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

Annotated Bibliography

“2016 Energy Benchmarking Report.” PECO, 2016,

http://www.phillybuildingbenchmarking.com/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Guidelines for Writing Reports in Engineering. Monash University,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Annotated Bibliography

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Abstract Paragraph

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

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

Bibliography

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Art Therapy is More than Just Making Nice Pictures

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

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

Art Teaching For a New Age

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

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

Ten Reasons to Let Your Kids Paint

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

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

The Value Of Art Therapy For Those On The Autism Spectrum

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

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

1. Bridgewater, Alan, and Gill Bridgewater. Making wood handles, hinges & knobs: the perfect touch for cabinetmaking. Sterling, 1998.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Avram, Ioana. “How to do fashion sketches step by step.” YouTube, YouTube, 28

Aug. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=0orqkmOGamk&feature=share.

This video is a tutorial on fashion sketching, by Ioana Avram, a Romanian designer. Avram takes you step by step through the process of drawing fashion figure for your designs. She describes the proportions of the body and the angles and lines of the body to follow. She describes three primary steps to drawing figures. Starting with the axis of the body, drawing stark lines and angles of the body, such as the shoulder line and the hips, you create something like a stick figure. Secondly sketch out the primary shapes within the body, and lastly you connect the shapes together as fluidly as possible. All in all, this tutorial helps to guide you in drawing figures fast, each one doesn’t generally take more than 3 minutes, and efficiently, the figures are ideal to emphasize the subtleties of each design you create.

Learning from this has made my design process a lot faster and easier. Previously I did not have a real method to drawing figures, now I can easily reference my designs and I have an air of consistency to my figures which helps me better understand my designs in relation to one another.

Claudio, Luz. “Waste Couture: Environmental Impact of the Clothing Industry.”

Environmental Health Perspectives, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Sept. 2007, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1964887/.

This source talks about the detriments of “fast fashion.” Fast fashion allows huge quantities of clothing to be produced and sold quickly and at low costs. This type of fashion has repercussions on the environment and leads to inhumane conditions for workers. In China, for example, where 30% of the world’s apparel exports stem from, workers make as little as 12-18 cents per hour. For the majority of the apparel nowadays, just producing the material to needed to construct the clothing creates harmful by-products. Cotton crops account for 25% of all pesticides used in the U.S.

Because of how quickly clothing is produced and sold, it urges consumers to throw out last season’s purchases. One person in America will throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing/textiles per year. Though thrift stores are becoming an increasingly popular way to discard clothing, they make up only 15% of all clothing that is thrown out. This source is very useful in pointing out the flaws in fast fashion and reasons that we are in need of more sustainable & eco-friendly habits within the fashion industry.

Cline, Elizabeth L. “Ethical Fashion: Is The Tragedy In Bangladesh A Final Straw?” NPR,

National Public Radio, 2 May 2013, www.npr.org/2013/05/02/180557959/ethical-fashion-is-the-tragedy-in-bangladesh-a-final-straw. Accessed 25 Jan. 2018.

This source explains a lot of the “fast fashion” industry’s operations and how that becomes problematic and disregards environmental and human rights issues. The fashion industry is now ruled by fast fashion industries which outsource to other countries in order to employ extremely cheap labor, optimizing their profits. It opens your eyes to how apathetic we are as a country to any crises that don’t directly affect us, the sufferings of people outside of the U.S., the degradation of the environment, etc… Now, there is a surge in the U.S. towards more ethical fashion and a greater demand in consumers for brands that sell and produce conscientiously.

Colon, Ana. “The 51 Most Incredible Dresses From Couture Fashion Week.” Glamour,

Glamour Magazine, 25 Jan. 2018, 12:25pm, www.glamour.com/gallery/best-looks-couture-fashion-week-spring-2018.

This source is not quite academic or without bias, but for my intents and purposes it doesn’t really need to be. The article compiles a list of fifty popular looks from 2018’s couture fashion week, from some of the most influential designers of today. Studying each of these pieces and other looks from the designers mentioned is a useful way to gather inspiration for my pieces as well as understand what types of designs that people respond positively to. This makes the bias of the article useful to my research. Realistically I won’t be able to match the designs from Fashion Week, but I can try to incorporate some of the main components and/or themes of the pieces that I see.

Csanák, Edit. “Eco-Friendly Concepts and Ethical Movements in the Fashion Industry.”

International Textile, Clothing & Design Conference, 5 Oct. 2014.

There are some limitations in this source, as the author who presented at the conference it was written for is not from an English speaking country, and so, though it is written in English, some of the meaning is convoluted in the writing because of the language barrier which causes the author to write in broken English at times. Despite its limitations, the source introduces the idea of three pillars of a “sustainable fashion retail chain” which is something that can be useful to understand. The pillars are made up of social issues, economic demands, and environmental aspects. In order to create a sustainable fashion retail chain it is essential to find a balance between all three, ensuring that you can produce goods at a relatively inexpensive cost, treat workers fairly, and take environmentally beneficial based action.

Ferrarini, Paolo. “Interview: Sass Brown of "ReFashioned".” Cool Hunting, 9 Oct.

2013, www.coolhunting.com/style/interview-sass-brown-of-refashioned.

This article transcribes an interview held with Sass Brown, the founding dean of the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation and an advisor for the annual Danish sustainable solutions guide, Sustania100. Brown counters the question of whether or not recycling/upcycling would be a contradiction to fashion’s naturally value of obsolescence, by explaining that “creativity thrives on challenge.” She expands on how, challenging oneself to be sustainable in fashion elicits creative responses and that eco-fashion is no less couture than its wasteful counterparts.

I find a lot of truth in her response as I begin my capstone. I’ve felt a lot of enjoyment in upcycling clothes not only because of the environmental implications but also because it poses a challenge and stretches my creativity because I have to work with what I have, mistakes have to be embraced and run with because I don’t have an endless supply of material. I have one chance, one thing, each piece is unique and near impossible to replicate, which lends each piece a valuableness that it would not otherwise possess.

Gerval, Olivier. Fashion: Concept to Catwalk. Firefly Books, 2010.

Gerval’s Concept to Catwalk laid out everything that a designer needs to know to create a clothing collection. He starts from the very beginning of the design process, mapping out how to choose color palettes and fabric type, touches on the conceptualization of each piece, producing them, creating a portfolio, and finally showcasing your collection. Reading this has given me a lot of helpful hints to keep in mind while designing my collection. It has also given me a lot of good ideas for how I want to present the final product because I hadn’t had a solid plan for that aspect of the project. Now I am excited about the possibilities of what I can do to display it. I’m considering doing a photoshoot with each piece and recruiting models, which could be a time consuming process. I am also very taken with the idea of creating a portfolio of all my designs, making it all follow a sort of theme, concept mapping and the such.

Prime, Richard. “Restructional Clothing by Ninna Berger.” Cool Hunting, 28 Oct.

2013, www.coolhunting.com/style/restructional-clothing-by-ninna-berger.  

Ninna Berger is an avant garde, Swedish designer. Berger founded Recontructional Clothing, a collection of clothing which uses 100% reused materials and doesn’t allow any material to go to waste. This source was able to provide a lot of examples of the different possibilities that upcycling holds as the project Berger undertook was very similar to what I am attempting in my capstone. It has also abolished the idea that upcycled clothing’s greatest potential is to look like a 4th grade arts and crafts project in its finished state. If nothing else, learning about Reconstructional Clothing and looking at the results of the project has helped to boost my morale and reinforce my hope for the quality of the products that I create.

Sims, Alexanda. “How the fashion industry is helping the world's rubbish problem.”

The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 27 May 2016, www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/how-the-fashion-industry-is-helping-the-worlds-rubbish-problem-a7052826.html.

This article talks about how designers have turned to more ecological materials to create their fashion. One popular and effective method of no-waste fashion production mentioned is chemical recycling. Chemical recycling involves  melting old material down to extract the raw material. Using this method, old clothing can be made into a new garment to be recycled again and again. The article points out that each year, 350,000 tons of used clothing in the UK goes to the landfill. In the U.S., this number is a whopping 16 million tons as of 2014. The UK is making great strides in integrating sustainability with fashion, and the sheer mass of waste that the U.S. produces in textiles, shows how beneficial sustainable fashion could be in America.

My capstone is a response to the question of how I can personally reduce the waste I create, beyond simply recycling. This source has opened my eyes to how much of a detriment the fashion industry can be to the environment and some of the ways to combat that. After learning this, I knew that I wanted to emulate designers such as Christopher Raeburn and Cyndi Rhoades. Though I do not have access to the technology to employ chemical recycling, my end goal is to create several pieces of clothing out of old and worn out clothing and materials, which will allow me to create environmentally conscious clothing and minimize my carbon footprint, although it will be on a much smaller and more personal scale than the design.

Wyszynski, Linda. The complete photo guide to needlework. Creative Pub. International,

2012.

In The Complete Photo Guide to Needlework, Wyszynski includes descriptions of different tools and materials essential to needlework which was extremely helpful for me so that I knew exactly what would be the best type of thread, needle, etc… when embroidering. This book gave me a lot of different techniques to use when embroidering, beading, and the like. It was especially useful when I was working on the shoes that I repaired because I was using so much embroidery, and in such a vast range of techniques, on them. I thought this source very effective to use because it had ready pictures and steps so that I could easily follow along and copy the steps in order to finish the pair of converse.

I spoke to black girls, and they told me colors other than nude were “too loud” or “too much to wear in public.” Myself being a dark skin girl who wears a variety of colors on my face, knew that I had to prove what was being said wrong. Not only wrong, but had to raise awareness and confidence to black girls who don’t think colors are meant to be worn. Throughout the month of April I spoke to a group of black sophomore students and got them to come with me to Sephora to observe the limitless colors that they could wear. It resulted in them feeling more comfortable wearing colored makeup.

My inspiration of doing a YouTube video was for the fact the visuals being better than words. It was an opportunity to combine creativity with a message. I not only needed the message heard but seen and spread.

The point of my project; “Color with Color” was to raise awareness the the issue of dark skin girls wearing makeup colors other than nude. The goal of my YouTube video was to wear different shades of lipstick that I purchased to represent my idea. Each color had a different look and item. For example, the orange look was paired with a large orange sweatshirt and an orange lighter. Another example would be the green look was paired with a normal green t-shirt and a rose. The whole point of switching each of the lipsticks with the outfits was to demonstrate how much the color pops.

For my capstone project, I wanted to educate people on animal behavior, and utilize that knowledge in situations when either animals approach people or if animals are seen on the street. To accomplish this goal, I held a presentation that went over the 4 basic behaviors of dogs and cats, since those are the two most common domestic pets. In that presentation, I discussed when not to approach an animal, since there are instances when approaching one is not safe. Another thing that I wanted to accomplish with this capstone was to give back to the animals in need, while they are waiting to find their forever homes. So with that, I decided to hold a donation drive to collect necessities for the animals, and deliver them to the PSPCA. After all of this was done, I put everything together on a website and added some extra information about animal behavior for those who want to explore beyond what was explained in the presentation. Something that I learned from working on this capstone project was that initial plans may not turn out how you originally imagined them to, but to overcome that obstacle, you should be open to quick changes to make do with what you have.