me specifically because of the fact that I am the creative director for our upcoming brand. The main goal for a creative director is to ensure that designs that are going to be showcased are ahead of current trends. They have to be ahead of multiple trends and this list from one of the most trusted menswear catalogues and sale site explains why these new designers are so great. This can be used to base multiple future designs on what clothing connoisseurs look for in order to gain attention the most attention.  


  • Ginsberg, Allen . "Sunflower Sutra by Allen Ginsberg | Poetry Foundation." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, 1955. Web. 31 Jan. 2017. <https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/49304>.

    • Our first project is dubbed, “The Sunflower Project”. There is an untold energy and art that the sunflower gives off that not everyone realizes. This is the piece in which our first release is based off of. Without this poem and the insight from Nigo, the sunflower project would have not sprouted.


  • Haywood, Emma. “Painting on Textile Fabrics.” The Decorator and Furnisher, vol. 11, no. 5, 1888, pp. 180–180. www.jstor.org/stable/25585466.

    • This source was extremely helpful even though it was about painting on furniture. Emma Haywood describes how to paint on fabric with oil paint. She states the dos and the don’ts very clearly. This was sourced because we plan on doing hand-painted merchandise as a promotional release before the first official release.


  • Kiper, Anna. Fashion portfolio: design and presentation. London: Batsford, 2014. Print.

    • Anna Kiper does a great job of covering the main components and concepts of designing apparel and a fashion portfolio. Most of the research conducted was about how to make a quality garment that will end up being successful in the real world. It is not as easy as it looks but Anna Kiper does a great job making it seem less difficult than it is.  


  • Lengwiler, Guido. A History of Screen Printing. Cincinnati, Ohio: Cincinnati, Ohio : ST Media Group International, 2013.

    • After multiple meetings, me and my partners have come to the conclusion that we want screen printing done on our shirts for the first couple of releases (no more than 3). There are many different ways to to screen print though and it is completely different from regularly printing a graphic on a shirt, one difference being that it is done by hand. Screen printing is much higher quality and that is what we want. This book explains the history of screen printing and covers multiple different techniques. This is essential for finding the best way to screen print since we only want to release high quality products.


  • Mcquarrie, Edward F., and David Glen Mick. “Visual Rhetoric in Advertising: Text‐Interpretive, Experimental, and Reader‐Response Analyses.” Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 26, no. 1, 1999, pp. 37–54. www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/209549.

    • Edward Mcquarrie covers the same topic that the Small Business Administration does except this looks at the art of advertisement through a more conceptual lens. This provides a more artistic view on what advertisement is and how do it successfully. This allows me to creatively grasp the concept of advertising in order to start creating more simple but original and creative ads.


  • NIGO. Atorie bai nigo. N.p.: Magajinhausu., n.d. Print.

    • Like Sunflower Sutra, this is another piece of writing that was an influence for me specifically. Nigo is the reason why the sunflower came into my mind in the first place. Atelier gives readers a peek into Nigo’s vast collection of, well… collectables. They are what influences him and draw out the genius that is Nigo. This book is also essential because it was another huge factor to starting The Sunflower Project.

  • Sartain, William. “Thoughts on Art and the Art Collector.” The Art World, vol. 1, no. 4, 1917, pp. 276–278. www.jstor.org/stable/25587749.

    • The art collector section is one that contains the most importance to me. Reason being that me and my colleagues want to, in the future, have many of our pieces be considered art. Why do collectors collect and why are collectors important? This source explains it. It talks about why collecting art is important and the type of art that typical collectors go for. This is very useful to me specifically because, like the Grailed article, I can base certain designs off of what collectors look for in art. Mixing fine art and great design with a great business plan ensures sales.


  • U.S. Small Business Administration Editors. "Advertising: The Basics | The U.S. Small Business Administration." Advertising: The Basics | The U.S. Small Business Administration | SBA.gov. U.S. Small Business Administration , 2017. Web. 01 Feb. 2017. <https://www.sba.gov/managing-business/running-business/marketing/advertising-basics>.

    • This source is important because it covers the basics of advertising. Whether it be food, a device, or clothes, advertising is crucial to getting the world to know about your products. Me and my partners have had no prior experience in marketing so being able to get tips from a trustworthy network is extremely helpful. We have not used all of the advice that this site provided but we have begun to implement multiple tips into our own advertisements.


  • Wagner, Eric T. "10 Rules To Build A Wildly Successful Business." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 07 July 2014. Web. 31 Jan. 2017. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericwagner/2014/01/14/10-rules-to-build-a-wildly-successful-business/#42671bfde287>.

    • This Forbes article contains a lot of valuable information for me and my partner. Although this is from a tea company owner’s perspective, this can be very useful because it touches on the business world in general. Applying some of these rules is essential in order for keeping a healthy business whether it be tea or anything else. Art and business are already a great mix, it is just a matter of being original and these business rules do not interfere with creativity and or originality.