My capstone is a documentary on the history of Philadelphia. There are fun facts, some shocking facts, and things you didn’t know about. I talk about colleges, sports teams, and a few neighborhoods (North South, West) and I go over historical buildings and landmarks. The goal of this project is to inform whoever watches my documentary about things they pass by on a daily basis.
Rocketfest is a youth film festival for public high school students across Philadelphia organized by SLA Center City students. Rocketfest was created to showcase Philadelphia Public Highschool film talent, all in one place, together.
Through working on this capstone we got to see how SLA’s core values of inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, and reflection work in the real world. This capstone was not only challenging but also rewarding.
Copy and paste this link to view a slide deck explaining Rocketfest 2023 with some behind-the-scenes: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DaU5e_cws_QH856kl0b0H8PX-UJx0JYoKH5N2Gp64Co/edit?usp=sharing
I wanted to show people how beautiful soccer is and how much it means to me because it plays a significant role in my life. In the beginning, growing up as a female and playing soccer was really challenging for me. I had people tell me soccer wasn’t for girls and that I should try something different or that I shouldn’t play sports at all, but I didn’t let any of it get to me. I kept on working hard throughout the years. Soccer has brought me so much happiness and has opened up a lot of opportunities for me. I kept getting better, which makes me incredibly proud. I want other people to feel the same way about pursuing their dreams or anything else in life. By completing this capstone, I hoped to show that women can play sports, sometimes even better than men. Everyone should be able to play soccer because it is known as the most beautiful sport. There shouldn’t be any favoritism in sports at all; everyone should receive the same treatment and compensation. Although I know that many people won’t agree with me, I hope that my initiative will show that just because we are women, that doesn’t mean that we can’t participate in sports.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g-sou8lYHqIcNjgAGHen6Hly8f41xku0/view?usp=sharing
My capstone is about how movies have impacted people over time and I was working on this capstone with people in my neighborhood. I’ve been working on this capstone for over a couple months. I’m very excited to be able to show all the work that I’ve done. The capstone is done in a slide show type of way. I put a lot of information from the interviews I’ve conducted.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dRPlXi93JIo-gok3XasEvtxRip-QqCKU2d6tV8nOcjU/edit?usp=sharing
For my capstone, I did a soccer ball for the Blind. Throughout this project, I’ve had a couple of roadblocks that have made me reflect on if I should be doing the project. Luckily I stuck through it and enjoy making my project. Next, the process of my project was very unique. Throughout the whole project, I was at first coding a buzzer. When coding the buzzer everything was going according to plan. Until all of a sudden, my code starts having issues. It wasn’t detecting what I was trying to do. Kept having error problems with the code. Once I figured out the code another problem started which was the circuit. The code was being verified by the coding of the website so I thought I was good but no the buzzer started to act up. The buzzer was acting up to the point that it wasn’t being recognized and everything was set up perfectly even with its voltages in the correct spot. So when it was time to overcome these obstacles I quickly started to think of other options that could work. That’s when the idea of a speaker since it’s Bluetooth won’t need any wires. To overcome this I got a mini speaker and just put it inside the ball just to see how loud it would be. As I did that it was perfect. The next step was now how to make the soccer ball kickable. I finally ended up painting it and polishing it. Through all, I learned to never get stuck on one idea and essentially there can always be other solutions to your project or anything in general.
For my capstone project, I wanted to do something that related closely to my life. I also wanted my project to include giving back. After several ideas, I landed on making bags for kids in foster care. I chose to do this project because I was in the foster care system for 5 and a half years of my life. Through those years I moved to 8 different foster homes. After being in my 8th foster home, I finally got out of the foster care system when this family filed and received permanent legal custody of me. Since I spent so many years in the foster care system, I know what kids in foster care may be going through. I felt making these bags for them would be a good way to help and encourage them through this unfortunate time in their lives. As I worked on planning for this project, I realized it would take some time to collect the items I needed for these bags. I thought if I could work on collecting items for two months, I should have everything by February. Since February was Valentine’s month, I decided to call these bags ¨Foster Youth Love Bags¨. I wanted them to know that someone is thinking of them in the month of love.
Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_L1JOHYZn-Sf4UlWkc9HOQ_o9g2guF5VzPx5lfGYnmE/edit?usp=sharing
For my capstone project, I wanted to learn about the differences in resources for different genders for high school sports, mostly focusing on girls soccer. I created a survey asking various questions about schools and the resources they receive overtime as well as who is receiving these resources. I wanted to understand the ways that we can help to make sports more equitable for all athletes. I researched Title IX since it was the 50th year anniversary last year. I also researched some other policies that can help make things more equitable for girl athletes. I created a google slides presentation reviewing my research and data results, including an infographic on the policy I found when I started my capstone.I chose this topic because throughout my high school career, I was only able to play for the varsity girls soccer team for two years due to injury. So, I wanted to make sure that my senior year was a really strong year. But unfortunately, our school didn’t have as many resources, opportunities, or dedication as the other schools we played against. As a result, I created a survey for different coaches to respond to in order to compare the results with my school. I want to bring to light the differences in schools and genders and resources. The first core value of SLA is Inquiry and the way I used that in my capstone was by creating and sending out my survey, and looking for policies related to title IX.There are differences in public and private schools in the way sports are managed and supported. There is also a huge difference in boys and girls teams in general. Some of the important things are coach dedication and fundraising.
My capstone project involved shadowing a mechanic to gain insights into the craft and acquire practical skills relevant to their engineering pursuits. By combining my interests in cars and engineering, I embarked on a journey to understand the mechanics’ profession and explore its connection to the core values of research, inquiry, collaboration, and presentation. The research phase involved shadowing a mechanic and consulting external resources to gather information. Genuine curiosity fueled my inquiry into the life of a mechanic, while collaboration with field experts enriched my learning experience. To address the core values, I created two websites: one highlighting DIY car maintenance tips and the other providing comprehensive information on becoming a mechanic. The project involved a systematic approach, including extensive research on automotive repair and maintenance, hands-on experience working with a professional mechanic, and the development of knowledge-sharing platforms. My proficiency in various mechanical tasks improved as I acquired skills in engine diagnostics, electrical systems, and advanced repair techniques. The journey culminated in the creation of websites that served as resources for car owners and aspiring mechanics. Overall, this capstone project expanded my understanding of automotive repair, strengthened my problem-solving skills, fostered collaboration within the automotive community, and instilled confidence in my engineering abilities for the future.
For my capstone, I made a modular pinball machine that allows the user to move the obstacles around to create any kind of playing board they want. The point was to do something innovative with the classic pinball design and to add my mark to the pinball world. The first thing I did was I first constructed the flippers using a design that I saw on YouTube and have used before in cardboard pinball designs. I made the frame out of thin 1/8th inch baltic birch and plywood so that it is sturdy yet still light and portable. I also wanted the board to be removable so that in case anything breaks or goes wrong it is easier to fix. I created a ball chute for putting the ball in play using a chopstick, a spring, and some thin baltic birch wood. The positioning of the magnets was the hardest part of my capstone. I went through many different magnet patterns with different spacing for all of them before I came up with the one that is actually in use. If you look at the back of the board, you can still see where I had plans to install the magnets on the other designs. After I super glued the magnets in place, I still had to make the obstacles. I started with some basic ones like some basic curves and some circles, although I would still like to expand on my capstone by making some more complex obstacles like ramps, rails, and some moving parts like a multiball function or something like that.
Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TewAN7A2YcahWalgnl-c5SuRyTGK8eBf0vOmGcggvSs/edit?usp=sharing
For my senior project, I came up with the idea of building a website that acts as an inventory search kit for the engineering room. With this invention, students can pull the website out on any device and search for a tool in the room they are looking for. An example would be a certain size nail they need, so by typing in the name of the nail and size the program would give the student information on what part of the room, the shelf it’s in, and the drawler it would be found. Before I was able to start this project I had to teach myself the computer language of HTML and CSS for the front-end design of the project and then also learn javascript for more of the backend design. I used websites such as BSD, Khan Academy, youtube, and GitHub to understand how to code this program. After feeling like I got a hand in the language I then used Node.js and visual studios code to acutely build my website. I planned my coding and setups for the code on GitHub. After Finishing my code I then went around the engineering room taking note of where each item would be. I broke the room down into three parts and put a name for each shelf/cabinet, and then put the drawers into columns so then everything can be more organized to find in the room.
Finally website: https://herc-productions.github.io/capstone-inventory-search/
Full code shown here on github:
https://github.com/Herc-Productions
Bibliography https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ACJVsico0GRC79v7RRD_cRjB30Sxijdo3ApJF9Ads9w/edit
My capstone was based on learning and developing ways humans will grow food on mars. I took 2 different approaches with this project. First i developed a system where I made a mock mars soil using sand dirt and clay. Using this mock soil i created a process of watering and heating the soil to wash out the perchlorates that will be in martian soil. I then used this improved martian soil and placed them in 3 gallon buckets and planted and fertilized potatoes I was able to grow over 10 potatoes in the farm in my short time planting them. My second method was using hydroponics to plant other vegetables by using water to grow the plants it could save weight going up to space instead of soil. using 5 gallon buckets and a giant tote bin i was able to hydroponically grow basil tomatoes and cucumbers. this would greatly improve the martian diet and help self sufficiency on mars. I added a system to automatically drip feed the plants nutrients. using PVC valves. using a fish tank bubbler i can oxygenate the water preventing the plants from dying. and I used an arduino to Project the temperature onto an LCD screen allowing me to monitor the system thoroughly. My hope is similar technologies will be developed to help astronauts advance humanity throughout our solar system
Annotated bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IS9gi1EFE_v5sg2tBZ4noY3I9_gvLEXByTNf85s7KXc/edit?usp=sharing
So the process in making my capstone was a steady flow since we had every wednesday to work on it. But coming up with the idea and making this end product a reality was a little bit complicated because I had so many ideas I wanted to do and I came up with something that would help out the next upcoming 12th graders. So my idea was brought through my personal experience and feeling clueless throughout the whole process. I felt like I was hopeless and had no clue what I was doing. My assumption that the guidance counselor was always busy with other students and never had time with me grew as I was afraid to reach out. I started talking with my teachers on potential ideas for my capstone and that’s when they suggested making a resource page because I had previously mentioned that I struggled with help when it came down to the college process. This is when I got inspiration to make this website a possibility, I started researching resources that could help others when making their decision on the college process. I wanted to make sure that I could provide the best resources possible in order to make sure the next upcoming seniors didn’t have an issue with the lack of information. But there were some hiccups when picking these resources. Some you had to pay for in order to access them but I wanted them to be free for anyone to use. After gathering a long list of resources that would benefit any type of student trying to learn more, I implemented it into my website. Most of the resources that are provided on my final product are a majority of websites and youtube videos that guide them in the right direction. Although the information might not give them a “correct” path, it provides them with a bit more information. But what I’m proud of is knowing that I left something useful and helpful to these upcoming seniors.
Final Capstone: https://sites.google.com/scienceleadership.org/guideme/home?authuser=0 and presentation https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Ch4nRrOE_6JYqJGGzxzS8ytspX9AAIuHg0Q4OJhIuKU/edit?usp=sharing
My capstone was centered around doing nails for people at the school of SLA. The initial goal was to make people happy and give them the same satisfaction that I get when I either get my nails done or have done them myself. I thought that with my certain skill set that this would best display how I have progressed in this area in my life and wanted to share it with those around me.
Slides with all the nail work I’ve done throughout the year
My process paper
Annotated Bibliography
Hello! For my capstone, I created youtube videos of me working on my truck so that I can teach my community skills that can be very helpful to them. I made videos on how to remove your wheel and how to change your oil. Since all of us are old enough to drive and own cars it is our responsibility to be able to take care of our vehicles. I made this happen with the starting help of my mentor who gave me ideas for potential videos that I could film. After I had some finalized ideas I gathered all materials and tools that I was going to need and made sure to prepare myself. With my Father as the cameraman, he would record every step I made so that after all recording was done the editing process would go smoothly. I used WeVideo a website provided to us to edit my videos. The editing took a lot of work and time. After editing I posted my videos on my youtube channel for the public to see. Creating my capstone was a test to prove my knowledge and effort. I was only able to meet up with my Father once every Sunday to work on the recordings. I encounter a problem that made me scrap a video. I destroyed a nut from the wheel. I encounter problems that made this capstone harder than it needed to be but very worthwhile to overcome. I am very proud of what I created.
Link to the Youtube video: https://youtu.be/p3—xSbfQA4
My capstone started off with a question, what can I do to serve my community in a way that will actually impact them positively? I was able to come up with an answer to that question. For my capstone, I made gift bags full of essentials that the unhoused need on a day-to-day basis. I was able to get funding through Braskem to make this possible. I was able to distribute the bags in early April and got feedback from some of the people I was able to help.
Link to bibliography:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IKjekwr1ewt5_8S1E4TSKUbb9WGSNjCfWNI5LixzbPk/edit
For my Capstone, I created a clothing donation drive inside the school building and also had a similar setup outside of the school in my own neighborhood. For the in school one, it lasted around a month and had many students and teachers donate all kinds of clothes during February-March. Some of the acceptable clothes were T-shirts, Hoodies, Jackets, Pants, etc. While the one I had created in my neighborhood was a little bit of fundraising where I went door to door asking people for possible donations to the Klein Life organization to help all the families who have fled Ukraine. I hoped to show the importance of donations through these tasks and wanted people to see what good can come out of them.
Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18wOwNb3I9wWUrD_NPNqfW4Y3mO8j7md-kcIXk2MjhWw/edit?usp=sharing
Before starting to create a website, I first created a google doc listing the steps I was willing to take to complete it. First I would create a template on google sites, next I would begin trying to contact colleges for information on the majors they offered, then I would start creating crash courses on my website, and finally I would create pages for colleges I want to feature on my website with majors they offer. On the college pages I will make sure to add hyperlinks to crash courses that I’ve made. When I first opened a new page on google sites, I first created a formatting template for how I wanted my page to look. To create my crash courses, I’ve first tried reaching out to colleges via email but with no success I’ve turned to doing research and reciting the sources I’ve used. One thing I’ve learned from this project is how to better manage my time. Knowing that my project needed to consume at least 80 hours of work I felt a bit overwhelmed considering my history of poor time management. I created a plan to work at least four hours each week on my Capstone for the entire year. This is what helped me the most complete my capstone on time.
StepAhead: https://sites.google.com/scienceleadership.org/stepahead/
For my capstone project, I wanted to beautify/add more color to SLA’s new building. I figure that the best possible solution for this is to create a mural. I didn’t want my mural to just be a big piece of artwork, I wanted it to be a collaborative piece of art that students at SLA can interact with. Therefore, I decided to create a chalkboard wall on the first floor of the building. Students are allowed to set their creativity free and this is not only one art piece but many others. The chalkboard wall’s purpose is to remind students of upcoming information at SLA, draw, and leave positive messages or messages for others. For this Capstone, I started off by researching which colors can have a positive impact on the brain. I choose to use the colors, red, yellow, green, and orange. I also decided to add my own touch of color which was brown. I started off with an outline of my oval and painted my Chalkboard paint and then I moved on to painting my stripes. Finally, I put up any SLA News.
Time-lapse of my Capstone: https://www.wevideo.com/view/3085425588
bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uP8mZTI014IwD2v3LKQeg0qrxYDxmRGbuGn2wCWsYwQ/edit?usp=sharing
For my Capstone project I did a “Necessities Drive.” Recognizing the poverty that runs deeply through our city I knew very early on that I wanted to center my Capstone around combatting this major issue. I created a partnership with an organization called Cradles to Crayons, which is an organization whose mission is to distribute items necessary to survival and comfortability to families in Philadelphia who are in need. I have collected donations both inside and outside of the school community, as well as having held events such as bake sales to raise funds to be able to purchase more donations to distribute. I have distributed multiple donations to Cradles to Crayons over the span of my Capstone project.
Here is the link to my Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e_A-wvXF1jiS_Bvr5GQxr22Nhck-033k026hHSE9uCw/edit?usp=sharing
Here is the link to my Process Paper: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-0JdUuctuaGTPlAOE0qTT2aeBEMcyINYj64hJ4nMw3o/edit?usp=sharing
For my capstone, I created a website. Well I did a little more than that. I started out with volunteering at my old elementary school once a week for three hours. Since January, I have been there every Wednesday, helping with homework and facilitating activities. Along with teaching kids, I branched out a little. I wanted my project to be about my neighborhood as a whole. I decided to conduct interviews with people that are very influential in my community and well educated in mutual aid. I asked them questions about the non profits and organizations they work with, and how they have helped to build a strong neighborhood. Then, I brought it all together on a website. The website contains quotes from my interviews along with my own writing about my neighborhood, elementary school, and mutual aid. Without mutual aid, healthy communities cannot exist, because they require systems in place to provide help if something goes wrong. Communities that are capable of self sustaining are more equipped to thrive.
The capstone I made is the intro to Engineering video. The video is an introduction to the CTE engineering program in SLA. The goal of the video is to help invite people into the engineering program and to help people find themselves within it. Because I am in the CTE program, I must do a capstone involving digital video. I chose to do this project because I saw that SLA was lacking many digital media of what our school offers and decided to settle on making an intro to our neighbors, the engineering members. To begin this process, I first had to ask myself how do I show the meaning of engineering, while also making it welcoming?
Process Paper: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CibNV-dfmh0DiWloxT3yKgQQEUN0xaJd8-pEG5wCSuo/edit?usp=sharing
Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ljCicHJ93NVDDjrjRDfl09VRPUZPY7dx/view?usp=drive_link
Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p3t3U-wtS7Js58-tVM3S4Tc7GZxy2tqiILdY3Yyh_Do/edit?usp=sharing
For my senior capstone, I coded my own information board using a raspberry pi and a TV donated by Braskem. To do this, I had to learn a brand new coding language and use software that I had never worked with before. This brought up challenges along the way because I had to use unique ways to solve my problems. I was able to get help from my mentor and classmates, along with forums talking about similar problems to mine. To make my capstone, I used a GitHub repository called MagicMirror to find the bare bones structure of my information board. From then, I implemented other modules I found and tried to create my own along the way. This whole time I was working in JavaScript and C++, which are both languages I have never worked with. Along with this, I was programming in an IDE called Geany, which is very basic compared to the IDEs I have worked with before. This made me learn how to troubleshoot my code without the help of debugging software, along with new skills in reading and writing code I have no experience in. This project is very valuable to me because it let me learn new skills that directly relate to what I will be going to college for a while, also making something that benefits SLA.
Annotated Bibliography:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C-8X4IjwWA3mQJvHiNyGrHoLrs3pUUItSnKFwJ2pdx4/edit?usp=sharing
Transferring to SLA was a big, new step for me.I had to adjust to the environment and the new way of learning. While other students had been accustomed to SLA’s core values for three years, this was my first year getting used to them. Picking a senior project to do was difficult for me, I wanted to do something I was passionate about but also something that tied into the SLA core values. For my project I decided to bring back a neighborhood event called The Hair Harvest, that had been stopped due to covid. The Hair Harvest is always held the Sunday before Thanksgiving and started as a way of helping to boost spirits during the holidays, especially for those who are less fortunate. The event took place at the Ford Pal Center located at 631 Snyder Ave. At the event, local people in the neighborhood and from neighboring shelters could come to the Ford Pal Center and receive free hair cuts and hair styles, free manicures, free food and drinks, live music and entertainment, and so much more.
Event Website: https://sites.google.com/scienceleadership.org/the-hair-harvest/home?authuser=0
I chose to create a photography portfolio for my Capstone. Photography has been a part of my life since I was a little girl. Photography gives me peace, joy, and constant inspiration. On the other hand, I had some challenges. In my project, I hope to inspire young kids, adolescents, and adults to give a broad spectrum of art a chance. In my portfolio, I hope you and others will find that inspiration.
Portfolio: https://sites.google.com/d/16J4M9yP2mxxZiMXFTJbgQRZ1DcKWeNfY/p/18VbSlDIFalP0nn2n3rnZlgkWiG4HZsHo/edit
Process Paper:
Annotated Bibliography:
My capstone project involved developing a Chrome web store extension that accessed the Canvas LMS API to display assignments in a drop-down cube when the extension icon was clicked. The goal was to provide easy access to assignment information for students who often struggled with staying updated on deadlines. The project required extensive research and learning, as I had no prior knowledge of accessing APIs, working with Canvas API, or coding in JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and Chrome extensions. The extension was primarily focused on research, prototypes, and reflection due to its non-functioning state, which was caused by issues with accessing Canvas tokens and IDs. The key components of the project included the manifest.json file, index.html, and contentScript.js. The manifest file provided details about the extension, while index.html served as the basic HTML structure and the style.css functioned as the customization/”styling” of the HTML. The contentScript.js file, written in JavaScript, attempted to access the Canvas API, fetched assignments and dynamically displayed them in a dropdown box. Through this capstone, I significantly developed my programming skills and gained a deeper understanding of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. Although the extension did not work as intended, the experience and lessons learned will positively impact my future coding endeavors. As my next step, I plan on creating and hosting a personal website to showcase my current and future projects.
Github Link (if you click on each file, there are comments under every important line of code, detailing what purpose they serve):
Capstone Bibliography:
