For my capstone, a friend and I worked together to build a series of devices we called nodes that would sync together in a mesh system that would allow people to communicate with each other without the use of cellular service, mainly focused on people who enjoy the wilderness, where service may be spotty depending on location. To do this, we used the basic software of an open-source project, mixed with added elements like a GPS antenna and our own cases to store everything in.

This capstone taught me a lot about building a product and the engineering process for perfecting one. While I’m not sure I want to pursue a career where I have to invent new things, this experience building my own invention will help me find new creative ways to solve problems. This project also taught me how to store and analyze different data points to better understand how the nodes were working and what we could do to improve reliability.

For my capstone, I built a wrist-worn heart rate monitor for my nonprofit rowing team, PCR. Rowing is an expensive sport, and my team works to make it accessible to kids who could not otherwise afford it. I wanted to contribute something that reflected that mentality.

The process started with a completely different idea. I originally planned to build a SpeedCoach, a device that tracks splits on the water, but after researching the cost and complexity, I had to pivot. I polled my teammates, landed on heart rate monitors, and went deep into research on how they work. Along the way, my anatomy teacher showed me data proving that heart rate monitors are less accurate for people with darker skin tones, which became a major focus of my research.

When talking to my teammates, they said reading a small number on a display while rowing was too difficult mid-stroke. So I designed the monitor around a circular ring of lights showing what percentage of your maximum heart rate you are at, with colors for each zone: blue for zone 1, green for zone 2, yellow for zone 3, orange for zone 4, and red for zone 5. At a glance, you know exactly where you are without breaking focus.

The biggest thing I learned is that building is a people process. Coaches, teammates, classmates, and even family solved problems I could not get alone. I also learned to trust making something over researching it before you start.

For my Senior Capstone I created a website called The Swing Blueprint, which is used to teach beginners the fundamental basics of the golf swing for no cost. The main purpose of making this website was to help beginners of the game get better without having to spend a ridiculous amount of money, so for The Swing Blueprint, users don’t have to give any money or get any subscription in order to use the website. The website divides the golf swing into seven different modules where there is an instructional video along with a mini quiz for each module to make it easier for anyone using the website to understand the information in the videos. I also designed the website to have a user tracking feature so that users can create an account to track their progress over time. After I got feedback from my peers I was told the website need to be more engaging for the users so I decided to implement a badges aspect to the website, so that when users completer a module they get a specific badge for that module to show they’ve mastered that skill. This website can be such as useful tool for anyone who is looking to get good at golf but doesn’t want to spend a ton of money on professional lessons because they can get the same information for free using The Swing Blueprint.

Final product: https://the-swing-blueprint-npos.vercel.app/

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LnuyTeZiOYyezrQfwYGB0mDY-FfVxwpXadIrk_D4PBA/edit?usp=sharing

For my capstone project, I wanted to create something unique and meaningful that is not commonly seen. Rather than choosing a typical topic, I decided to design a project that would serve as a valuable resource for people who are interested in pursuing a career in nursing. Nursing is a diverse and essential profession, yet many people only have a limited understanding of what nurses do and the many different roles they can have within the healthcare system.

My goal was to develop a project that not only supports future nursing students but also educates the general public about the nursing profession. I wanted to provide clear and accessible information about the various types of nurses, their responsibilities, the education required for each role, and the impact they have on patients and communities around the world. By doing this, I hope to inspire students who are considering nursing as a career and help them better understand the opportunities available in this field.

In addition, this project gives individuals who may not know much about nursing a chance to learn more about the profession and appreciate the important contributions nurses make every day. Overall, my capstone project was created to inform, inspire, and increase awareness about the vital role of nurses in healthcare and society. Most of all I learned how to make a big project out of nothing, it hep me improvise and think more on my own.

Sewology by Milan is the website that I decided to create for my capstone project. I chose to do it because I wanted to challenge myself, while also strengthening my craft. Spending 80 hours on a capstone project throughout the school year is something that is really demanding, and I wanted it to be something that I enjoyed doing. My interest in sewing started when I was assigned a passion project in Advanced Art last year with Ms. Angeles. At my previous school, I never got the opportunity to take art, so I was really excited when it was on my class roster. My passion project sort of followed the structure of a capstone project, with similar elements like documentation, trying a new skill, and doing a presentation. My passion project helped me with the beginning foundations of sewing, and also introduced me to being more independent when trying to start my own hobbies.

Bibliography - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n-9R6mHR17leeS2f5BX1vp3KYQOgGUn5tWtrplxQzuY/edit?usp=drivesdk

Hi, my name is Geona, and my capstone was mostly a target for teens. As I am currently a teen in their senior year of high school. Going through high school, I had noticed how much of a struggle  it can be when it comes to maintaining your mental health. Over my time at SLA, I had gone through many things like mental breakdowns, panic attacks, and more. Of course, it was never easy going through those experiences, but that’s how I learned how to cope with them. At first, I was just learning how to handle stuff by myself and was just always pushing my issues to the back of my mind until they built up and just came out when I became too overwhelmed. Then, eventually, I started to look at things that would relax my mind, which would usually be things like music and baking. These things just mostly helped me steady my mind on the task at hand, letting me not think about the things that I was worried about stressing me out at the moment. From learning this, that is what made me want to create my website, Sugar & Therapy. Being able to connect with other teens who deal with the same struggles through something therapeutic like baking videos makes me feel like I’m making an open space for teenagers who feel like their problems are never heard. So, overall, our mission at Sugar & Therapy is to add a little powder to your mind and give you comfort through something so simple as baking. So, I hope you enjoy looking into our mixer!

My name is Fern Duffy, and I decided to write and perform a song as my capstone project, titled “5Fold”. This piece was created as an accompaniment to my friend Olivia Fitts’ animated show, “SLA Fivefold”. I grew up learning to play the violin, but as I’ve grown older, I have learned to play the acoustic guitar with help from my mentor and music teacher, Mark Castellano. He took me through the process of writing a song from start to finish, beginning with just an idea for the art I wanted to create and ending with a beautiful finished product. Throughout this journey, I worked with Lucia Meade, Alexander Kruszewski, and the SLA Rock Band to sing and perform at our own school auditorium and a local performance venue. Throughout this process, I learned what it takes to create my own chord progressions, take core values and turn them into meaningful lyrics, and even make a little solo. This capstone taught me more about myself than simply how to write a song. I took inspiration from the song “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac and “Four Strong Winds” by Neil Young to create this song, with a focus on repeated phrases and impactful lyrics. Throughout my process, I’ve learned that I love finding melodies and harmonies that are unique and invoke emotion. It has been so rewarding to learn this art form, and I am forever grateful to everyone who supported me in this journey.

Here is a link to check out my song with an opening animated by Olivia Fitts!

https://youtu.be/Sp_sTOCdero

Hii, my name is Angelina. My capstone project is a series of podcasting interviews mainly with attending students and some teachers. I wanted this series to be used to understand the depth of a Project based school. SLA has two exceptionally strong CTE programs, along with many clubs, sports and different activities within the school. I wanted opportunities to be highlighted so a different sense of the school and student input would be recognized. This High School is very student centered & driven, so to play on that theme, the questioning and research of high school students is essential. In my project the conversations are raw and honest, unfiltered, and some more edited than others, but all honestly reflecting SLA in the midst of wide experiences. My podcasting project is designed to assist prospective 8th grade students + families understand how project based learning is implemented in the curriculum and classroom.

Link to Presentation & Published Website Containing Interviews: https://www.canva.com/design/DAHIuFm7k1E/l3d6BPdGF-fjO54iifWpVw/edit

For my senior capstone project, I created a documentary titled Behind the Screens: What It’s Like to Work in IT, which explores the responsibilities and importance of information technology professionals in modern workplaces. My documentary focused on two specific branches of IT: automation and data management. To create this project, I researched the IT field through articles, videos, and other sources while also interviewing two professionals currently working in these careers, such as my father, who works as an application administrator in automation, and my uncle, who works in data management. I filmed interviews, recorded narration, gathered additional footage, and edited everything together into a final documentary that explains how these careers help businesses operate efficiently and maintain important systems. Throughout this process, I learned how much planning, research, and editing goes into documentary production. I also gained a better understanding of how broad the IT field really is and how important these careers are in everyday life. This project helped me improve my time management, interviewing, and editing skills while creating a final product that highlights careers many people often overlook despite how essential they are to modern society.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w-lxC-tEKK_LhNWiygT4Eusvh8NYa44bjyk5dlV9X3I/edit?usp=sharing

LINK TO DOCUMENTARY: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U7Wn_xwfanDH2ZvIkBuSxyz1jINiyOnU/view?usp=sharing

This Capstone showcases an independently written, filmed, edited, and published crash course comprising three lessons about digital video relevant subjects. The process of deciding what I wanted to do for my senior year capstone involved me having to look back on my first days and experiences in the Digital Video program, and asking, what would have made my time in DigVid a little easier?

While thinking back to those days about two years from when I began working on my capstone, it occurred to me that a lot of the curriculum of the program had to be shown through youtube videos, or screenshots from films, or examples of professional photography. And obviously, this is only because that is the best way to teach a visual medium: show examples of things that already exist on the internet. It’s difficult, (next to impossible, actually), to teach a subject like film and video production without presenting a visual to back you up. Because of this, DigVid was often taught through things like Youtube videos to help explain these visual subjects. Then I thought, now that I know these things that we’ve been learning and applying for three years, I would be equipped to be the one explaining them now, and I could be the one making the Youtube videos. And that’s how I ended up deciding on what I’d accomplish for my capstone.

Annotated Bibliography

Studio VYV. “APERTURE, SHUTTER SPEED and ISO/ the EXPOSURE TRIANGLE MADE EASY!” YouTube, 31 Jan. 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2HSoOq-rfo. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025. In order to create videos that are successful in ensuring that the skills and information that I will be passing along and explaining in my videos are honed and prepared properly to be shared, it is important that I study the videos that already exist in the topic areas that I intend to center my capstone project on. This is a video about the exposure triangle, one of the six video topics that I plan on reproducing for my project. I have taken notes on this video as well, highlighting specific things that I think makes the video a successful explanation to viewers who may be inexperienced in this particular area.

Aputure. “Lighting 101: Intro to Light Placement.” YouTube, 27 Jan. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqMQZG68Wkc. This is another example of the kind of information that I intend to share in my capstone. Another aspect of my note-taking and research process has been writing down the things in these example videos that I think are not exactly helpful or something that I believe I can improve upon in my own videos. However, for this video, I have very little to criticize because I believe that it exceeds all of my own personal standards and expectations for what I’m trying to accomplish with the resources that I have available to me. This video is quick paced, simple, and heavily visual-reliant which works great to convey its message extremely effectively to its beginner audience.

RocketJump Film School. “Intro to Storyboarding.” YouTube, 24 Mar. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQsvhq28sOI. This is a video that I have watched and known about for many years at this point. I believe that this is the most effective explanation of what storyboarding is, and the things that you are able to accomplish with it. There are two elements to this video; pictures of the storyboards, and the final product of the shot that was created from it. And on top of these visuals is just a casual narration that provides context, explains the process, and goes over the technical aspects. But for the most part, this is a visual explanation. I will take lots of inspiration from this video, mainly the intent to be as simple with the explanation as possible.

Interview with mentor My mentor works professionally as a pastor. He is very familiar with the process of creating a draft of his message, his sermon, and then delivering that message in a way that engages the audience and allows others to connect with his words. I thought that he’d be a great help in aiding me with the script-writing process of my videos, as well as the actual recording and public speaking aspect of talking to a camera. This will be a very major part of my videos that I don’t intend to ignore, the person that is explaining something to you has to be interesting to listen to, which my mentor is very good at in my opinion.

Interview with professional I’ve talked to a professional in the writing/producing industry about my capstone project and what I intend to accomplish with my videos. What I gained from this conversation was that explaining the topics in my videos, since the target audience is intended to be towards beginners, will force me to put myself into the shoes of the people who will be watching my videos, ie; the tenth grade class of DigVid students. Oftentimes people who are more experienced in an area might gloss over seemingly obvious things to them that are not inherently obvious to newcomers, or they might let slip some jargon that only a select few people will catch and recognize its meaning. So I’ve become more aware that I should focus on making my videos friendly to beginners.

Tarantino, Quentin, and Roger Avary. PULP FICTION. https://assets.scriptslug.com/live/pdf/scripts/pulp-fiction-1994.pdf?v=1729114975 One of my videos will be about how to write a screenplay. One of the most genius screenplays of all time in my opinion is of course Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary. I enjoy the movie just fine, but oftentimes I come to the screenplay for my favorite scenes and just read the words on this script and I’m able to experience the movie in a whole different way that somehow enhances the experience of digesting this story. I think this is a great example of a screenplay because it’s not so by the books, or straight like it was written by a robot. The words are free and loose, there is slang in the scene directions; it is a very creative piece of writing that I will cite heavily when making this particular video.

Aaron Sorkin. THE SOCIAL NETWORK. https://assets.scriptslug.com/live/pdf/scripts/the-social-network-2010.pdf?v=1729115039 As opposed to the screenplay for Pulp Fiction, I find this screenplay to be a little more clean to look at in terms of its formatting. But that just goes to show the contrast between how writers choose to create their screenplays, and how much liberty they have in the way the screenplay turns out and eventually serves the production of turning these words into something visual that then becomes a feature film. There is no one way to write a screenplay, and I intend to show a wide variety of screenplays when I’m explaining in my video the process of creating one.

BrainBuffet – Self Serve Education. brainbuffet.com/. In the DigVid curriculum, we are given an account to Brain Buffet dot com, which has a bunch of different courses in basically all the types of Adobe sites. I’ve used it so far for Adobe Photoshop as well as Adobe Premiere. This is an incredibly rich and useful source for me as well because I intend to learn how to use another application called Adobe After Effects in order to edit my videos and provide helpful visuals to pair along my explanations. And I will also use these courses as secondary examples to study how professionals in this field might explain these concepts and topics to someone who is unfamiliar, like how I took notes on the three videos in my first sources.

“The Closer Look - YouTube.” Www.youtube.com, www.youtube.com/channel/UCI9DUIgtRGHNH_HmSTcfUbA. Instead of just one video to look at, this is an entire youtube channel that I have been following and been subscribed to for a while now. This source is intended to be used for the video that I will make about writing tips and coming up with ideas for stories that you will tell in your films. I believe that behind every great film, is a strong script, so in my opinion being able to think like a creative is super important for creating engaging and meaningful pieces of art/content. The Closer Look youtube channel is perfect for those who struggle with the writing process, and I have learned a lot from this channel and grown much as a writer from it.

Detisch, AJ. “5 Cinematic Lighting Techniques Every Filmmaker Should Know.” StudioBinder, 28 Feb. 2019, www.studiobinder.com/blog/film-lighting-techniques/. And finally, through the process of my research for the sources that I’ve included in my capstone production, I felt as though my knowledge was lacking a bit in areas, or was being stretched a little thin as far as how much I actually knew and would be able to explain simply. This led to me finding StudioBinder, a website for pretty much everything about filmmaking. This is a specific article about lighting, something that I believe I should sharpen up my knowledge on; this way, I’ll be more confident in sharing this info with others. And you know what they say, if you can’t explain it simply, then you aren’t an expert on it.

For my capstone project, I created a website called “College Aid Map,” designed to help students and families navigate college financial aid and costs. As a senior at Science Leadership Academy, I understand that the college process can get complicated very quickly. After speaking with other seniors, I realized that I was not the only one getting overwhelmed. Many students and parents begin the process without fully understanding how tuition works, what types of aid are available, or how to compare financial aid offers between schools. I wanted to create a tool that simplifies and provides reliable guidance in one accessible place. The purpose of College Aid Map is to serve as an “anchor source” that students and families can refer to whenever they feel uncertain during the college applications. Instead of searching through dozens of websites online containing information that can get really confusing, users can access clear and concise information and resources in one website. College Aid Map touches on fundamental concepts such as FAFSA, the importance of scholarships, loans and debt, college costs and resources that can help students and families stay organized throughout their journey. While researching for my website, I realized that the lack of understanding financial aid and costs stemmed from the confusing terminology and abundance of information thrown at you. I quickly took communication into account when completing this project to make things clear. College Aid Map can leave people feeling more prepared and informed to navigate the college financial aid process.

Link to website: https://sites.google.com/scienceleadership.org/collegeaidmap/home?authuser=0

Link to bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sEzivo3up_0EUPr4pcMR8I_WKNBRNDp8jYSU5lf8JHA/edit?usp=sharing

For my Capstone project, I created a website about building safety and the importance of construction codes, inspections, and maintenance. My goal was to raise awareness about how buildings are supposed to be designed and built properly from the start, and how small mistakes or ignored problems can lead to serious collapses and loss of life. The website explains basic building structure, how different parts of a building work together, and what safe construction is supposed to look like. Then it shows how failures in inspection, maintenance, and oversight can cause things to go wrong over time. A major part of my project was honoring the victims and families affected by these disasters and ensuring their stories are not forgotten over time. I wanted the website to show respect for the lives lost and the families affected, while also explaining in a clear way what makes a building to collapse.

This project also gives ideas on how to prevent future collapses, like better inspections, following safety rules more strictly, and fixing problems early before they get worse. It can also help people who are interested in architecture understand how buildings are made and how important each step of the process is.

Throughout this Capstone, I learned that many disasters are preventable and often happen when problems are repeatedly overlooked instead of addressed. This project changed my perspective on the spaces people trust every day and helped me realize how much responsibility comes with designing and maintaining structures

Capstone: https://www.buildingscodes.com/

Bibliography below:

For my Capstone project, I organized a city-wide clothing drive called The Drive & Access Guide. The initiative involved the collection of donated clothing from multiple sources, including Church groups, family members, friends, and community members who saw and responded to my Facebook posts, and then making those items freely available to people in need through a series of mobile pop-up shops driving across Philadelphia between November and April, giving the clothes away to the local community and people who needed them. To ensure that the process remained clear and accessible, I created a professional poster guide that explained exactly how and where community members, including unhoused individuals and those facing financial hardship, could acces the collected goods. Any item that remained after each drive pop-up was donated weekly to a local homeless shelter and distributed to people on the streets. I chose this project because I saw a gap between my community’s generosity and the ability of those in need to access it. Donation drives happen all the time at SLA for a variety of reasons, especially for capstone projects, but most people who need the items don’t know where to go, what to expect, or whether they will be treated with respect when they arrive. I wanted to close that gap by making the process as transparent, organized, and dignified as possible. Clothing is a basic human need, and no one should have to feel embarrassed or confused about accessing it.

Link to my overview: https://yadiangeles.my.canva.site/capstone-slideshow-final-html

My capstone project was to organize and inventory Narnia, SLA’s storage closet. Aside from physically cleaning out the space, I also made a spreadsheet that contains all the items within Narnia and their quantities. The items are sorted by category, and each category has its own sub-spreadsheet. The formatting highlights items that are running low on supply and sends a weekly reminder to check and update the spreadsheet. I also made a Google Site to serve as the instructions manual in case any of the settings need to be changed. Finally, I made a 3D model of the storage space on Fusion360 to go with the inventory. This is to make future rearrangement easier.

For nearly half the process, I was unsure what the final product would look like. I had many conversations with my mentors and ultimately decided to manipulate a spreadsheet for a simple but effective solution. As I organized the space, I also thought about contingencies for the future, in case the space fell into disarray again. The Google Site and 3D model will ensure future expansions or reorganizations go smoothly.

My capstone allowed me to deepen many of my pre-existing skills, including Fusion360 use, organization, planning, writing, and communication. It led me to learn more about the capabilities of Google Sheets and spreadsheets in general, and taught me important lessons about project management and the engineering design process.

View the Google Site: https://sites.google.com/scienceleadership.org/sla-storage?usp=sharing

View the Fusion360 model in more detail: https://a360.co/4fjI9RU

For my project I decided to create a YouTube channel that people at SLA can see to learn more about their school and also get familiar with the staff members. students should be able to know who they need when they need help or have a question about a certain situation. They should know who to go to and also learn about the office more. When you’re in 8th grade going to your freshman year if you think about the office as a scary place but at SLA it is the complete opposite. I direct multiple interviews with staff members in order to know exactly what SLA is and what roles they have at SLA. I learned how to create videos, how to script videos, how to create interview questions, a lot of research was put into this project. I had to learn how to create a YouTube channel and how to keep up with that. I learned how to have a professional interview by meeting multiple people. I had a mentor to help me through these videos and what they should look like and come up with this project. A Capstone can be anything that you put your mind to a Capstone is something that benefits everyone but also leaves a trace of you behind I wanted people to see that the office and the staff aren’t scary and I wanted to leave behind that I’m a person to always know where I’m learning and why a school should benefit you.

Here is the link to my YouTube Channel for my capstone and I hope that people will start adding to it if they need videos uploaded: https://www.youtube.com/@CapstonesFromSLACC

Here is the link to my bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13DwlzKXrxILu1lepP8CAwNY26ZQYAgE9v7Cfa0T8ono/edit?tab=t.0

For my capstone project, I designed and created a website about the benefits of exercising and the negatives of an everyday sedentary lifestyle. I also created personalized routines accounting for all categories of physical fitness and how consistent exercise can lead to creating healthy habits. Throughout this process, I was able to learn a lot about time management skills and how to balance a long-term project with other activities both inside and outside of school. I would also go on to improve my research skills, as that was what I spent most of my time doing throughout the capstone. I was also able to really learn about website building and how to create websites that looked professional.

Capstone: https://rb.gy/suhykb

Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JMlfcs-g9GW7f3BbiUGXQqUkg6-lRCn8-ObvQbmevrk/edit?usp=sharing

For my Capstone, I created a complete beginner to intermediate Python programming guide designed to make learning code simple, clear, and also accessible. Over the course of the year, I researched Python through official documentation, books, and YouTube video courses, then transformed that information into a structured, easy to follow resource. The guide covers essential topics such as syntax, variables, loops, functions, modules, file handling, error handling, and object‑oriented programming, all written in a style inspired by Jenkov’s Java tutorials.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mvRhik8Qw8O96JicZfGrKUbWBWpUtKwq0HAATULMTnU/edit?usp=sharing

My name is Sasha Butler, and I created a senior capstone project focusing on postpartum care for mothers and infants. Originally, I wanted to donate money to different NICU organizations in Philadelphia. Though my final capstone turned into me donating care kits to postpartum mothers. I reached out to numerous organizations that focused on postpartum care and offered my volunteer services, and I also worked with the ITAV foundation and directly gave them my postpartum care kits. I accounted for 80 hours of work by meeting with my mentor multiple times a week and planning. Some days, we documented my process on a Google doc, and some days we researched and made phone calls. Once I had everything planned, I created an Amazon registry to get some of the resources I needed, in addition to receiving donations from family members. I learned that helping people is what I am truly passionate about. I even began researching neonatology and postpartum outside of my capstone project because I want to pursue a career in those specific areas.

For my Senior Capstone, I designed and hosted a Nursing Exploration Event that introduced students to real nursing skills through five interactive stations. My goal was to create a hands‑on learning experience that helped students better understand what nurses do and explore possible healthcare careers. Throughout the process, I researched nursing skills, planned the event structure, created educational materials, gathered supplies, and coordinated with my mentor to make sure the event was safe, realistic, and meaningful. The final product included stations on PPE, vital signs, triage, nursing specialties, and communication, along with worksheets, scenario cards, and a student passport activity. Hosting the event allowed me to apply the SLA core values by using inquiry to shape my guiding question, research to design each station, collaboration to work with my mentor and volunteers, presentation to communicate information clearly, and reflection to adjust my plans when challenges came up. Through this project, I learned how to lead an event from start to finish, how to teach others, and how to adapt when things don’t go as expected. My Capstone not only strengthened my interest in nursing but also created a valuable learning opportunity for other students in my school community. This is my link to my website, which is a digitized version of my event:

https://sites.google.com/scienceleadership.org/jaelle-smith-capstone/stations-page

This is my bibliography :

For my Senior Capstone, I designed and hosted a Nursing Exploration Event that introduced students to real nursing skills through five interactive stations. My goal was to create a hands‑on learning experience that helped students better understand what nurses do and explore possible healthcare careers. Throughout the process, I researched nursing skills, planned the event structure, created educational materials, gathered supplies, and coordinated with my mentor to make sure the event was safe, realistic, and meaningful. The final product included stations on PPE, vital signs, triage, nursing specialties, and communication, along with worksheets, scenario cards, and a student passport activity. Hosting the event allowed me to apply the SLA core values by using inquiry to shape my guiding question, research to design each station, collaboration to work with my mentor and volunteers, presentation to communicate information clearly, and reflection to adjust my plans when challenges came up. Through this project, I learned how to lead an event from start to finish, how to teach others, and how to adapt when things don’t go as expected. My Capstone not only strengthened my interest in nursing but also created a valuable learning opportunity for other students in my school community. This is my link to my website, which is a digitized version of my event:

https://sites.google.com/scienceleadership.org/jaelle-smith-capstone/stations-page

This is my bibliography :

For my Senior Capstone, I designed and hosted a Nursing Exploration Event that introduced students to real nursing skills through five interactive stations. My goal was to create a hands‑on learning experience that helped students better understand what nurses do and explore possible healthcare careers. Throughout the process, I researched nursing skills, planned the event structure, created educational materials, gathered supplies, and coordinated with my mentor to make sure the event was safe, realistic, and meaningful. The final product included stations on PPE, vital signs, triage, nursing specialties, and communication, along with worksheets, scenario cards, and a student passport activity. Hosting the event allowed me to apply the SLA core values by using inquiry to shape my guiding question, research to design each station, collaboration to work with my mentor and volunteers, presentation to communicate information clearly, and reflection to adjust my plans when challenges came up. Through this project, I learned how to lead an event from start to finish, how to teach others, and how to adapt when things don’t go as expected. My Capstone not only strengthened my interest in nursing but also created a valuable learning opportunity for other students in my school community. This is my link to my website, which is a digitized version of my event: https://sites.google.com/scienceleadership.org/jaelle-smith-capstone/stations-page This is my bibliography :

For my project, I wrote a paper about the benefits of taking a personal finance class and learning proper financial literacy. Throughout this process, I learned a lot more about the importance of personal finance and how it correlates to everyday things such as mental health, college prep, and, most importantly, taxes. Overall, my capstone is meant to educate people on how many aspects of their lives financial literacy truly can impact.

This website contains the results of all of my research, a small guide on taxes, my annotated bibliography, and another bibliography for additional sources that I used later on.

Website Link To Final Capstone: https://themoneyblueprint.tiiny.site/

Link to Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dD2GlesPsvFw5uvh1s7uEAQ3UuaS3AgbvU1GhrhNsQQ/edit?usp=sharing

For my senior Capstone project, I did a series of STEM-based arts & crafts projects/activities with elementary school students that ran from April 22nd to May 6th. These activities included making paper airplanes, making paper and straw rockets, creating oobleck from scratch, and building towers out of straws and tape, all while learning the science, engineering, and physics behind them.

I worked with both Francis Scott Key Elementary School, the school I went to from K-6, and Sunrise of Philadelphia, the afterschool program that I coordinated with and where I held my activities. But truly, the biggest stars of my entire project and the reason why I did it was the students, who were always so full of energy, creativity, and a willingness to learn and start the activity at hand.

Overall, it truly just warmed my heart and filled me with an immense sense of fulfillment having been able to work with such creative children and having been able to see their process of working through things, being curious, asking questions, and coming to a conclusion at the end of the day. It’s like seeing a mirror of my past self, when I was first introduced to STEM and all these fun challenges, and this is also my biggest hope and accomplishment – that these kids found this just as memorable as I did when I was in their shoes.

For this project, I wanted to do something unique that no one else would. That’s what made me decide on a web page for the lost and found. My friend Lucas would create a new lost-and-found dresser while I made the webpage for it. If a student lost an item, and it was found, they would be able to see it on the webpage and know it’s in a safe place. I started by getting help from Mr Hernandez, who gave me information on what to search up, keywords, and more. He then gave me the tool codeX, which is what I created the code for the webpage on. I watched lots of YouTube videos and read through CodeX’s tutorials on how to get started. These tutorials taught me things like how to change the color and size, and how to align things correctly. I then put these new skills that I learned to use and created the webpage. The biggest error that I had when creating this webpage was getting the items to post. When testing it out, sometimes items wouldn’t post or would just be deleted, making you have to add all the information back in again. I learned so many things from this experience, but the thing that I learned the most about was coding. I never thought that I could take a skill I learned in fourth grade and apply it to help my school.

I am passionate about music and guitars so that’s where I decided to direct my capstone efforts. I’ve been playing guitar for about six years and in that time I’ve seen guitars cost over ten thousand dollars because they are aged to feel sixty years old. The goal of my project is to simulate that wear on a much lighter budget. I bought a guitar husk which is an empty body with a broken headstock. After fixing it I set to work on the aging process. I removed the finish with a heat gun and a chisel, then repainted it with a new design. I chose the Irish flag because of my family’s strong Irish roots. After that I sanded and burned the finish to make it look and feel old, and road worn. To add a touch of personality I was inspired by guitars some of my favorite artists have used and nailed a bunch of bottle caps to the top. Once the body was fully finished I started to install the hardware and electronics. The soldering gave me some trouble since it was a new process for me, but that’s when I collaborated with my peers and we managed to get it working. To benefit the SLA community as much as I could I made a video with the guitar on how to change strings for future music classes at SLA.

My Bibliography can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14MpdoE-JIBZQ5PzeDw4xKNiXgtWtXz-FUYqUj2wPs8w/edit?usp=sharing

The Tutorial on how to change strings can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n4n1iWWyjJE_B2h7SnNTeYEyOB2vK387/view?usp=sharing