The initial plan for my capstone was to upcycle my dead laptop into useful stuff. My first planned device was a passively cooled desktop PC, which is what most of my research in my bibliography points to. I’d been attempting to get the mainboard of the laptop working for about 6 months until a repair attempt ended in the magic blue smoke (ie: the components fried). I then shifted to attempting to salvage still working parts from the laptop. The final product of this salvaging is a portable desktop monitor made from the LCD from the laptop. To do that. I started by buying some board from Shenzhen in order to convert an HDMI signal to LVDS for the monitor, then got to building an enclosure for the LCD out of sheet metal and 3d printed components. With one of the goals being portability, I reused the laptop’s hinges to make a folding stand for the monitor and found a power supply with similar dimensions to the board from Shenzhen, allowing everything to fold into a tight package.

I always wanted to make my Capstone involved in something that brought me joy whilst still having the aspect of challenging my engineering skills. Prior to this school year, I wanted to physically build my own pool table in order to give regular consumers a cheaper option and make the game easier to get into. Given the restrictions of online school, I wasn’t sure how I would bring my idea to life until my CTE-Engineering class began to practice and delve deeper into a CAD software called Fusion 360, where I realized I could digitally plan and design the table at home. Designing a cheap DIY build involved looking at online examples people have made in the past, finding which materials are necessary and which can be cut out, and researching the universal measurements used in pool tables (height, pool ball dimensions, pocket sizes, etc.) in order to make this project a legitimate table one could practice with and use. I had to go through a few iterations with the design before I achieved the right balance between cost-effectiveness and stiffness, which was accomplished after I conducted a static stress simulation on Fusion 360. This capstone was wrapped up and put together in an interactive website where one could easily read and follow how to make the design. Along the way, I learned that pool tables are not just desks with holes; their prices depend on the quality of parts used, their level of craftsmanship, and many structural intricacies.

Website: https://shark-chimes-4kn6.squarespace.com/

CAD: https://myhub.autodesk360.com/ue2ccdb80/g/shares/SH56a43QTfd62c1cd968f83d2024e3c0f01f

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GyZqh7YynaL_75F0jTGIbS6e9amO3UmrxOyzkA8x1yY/edit

As I was brainstorming my capstone project over the summer of 2020 I often found myself watching NBA Basketball games while looking through the current news of the world on my phone. I suppose the world of politics and sports being on my mind for months lead to the creation of this project. I wanted to do something that could answer why the sports world was becoming so involved in politics. I settled on wanting to work on something that would allow for my thoughts to flow and create discussions after the audience listens to it. I created a podcast series called The Political Sports Podcast. In this podcast, I discuss the different events where politics and sports have crossed over and come together. I don’t try to answer any questions with definitive statements because I want the audience to think about their own opinions. I believe I have learned a lot about the specific scenarios where sports and politics intersected. I have also learned about why these events are happening more often and what this means for the future as I discussed in the podcast. I have learned that politics have been involved in the sports community for decades, but now it is becoming more commonplace for athletes to become involved in politics. I really enjoyed working on this project and I hope everyone who listens enjoys it too.

TheUndefeated. “Colin Kaepernick Protests Anthem over Treatment of Minorities.” The Undefeated, The Undefeated, 3 Sept. 2016, theundefeated.com/features/colin-kaepernick-protests-anthem-over-treatment-of-minorities/.

Jenkins, Sally. “Perspective | This Is Why Colin Kaepernick Took a Knee.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 30 May 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/05/30/this-is-why-colin-kaepernick-took-knee/.

Ellis, Ralph, and Steve Almasy. “NBA Players Protest Racist Talk Attributed to L.A. Clippers Owner Donald Sterling.” CNN, Cable News Network, 28 Apr. 2014, www.cnn.com/2014/04/27/us/nba-team-owner-alleged-racist-remarks/index.html.

Zucker, Joseph. “Clippers Owner Donald Sterling Banned for Life from NBA for Racist Remarks.” Bleacher Report, Bleacher Report, 26 Sept. 2017, bleacherreport.com/articles/2042902-clippers-owner-donald-sterling-banned-for-life-from-nba-for-racist-remarks.

Hill, Jemele. “The WNBA Can’t Keep Kelly Loeffler Around.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 11 Jan. 2021, www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/kelly-loeffler-doesnt-belong-in-the-wnba/617632/.

MarcJSpears. “’Black Lives Matter, People’: How the NBA’s Social Justice Efforts Dominated the Season.” The Undefeated, The Undefeated, 14 Oct. 2020, theundefeated.com/features/how-the-nba-social-justice-efforts-dominated-the-season/.

Stein, Marc. “Led by N.B.A., Boycotts Disrupt Pro Sports in Wake of Blake Shooting.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Aug. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/sports/basketball/nba-boycott-bucks-magic-blake-shooting.html.

Parks, Miles. “NBA Arenas Are Becoming Voting Centers. Will They Draw The Same Crowds?” NPR, NPR, 30 Oct. 2020, www.npr.org/2020/10/30/929470574/nba-arenas-are-becoming-voting-centers-will-they-draw-the-same-crowds.

Blakemore, Erin. “How the Black Power Protest at the 1968 Olympics Killed Careers.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 22 Feb. 2018, www.history.com/news/1968-mexico-city-olympics-black-power-protest-backlash.

Sheridan, Chris. “Sports And Politics Are Mixed Forever; Get Used To It.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 29 Aug. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/chrissheridan/2020/08/29/sports-and-politics-are-mixed-forever-get-used-to-it/?sh=5b02312e6a54.

For my capstone, I decided to focus on food sustainability and how people in the SLA community can lessen their personal food waste. I did this by creating the “SLA Pledge to Food Sustainability.” I chose this topic because of my interest in food, its systems, and its environmental impact. My first step was to gather participants of students, teachers, and parents at SLA and ask them what they knew about food sustainability. Then, over the course of eight weeks, I prompted them to try out new sustainability techniques such as meal planning, using more leftovers and trying out low-waste recipes. I also gave them tips on how to live a more sustainable lifestyle each week. After sending out four of these surveys over the course of two months, I analyzed the results to see what a small sample of people thought of food sustainability. After this, I decided to put my findings, plus all of the resources I used, on a website so more people could utilize the information. Although completing my capstone during the pandemic presented its challenges, I am proud that I was able to do everything I could do, especially it all being online.

You can find my final website here: https://mberger21.wixsite.com/mysite

Here is my annotated bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16ydFI6gOmKzcCm6kdPn3UTLntUHKzPL_WOfCcORGAEo/edit?usp=sharing

Example of planned meal through my capstone surveys

Towards the end of last year, the spotted lanternfly—an invasive species from southeast Asia that arrived in Pennsylvania in 2014—made its presence across Philadelphia, posing serious threats to the environment. Driven by the conversation of our environment, I aimed to create a product that would effectively assist or make progress in eliminating spotted lanternflies. I ended up reaching out to a Drexel professor from a Scientific American article, Antonios Kontsos, who was performing a research project designed to create an image-processing algorithm to detect spotted lanternfly egg masses. He responded and kindly invited me to attend one of the research team’s meetings where I familiarized myself with the group and was able to find my role in the hardware team. The research project split off into two teams: the hardware team captured images/samples of lanternfly egg masses or tested IR technology, and the software team worked on developing/testing processing algorithms to see which software was best. With that, our research teams ended up creating individual digital notebooks to document our progress so that future students/researchers could refer back to them when conducting new research.

Digital Notebooks: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1EbUUjdtObp677hUbgRabkMEteuhnpL5Ll3rkfFHrCjI/edit?usp=sharing

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f0dDT8vKDNd0Ln7ybWHSuHx_DPFApH7-3lrPJQT64y0/edit?usp=sharing

For my capstone project, I decided to volunteer at my Dance school. Volunteering at the dance school consisted of teaching dance classes to the younger kids that ranged from three to five years old. For example, I taught classes like ballet, acro, and sometimes tap. My process consisted of going to the dance school every Saturday morning. From 9:15 to 12:15 I would teach the dance classes. I started off by teaching them basic terminology and steps. After a few classes, I eventually had to start creating a final product/piece. This included finding costumes for the show, completing the dances, and etc. Since the recital will not be happening until late June; I recorded both dances to include in my presentation. While teaching the young children, I learned that some children have separation issues from their parents due to the pandemic. I also learned that teaching younger children is much harder than teaching older children.

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14-Y5asjfXxqArd5DMn9bwNlniRvL6ezd4EipXQRYHu4/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XYlrbVtlNQ4yUSKloAPLahAnnOl8yHpcY-iXP9Q2KcA/edit#slide=id.gd5d4353235_0_16

https://tylercarterrobloxf.wixsite.com/website

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Mar44IwblkWbB8EJBegjb6hcESe0fUMpNpVHTYYYrkk/edit

Link to Annotated Bib. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X7cjfjDYWKjycvTpudRMwB1QaFDnRhsg8v4tdU6ZfJ0/edit?usp=sharing

Welcome to my capstone! My mission when completing my capstone this year was to make a voice for someone who may not have had one already. The topic being the pressures that may be felt by high school students during their careers. The information being targeted towards parents and teachers. This topic was perfect to surround my project around due to the stresses we all have faced as a student body and senior class during 2020-2021. This project is meant to shed light on the unspoken but surely felt pressures that high school students may crack from. My final project was a seminar/ Q&A for students and teachers.

Seminar Slideshow: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1SkmhkyYiG3dmFv9CDdVWnvrbpT4isU4-5mjGlP98YU8/edit?usp=sharing

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vH3c7P_OnNxT1He-vtIdkMthLMxWh_hDP9tY7rMx4BU/edit?usp=sharing

21Capstone #Walker-Roberts

Link to my journal: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uZHFDDiLBbSBjJH82OvulEwS_8ZkSiHnMbOmQ49UwPA/edit?usp=sharing

At the start of the lockdown I was relieved to have a break from school for a while because I thought the start of quarantine to be a 2 week break and then we would have to eventually go back to normal. When it went a little longer than I thought it would, I was still very optimistic about going back to school and having a normal life. It was until I heard I was entering the 9th grade through zoom, when I started to feel helpless.

I chose this topic with the sole purpose of trying not to feel alone. I thought that I was the only one having trouble with depression motivation throughout the school year. I didn’t want to be a Debby downer but I genuinely thought we weren’t ever gonna get out of this pandemic. When I was researching I shared a lot of my thoughts in the teenagers that the articles talk about. I feel we need to talk about this topic because I feel like it has not been talked about as much as it should be, obviously everyone is having a hard time but teenagers need socialization to grow and thrive. I think it’s most important for adults to know about this topic because they think this is just a time were we teens have all the time in the world and it has been really stressful and adults really don’t seem to understand that.

Many teens are experiencing eating disorders, new suicidal thoughts and new waves of anxiety, with a 40% increase of teens calling The National Eating Disorder Association since may reporting that they have been binge eating during the pandemic and with online school and always being on our devices we can lose track of how much we eat. An issue like this is significant because the spike in self-harm within the teen community since the pandemic started, is serious.

According to FAIR Health there was a 334% spike in self-harm in teens and young adults amid the pandemic, teens and children feeling trapped inside. Usually when kids are feeling depressed adults try to make them engage in outside activities such as hanging with friends or going to the park, which we all can’t do now. Not having the space to fully develop teens are not ok, the proportion of mental health emergency admission was up 31% higher than it was in 2019 according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 14.3% of teens will be affected by depression and bipolar disorder and with the added trauma from the pandemic, teens are now one of the most affected groups.

Researching this topic for the You & The World project made me realize that I am not alone and there are hundreds of people who are struggling with the same things I am. One part about my research I still want to know more about is the child abuse and how children and teens are living with their abusers, and if there is any way to get them help. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be trapped with an abuser for months on end not knowing when it’s going to be over. Another thing I still want to dig deeper into is to eating disorders and if binge eating is the only eating disorder people are struggling with, I know some people have bulimia and Anorexia and I want to know if the pandemic made it worse for them and if there are coping methods they have.

With the pandemic not being over soon I am feeling apprehensive about the future for teens during this pandemic knowing a lot of them aren’t in their right state of mind.

Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/12/health/covid-teenagers-mental-health.html

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/impact-of-covid-19-lockdown-on-teens-mental-health

https://edsource.org/2021/eating-disorders-among-teens-surging-during-the-pandemic/650882

https://time.com/5943896/covid-19-teen-mental-health/

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/14/977215385/professionals-see-uptick-in-teen-mental-health-issues-aggravated-by-pandemic

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/teenagers-covid-pandemic-mental-health/2021/02/10/3389983a-39d6-11eb-9276-ae0ca72729be_story.html

I think that period poverty is something that as a society we do not talk about enough. Part of the reason behind that is because there is such a stigma around periods in general, people feel like they can’t talk about them, and treat them as some kind of taboo thing that just cannot be discussed. Another reason is that people don’t realize how big of a problem period poverty really is. Sanitary products are quite expensive and many people can’t afford them even though they are a necessity. Women are pretty much half of the world’s population, and almost all women at some point in their life have their period. It is not something that you can really avoid, so why is it so hard for a lot of women and girls to get access to sanitary products? A part of that reason is because of the “Pink tax” or “Tampon tax.” This is a tax that is put on sanitary products because they are labeled as non-essential items. 35 states in the U.S. still use this tax which is ridiculous because sanitary products are absolutely an essential item, most women and girls cannot choose whether or not to have their period.

image depicting a calendar marked with dates of menstrual cycle, sanitary products, and not enough money to pay for them

The Pink tax does not just apply to sanitary products however, many other personal care items such as razors, clothing, and accessories are affected by the pink tax. This means that if an item is “made for women” or marketed in that way, it will cost more even if it is the exact same as the “mens version.” This happens with deodorant, shampoo and conditioner, lotion, body wash, shaving cream, and so much more. This article reveals that more often than not, the only real difference between mens and womens products is that the women’s will be pink, and cost more.

A men’s and women’s razor, exactly the same but the women’s costs more

Another thing that is a factor in Period poverty is the wage gap and opportunity gap which are basically the same thing. Women typically make only $00.79 for every dollar a man makes, that is the wage gap. The opportunity gap is that women are less likely to be able to get high position jobs, which means that they probably will have a harder time being paid more. So, if women have a harder time getting paid as much as men and getting jobs that will pay that much, and women’s products cost more, how are they supposed to pay for essential things like sanitary products? Of course this is a very broad statement, some women are paid a lot more or as much as some men but knowing this information is important when talking about period poverty. There are also other factors that come into play when it comes to period poverty, Women of color typically have an even harder time getting paid as much as men and also even white women so period poverty is much more common in some communities than others because of this. The coronavirus pandemic has also made period poverty even worse for some communities than it was before, with people getting laid off their jobs and all the other hardships that have come about because of the pandemic. I connect to this issue because I personally have the ability to be able to afford sanitary products but the fact that so many people do not just feels wrong to me. Something that is so natural and basically unavoidable as well should not be such a huge burden for so many women. While researching this issue I have found that it is very complicated and will not be solved easily, or by one person. There are so many factors that affect period poverty and make it very intricate and difficult. I think that the first step is to get people educated on the topic and make it normal to talk about periods because it is still something that for some reason a lot of people think is bad to talk about but that needs to change.

image of a hand holding a tampon with the words “not a luxury” in the background

Link to my annotated bibliography

When the pandemic first started, witnessing the world I once knew faded away, it opened my eyes to those who were the real victims of COVID-19, the homeless. So when I was given the chance to bring awareness to the struggles that much lower class and homeless people face due to the COVID-19 virus. Although COVID-19 is a threat to all of us it poses a unique danger to America’s homeless population due to a lack of social services as well as the economic aftermath of the pandemic more Americans are at risk of entering homelessness.

Infographics and statistics are supplied by United Way

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development noted in its 2019 annual report that in America’s 50 most populated cities, African-Americans make up the majority of the homeless population. Of the top 10 cities with the most eviction filings, numbers one through eight all qualify for that top 50 designation, meaning that the added stress these evictions are placing on resources dedicated to assisting those experiencing homelessness may be producing outsized negative impacts on homeless populations that are primarily composed of minorities.

There was no clear region in the country where COVID-19 led to the largest jump in unemployment. Nevertheless, it is clear from the data that statewide unemployment has been closely tied to local industries and their pandemic-related losses. For instance, the top two states for unemployment as of October 2020 were Hawaii and Nevada, both of which depend on tourism to fuel their local economies. In these states, people face unique challenges in moving away from homelessness as a lack of income severely limits their housing options, cited by the National Coalition for the Homeless. People experiencing homelessness in the United States are among the highest risks for infection, complication, and death from COVID-19. Many of the issues of white homeless Americans are amplified in black and native communities due to the systemic oppression they have faced prior to COVID-19. To halt the rapid growth of homelessness and thus the spreading of COVID-19 we must connect all people on the streets with safe accommodation and all those in temporary accommodations must be moved into permanent homes. There are many ways to avoid COVID-19 if you are homeless. You can do this by obviously taking part in social distancing mandates, traveling on social transportation at less busy times, and avoiding other crowded public settings. If you are not homeless there are many ways you are able to help the homeless population in the United States. You can do this by partaking in helping, and working with food drives, homeless shelters, and COVID-19 screening at homeless shelters. Hopefully my writing will open your eyes to the struggle of the homeless and lower class face during these already hard times because of COVID-19. With this information as a society we can go forth and better the lives of our fellow Americans.

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14Cz8Zi6ptOD9Xphm_QVfjb39uwmyGOXDqCbOEl6jM58/edit?usp=sharing

Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XKD-6C6vbQ9l5cxmF5J8u4iDjyZcaFV7r4FKX1Nal-w/edit?usp=sharing

At some point in our lives, we all have gone to a fast food place or have bought a coffee at Wawa. We often don’t think they have much significance in our life since it’s just food. I bet most of us don’t think of the plastic fork that gets thrown out or the coffee cup that has been used. Both of the objects are used and thrown out daily and are both made of plastic. In a way, our world runs on plastic. From grocery bags to water bottles that contain microplastic. Our world is addicted to plastic, and it’s getting worse every day. Slowly our planet is becoming overfilled with plastic. This plastic is killing marine organisms and affects our environment currently. Our society as a whole is addicted to plastic and we can’t go a day without using it. My goal is to inform people about the problem because I can’t solve the worldwide problem in society. We consume so much plastic that it’s affected innocent animals. I want to solve plastic pollution quickly but I know it will take time.

The picture is from plastic pollution EIA

Plastic pollution is the build-up of plastic in the environment. Plastic has a bad effect on the ocean because it doesn’t break down, it breaks upinto small pieces called microplastic. Microplastic are pieces of plastic that are tinier than 5 millimeters, it can be smaller and be seen under a microscope. Microplastic is so tiny that fish accidentally eat the microplastic because they mistake it for plankton. Microplastic is so tiny because the sun heats the plastic slowly and makes plastic very small. Microplastic is very dangerous. It can cause health issues like pierced organs or fatal intestinal blockage for animals. The build of plastic in the ocean has gotten so bad that around the world there are 5 enormous patches of plastic waste.

The plastic in the ocean has gotten so bad, that by 2050 there will be fewer fish in the sea than plastic. People have found whales being beached and when they took a look inside the whale they discovered most of them are filled with plastic. Whales aren’t the only ones filled with plastic, studies have shown that AT LEAST 40% of seabirds and other mammals are affected by the ingestion of plastic. The overproduction of plastic has taken a negative toll on marine wildlife.

The production of plastic increases faster than how it’s recycled. So how long was it since the production of plastic started to increase, someone may ask. It started largely producing plastic 60 years ago. Around 1950 there had been 2 million metric tons of plastic production. In today’s day, there are about 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic that have been made. About 8 million tons of plastic each year enter the ocean. Sources say it’s like dumping garbage trucks filled with plastic into the ocean every 60 seconds or a minute. By 2050 there will be 12 billion metric tons of plastic debris in the ocean. That is not the only problem.

Plastic can take up to 400 years to decompose and in most cases more than the given amount of years. The production of plastic increases faster than how it’s recycled. 80% of the waste products are made of plastic. About 50% out of 300 million tons of plastic is single-use plastic. Around 40% of single-use plastic isn’t recycled. This is because single-use plastic is small objects that tend to fall within the recycling machinery, it’s often not accepted with recycling centers.

In this day plastic is in everything, literally. We can’t get rid of plastic altogether but we can reduce it. We can stop buying bottled water or at least limit it. Limiting the amount of plastic being used is another good way. Instead of using single used plastic use replacements for it, it will help the plant and can also save someone money. Another way that is incredible and true is having the living organism that consumes plastic eat the plastic. There called Mealworms, learn more about clicking the link

Throughout this research and reading about plastic, I realize how people including myself rely on plastic so much. Eliminating plastic will be almost impossible but reducing the consumption of plastic will not only help the planet and animals but for us as well. We can all help reduce plastic pollution by doing simple things but it takes effort to solve it as a world.

My annotated [Bibliography] (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CiGswvgvqOQc_nAUocJADXyx1YEy9r04N4LCMvMO-NA/edit?usp=sharing) about plastic pollution).

Due to SDP conference dates, 4/8 and 4/9 will run under the below abbreviated schedules.

Thursday, 4/8

09:00am - 09:55am C1 Band

10:00am - 10:55am Y1 Band

11:00am - 11:55am A2 Band

Friday, 4/9

09:00am - 09:55am B2 Band

10:00am - 10:55am X2 Band

11:00am - 11:55am E2 Band

In this project I went to answer a very simple question ‘what makes a video game good,’ you might be saying that it is impossible to quantify that it is all about preference but I disagree on that sentiment. I say that there is an objective way to quantify the quality of video games, if that is not the case then critics would not exist. That point aside I think the traits of a good video game are pretty simple. That being that they should bring something new to the table, they should also have an interesting story and characters, lastly and most importantly they should have good gameplay. Now a game can be good without these things (except for gameplay you really need that) but they can add to the experience and immersion of the game. Aside from those three big ones there are some others that are some ‘minor’ traits such as; good music and sound design, good game and level design, good visuals, unique graphics, and a good mixture of learnability and complexity. There are obviously many more aspects and traits you need to make a good video game, but why is all of this even important? Why should we know what the specific aspects of good video games are? Well, in short you really don’t need to know. There are many topics far more pressing than video games. Yes, all of that is true but what is also true is that video games have engraved themselves into our modern society. A recent estimate put that a little more than 2.5 billion people play video games, that is nearly half of the entire population of the planet. That is why this topic is important because there are so many people playing video games more now than ever, and I can say from experience that no one wants to play a bad video game or a lazy video game or even a greedy video game (cough cough EA). And yet every year triple A games seem to get lazier and more boring, we should know the basic attributes to good games so we can steer clear from these games and to tell big game companies that we just want good games to play. In this post I may not have fancy graphs or pictures but what I do have is a passion for video games and a hope that one day we will get more good games than average ones and especially bad ones.