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Hard work always pays off, one way or another. Putting the time and effort into doing something, and seeing that be rewarded is a feeling everyone deserves to have. My capstone is a combination of the time I spent in Digital Video perfecting my camera skills, and learning how to use Premiere, along with the subtleties of interviewing people, and mixing it with the love for a sport that I never thought I’d be playing. Frisbee was the first sport at SLA that convinced kids to wake up at 5 AM to grind and work harder than anyone else. This is something that I sense is becoming lost amongst the next generation of SLA students, as more people are complaining about the early practices, or opting out because of them. I created this project to shed some more light on a community that is a core piece of SLA. I made the Ultimate Frisbee Reel to encourage others to give Frisbee a try, regardless of any initial judgments passed upon it. Because if everyone can apply a hard-working mindset to something like Frisbee, SLA will become a better place. There will be challenges and setbacks. There were challenges and setbacks in my capstone, as I struggled with the interviewing process, and finding Braskem funding. However, it will all be worth it in the end. Everything at SLA always is.

For my capstone, I taught a coding mini course here at SLA for the third quarter every Wednesday from 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM, with a total of ten classes ranging from February 15,2023 to April 19,2023. In this mini course,students learned how to code in the programming language C sharp, by learning the process of coding, as well as the importance of technology, and programming in our everyday lives. As students progressed through this course, we focused on the question of what role does technology play in our everyday lives? By teaching this mini course, I hoped to introduce students to the field of Computer Science. I also hope to teach this course as a source of Career Exploration.

Andre Doyle ~ Capstone Finished Product Link

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S3-48aJpODge-rfhHkjsq4PRA5819JnwIB4PGX4Qmj8/edit?usp=sharing

For my senior project I wanted to do something with interior design as a way for me to see if it’s something I would pursue in the future. I wanted to do something for the school as well. My project was to clean and organize the DigVid closet and make the space cleaner and better for students and teachers that utilize it. It always felt so cluttered and I never understood how people were able to function with a space that didn’t feel right. I did research to figure out what it was I wanted to do and how I could accomplish it. I also spoke to an interior designer to understand more about the job. While it was a difficult process and I experienced a few road bumps the overall outcome was what I always wanted. Several students who are in the DigVid program told me the space felt less cluttered and bigger than before. Throughout the whole process I learned a lot about what it takes to be able to balance several different things at one given time. My main struggle was prioritizing everything and staying on top of my work, it was something I have never really had to worry about before. Throughout this whole process I have a new appreciation for calendars and other tools for staying organized that I never used before. My overall goal of this project was to leave the school with something I did and to do something that would help people.

Annotated Bibliography https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VPZU7oO84T6MZMx9YcFIIjB-MGhha3DynTgi7kDYdKU/edit?usp=sharing

For my capstone I created a website that can be used by students of SLA and other Philadelphia schools to help find internship and volunteering opportunities across the city. My website has 30 different internships, a section explaining the importance of internships and a place where you can submit any other internship you have interest in doing. To complete this I used Wix to create the website and conducted my own research on why internships are important. In addition to researching why internships are important I also researched where to find internships in the Philadelphia area. I decided to do this for my capstone because I never got a chance to have an internship in my time at SLA and I think that they can be really beneficial for a student’s growth into a working person. I enjoyed this challenge because I got to apply information that I learned through SLA while also learning a new thing like website building.

Link to Website: https://ohyland23.wixsite.com/slainternships

Link to Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1StFCD-ijbm1PnXGe0mavbF7ZtM4Al_7P1X-ljiTeiK8/edit?usp=sharing

For my capstone, I decided to build a desk where I can be able to practice doing nails. What inspired me to build a desk for nails was my passion for it. I have always loved getting my nails done and still do so now. Everytime I would get my nails done, I would watch closely to see what all they were doing because I was so fascinated and curious about it. In addition to what inspired me to build a desk for nails was that it will help me in college. A way to be known in a big college like Penn State, be able to make new friends, and make it my side job just to keep me busy.

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aywKPetK7AmOuaPg6cgjowuSBqXTUUJzJcr7dlKf6uk/edit?usp=sharing

For my capstone, I decided to do a “photo shoot” of my friends wearing pieces of clothing and jewelry that showed the evolution and impact of African American culture on the world today. This was a self-discovery for me because I do not know much about African American culture myself and I feel as though this is something I should know especially since deciding to go to an HBCU for college. I had to do a lot of research on things that came from African American culture not just from today but from years back also and see how it had/has an impact on the world and its influences throughout history. I learned a lot about the original meanings behind some clothing and how the black community decided to change the meaning by embracing them. I believe a lot of people are ignorant of the impact African American culture has given the world and it’s not their own fault. So for this project, I had to find my “ models” aka my friends and find jewelry and clothes that black women from the late 90s and early 2000s use to wear and then talk about what those pieces represented back then and how some women turned the bad dehumanizing meanings behind certain pieces of jewelry into the uplifting, encouraging and powerful symbols that they are today. The biggest surprise and most interesting thing that I learned throughout all of this was about the meaning behind hoop earrings and how much that meaning has changed today. Now you see everyone rocking big gold and silver hoops but not everyone knows that back then it would be a disgrace to walk outside with them on.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JoeN2mtZN98cCJf2iQn1vp2GhDKq9NZxQzC93_mb6L4/edit?usp=sharing

For my capstone project, I studied the science of hot air balloons and created one myself. I’ve always had an interest in air travel, particularly airplanes and hot air balloons. The guiding question for this project was, “How can I use the science of thermodynamics and other engineering principles to create a miniature hot air balloon?”

My capstone project was split into several phases. During the research phase, I learned about the basic principles of a hot air balloon, as well as all the parts that make it work. I also learned about the Montgolfier brothers and their first ever hot air balloon. During the prototyping phase, I created three lighter than air vehicles, or “LTAVs” for short. LTAV-03 became my final product for my capstone.

Creating a hot air balloon from scratch was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be at first. Air temperature, and by extension air density, play a huge role in getting the balloon off the ground. I also had to worry about heat sources, since open flame was a little too risky due to the small size of the prototypes. Also, figuring out the lifting power of the balloon was a bit tricky since the outside air temperature kept changing, and some of the test flights were done indoors. Despite these challenges, I successfully got the final product to lift off and I’m proud to say I created a working hot air balloon for my capstone.

Link to my capstone presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OT0i4QkbxNRrJXsYbYxAnKUwDW_L7g9D4UKFqm3Ecqo/edit?usp=sharing

Annotated Bibliography:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XTB4efIXDvLuyVVlCjLoiPXvnJ8ev-HWp7_xIqOk5Zc/edit?usp=sharing

For my capstone project I decided to create what I’ve titled the “SLA thrift”. Essentially it is a way for students to collect and donate clothing as needed. It is a clothing rack placed in a convenient area for SLA students to access. And includes a variety of styles and sizes with the goal of making it inclusive to all. Philadelphia is home to many things, but one of those things includes one of the highest poverty rates out of all major school districts. My goal behind my capstone is to make sure that no student feels less than based off of the inability to obtain something as simple as clothing. Essentially, you never know who needs help and the SLA thrift serves as a simple and discreet way to provide that to anyone in our community in need. To get more information out I sent out an advisory memo informing people of the location and how it works, as well as an opportunity for students to get rid of unwanted clothing. Finally, I dedicate this lengthy process to all of the people that provided me with the necessary resources. Those people include the family, friends and community who donated clothing. My mother who constantly kept me on track to thoroughly complete my capstone. My advisor/mentor who aided me with no hesitation anytime I needed help or felt stuck. And finally the many staff of Benjamin Franklin High School who provided me with the materials to display the donated items. All in all my capstone would be nothing without the people above.

Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IHVnbKOilxNWGImFD8jJ0jdN2J_-gAhVn_vhDt2gRas/edit?usp=sharing

https://sites.google.com/scienceleadership.org/thewritersfantasy/home?authuser=0

I have made a website with literature from myself and my fellow students. My goal for my capstone is that I wanted people to have a space where they can enjoy reading and/or writing, but importantly, appreciate their work. Many people do not enjoy reading or writing either because of school or other reasons, but sometimes they can produce the most beautiful work when they do, so I wanted them to be able to show their work on this website. I have collaborated with some CTE friends to help me build the website and with fellow students to get the website started. The goal was to share some works that I and others can be proud of and to provide some inspiration for those who will come across this website. I am proud that there were those who were willing to share a story that they appreciate no matter the size of it. Each writer has their own unique writing style which leaves my website with a kind of uniqueness that can’t be copied. I learned the different types of writing styles everyone has and how people tend to express themselves through their out-of-school writing, but I also learned the more challenging things like technology and organizing a website. The process of making a website and having it mirror my vision was its own obstacle. Overall, I appreciate the collaboration I have done to have this capstone completed. Without any, this website and stories would have never been shared.

For my capstone, I present a floral garden in the community of my Buddhist Temple. I chose this capstone as a way to connect with my religion in a deeper meaning, and to understand the importance of how big of a role nature has to do in relation to Buddha. In reference to the process of this project, I was required to do research on techniques of gardening in terms of how to build one, different soil types and flowers, and the understanding of nature and my religion. The weather has also been the biggest obstacle in building this garden. Based on this capstone I learned so much about nature, talking about how there are different soils for specific plants, and how certain plants cannot be planted together. I started off with picking and deciding which soil is best with the circulars that I was working with, and what plants are appropriate to proceed. I then mapped out what and where I wanted to structure and plant the flowers. Once I figured that out, I went ahead and dug out holes in the ground to plant the flowers and layer soil on top as a,” finishing top coat.” To prevent a damaged and dehydrated garden, I plan on watering them daily with water mixed with miracle growth. This has also taught me as a whole that gardening is more than just putting plants together and calling it a day, but it taught me that nature is vibrant, beautiful, and enlightening.

For my capstone I started an official boys volleyball team at SLA. This project required a lot of research into the differences between boys and girls volleyball, including the fact that boys volleyball is very attack-based and places a larger emphasis on blocking. I also had to learn how to integrate into the boys team dynamic and collaborate effectively with the players who had other sports commitments. Despite facing challenges such as not having a fully functional net, the boys in the team were very supportive and understanding, and even managed to compete and win despite this obstacle. The other schools’ athletic directors were also accommodating and supportive throughout the process. Looking forward, there is now a full team ready to compete next year, and I believe that this is a team that will continue to be a part of the school’s athletic program for years to come.

Schools normally teach students things they might need in life. They don’t teach you how to be successful. They don’t teach financial savings in order to succeed. This project I will be teaching students how to become their own boss. I will be teaching them another way to be successful. Schools program you to become a doctor, teacher, lawyer etc. What schools don’t teach us is how to be a successful business man/woman. I will become a teacher and teach them the way! This also benefits me as well because I will be using this plan to hopefully have a successful trucking company/business in the future. I’ve been researching the trucking business I want to pursue. I’ve come up with steps you and I would need to make in order to be successful. I gathered all the important information from websites and videos. I also spoke with a couple people that are in the trucking industry for advice. I hope you all enjoy!

My capstone project, First-Aid Cabinetmaking, has multiple inspirations and reasons as to why I chose to pick it. I very much wanted to combine my engineering experience with my passion for Medicine and making an impact on others’ lives. At the same time, I strived to give back to the community I’ve been a part of for 4 years before leaving. The resulting factor led to me choosing to build a first-aid cabinet after also realizing there was no emergency equipment on higher floors. One of the driving factors in choosing a woodworking project was that I wanted to build my skills in the engineering shop with machinery or hand work since covid held me back from that.

To be honest, I was tired of just using traditional screws and drills. I wanted to use my hands more so I won’t have to rely too much on the quality of the wood or machinery like the CNC. This led to the decision to use a router to make mortises/dado joints and rabbet joints to connect all of the shelves and cabinet framing together. This took the most time by far but I think I improved on the most seeing as I had never touched a router beforehand. I hope that others in the future can look at this capstone and be inspired to pursue something which combines their interest. I also hope they can be proud of how much their skills would have improved just like I did.

Annotated Bibliography:

I made photographic content for my Capstone project for a local skateboard company called the Skateboard Academy of Philadelphia. There were three subparts to my project. I first took photos of all of the company’s new employees to update the website of the company. I took photos for the company’s Instagram. I finally took photos of academy students who skate professionally, so they could send the photos to promoters to help them get sponsored. Throughout my project, I had to deal with scheduling and lighting issues that made it difficult to produce quality work. This was a great experience because I was able to learn to skateboard on the side of doing my project, and I was able to immerse myself into the skateboard community and change it for the better.

Exported Photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nKF4sYs3rkj-npzV1mNxv0FS4_GrAQ5Y?usp=share_link

Abstract

My capstone project is called The Dustless Chop Saw Table, which is almost exactly what it sounds like. If you don’t know what a chop saw is, it is a vertical cutting stationary saw used to cut individual sections of lumber and other commodities to length. In my opinion it is one of the most important tools in the shop, probably second to the drill press. Many of our projects require sections of wood, or foam which many times Kamal has us use the chop saw to cut our material. The table is around 10 feet long and 4 feet deep, very large, so I designed it in a way to have it slide in between a pillar and an air exchanger. It has 3 main parts, the left and right cutoffs and the dust hood. The dust hood is essential to keeping the dustless part in the name because it keeps all saw dust, foam particles and anything else from getting into the air exchangers and around the shop. The reason I am doing this is because Kamal needed a new setup for the chop saw, the stand for the saw was not helpful, it was loose and weird shaped. Kamal wanted something new, so I stepped forward. The process was extremely long, with many times I found myself not wanting to continue because it was so tedious or time consuming, but I powered through. With tons of material cut, and tons of hours it was complete.

Annotated Bibliography

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13yAAWzVDY_JidpvqJZOUH8EgwVvjlkZV_5cSpwOffkI/edit?usp=sharing

For my Capstone, I chose to focus on the topic of Mental Health and made “Mental Health Awareness Check In”. Mental Health Awareness is very important especially within a high school. Especially with the transition period from pandemic back to a “normal life”, it is hard because we were so used to the lack of social interaction. With us, high school students, trying to navigate high school after such a mentally draining time took a toll on us. So I thought of the idea to post Mental Health Check In posters around school so that it gives the students and/or teachers a space to check in with themselves. After doing research on each of the mental illnesses, I learned how much each illness can affect people and the age group that they fall in. After finding out this information, I thought it was important to do some sort of check in to where students or teachers didn’t have to necessarily speak out about how they felt to make them feel uncomfortable but to be able to show it without anyone knowing it was them. My goal overall was to help the SLA community understand that our mental state is very important and that it’s okay to not be okay at times. Also to let them know that there are people here that they can talk to about anything that’s going on with them.

Over the course of this year, for my senior capstone, I have been curating/developing my portfolio as a first-year student filmmaker and gaining experience/hands-on training with operating industry-grade filmmaking equipment (Microphones, Lighting, etc.) I chose this capstone because due to joining Science-Leadership Academy in my junior year, I was unable to enroll in the CTE Film/Video course as I originally desired and I knew entering into my senior year, that I wanted to pursue my passion for screenwriting and filmmaking before I graduated from SLA and entered into the Post-Secondary Phase of my Life. I began my capstone process by approaching my mentors, Torian Ugworji and Ms.Ustaris by asking them if they had any opportunities for an aspiring filmmaker, anything at all and they managed to find me a spot in a Photography course at WHYY Studios, a public radio station licensed to broadcast and serve the wider Philadelphia region. Through working with my instructors at WHYY I have been fortunate enough to have:

• Directed a 3-min Journalistic piece on a sustainability-based non-profit

• Gained Experience with Collaborating in a Filmmaking environment.

• Gained Experience with operating Audio Equipment, Cameras, and more.

How I have centralized the SLA Core values in my capstone process is through collaboration, inquiry, and research— I have researched various opportunities involving film, inquired with my mentors on whether or not those opportunities would fit for me, and I collaborated with the people I´ve met along the way, The journey I´ve been on through my capstone process has also led me to participating as a judge in the film-festival hosted by my mentor and advisor, Ms.Ustaris called ¨SLA Rocketfest¨, where I was able to watch various, different yet inspiring films from other student filmmakers.

Overall, I approached this capstone with the question, Is it ever too late to pursue your dreams? and I can confidently say No.

Mekhi Evans-EL Capstone Index/Related Media-Links:

• (Mekhi Evans-EL: Capstone Annotated Bibliography) — [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fTWgIBFlHch1MELFLT1kf5K6yz93e9DTAY5SutGChzY/edit]

• Achieving Zero Waste Through Sustainability | Bottle Underground & Remark Glass (Directed by Mekhi Evans-EL and Produced By WHYY Spring Break 2023 Pathways to Media Career Students—Embedded Below)

• WHYY Spring Break Pathway to Media Careers — Blue Team II: ¨Achieving Zero Waste Through Sustainability | Bottle Underground & Remark Glass¨ (Production Planning Document). [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1enaO0qD_yyk81TtkvEQTqrZFUFNGgs9Hic6-HcpVBGs/edit]

Throughout my four years in SLA, I had many defining interests that led me to be the person I am today. However, while racking my brain for answers I landed on three main topics engineering, sustainability, and the arts. These three subjects were pivotal, so I decided to bridge all three. So I went to find to seek items that aren’t seen necessarily as art and use the skills I honed and developed in engineering to give them recognition. This all came together in the form of a bench. This bench was made in response to the culture of fast furniture and the constant cycle of chairs that can’t be recycled being thrown away and bought to replace them with the use of harmful chemicals, with the finishes, adhesives, and treatments used on furniture emitting gasses even after leaving the production. So with this project, I hope I can show others that we can add to spaces without creating waste all the while using the materials all around us.

Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11iHJLTqgkbGGfpy7YGrgXy9Ol3pTmEgC1rI8l91cRcM/edit?usp=sharing

My capstone, in short, is a website that helps aid with the learning of AP Physics C, Mechanics.It covers many topics, with each page having its own specific topic and problem set(s) to go with it. Each page covers the knowledge needed in that specific topic, with a problem set(s), and the answers with work provided. This will allow the student to test their knowledge after covering the new information they obtained from the website and figure out their understanding. I call this an aid, because the website itself cannot “teach” a student everything they need to know about this course. It is designed to aid students in studying for the AP exams, by going over many of the topics present and using it to review along with the problem sets.

I saw this as something needed in SLA specifically because there are no AP courses available to students. Most college students, especially those in prestigious schools, had already taken numerous AP courses in high school, and they already got a feel of what college-level work looked like. I only knew what it felt like to take a college-level course because I did dual enrollment at the University of Pennsylvania, but not everyone has access to that type of resource, and not everyone meets the requirements to apply. I knew I had to create a widely accessible, and free resource for those students who wanted to take their understanding to the next level.

Website Link:

https://sites.google.com/scienceleadership.org/apphysicsc-mechnics/home?authuser=0

For my capstone, I created a few videos for a social media account talking about stocks. I chose to talk about stocks because I found it interesting that you can get money from a company just by investing in them when I just started getting into stocks. I originally invested roughly 900 when I first started going in my Junior year which gave me the idea to do this as a capstone. I had a ton of trial-and-error moments where I lost a good chunk of money but with the problems I had it would be telling people how to avoid my previous issues. I wanted everyone to have a building block for investing in the do’s and don’ts of what to do and to have a better financial future. Each episode took like 3 hours to make with the ever so much changing stock market and along with script writing to try and cover most in a certain time limit.

Over the past year Zivia and I have been planning our a mini course that we taught to the freshman at SLA, showing them how properly to create a mural from start to finish. The full class lasted 8 weeks, where the students were learning and working to create a set of murals that reflected the SLA student body as well as the 5 core values at SLA: Inquiry, Research, Collaboration, Presentation, & Reflection. We began at the beginning of 2023, after researching and preparing for several months, by teaching the students the basics on sketching and color theory to make sure they understood how to design and create a mural. We touched topics such as simplifying forms, movement, texture, and Layers. We worked together to come up with designs that fit our space and painted them on the 4 columns in the SLA common area. The final Mural that sits along the short staircase at the entrance of the school displays a road map of the current SLA seniors and all the bumps in the road that affect each and everyone of us. On each column is roughly a 4x4 ft design that reflects the SLA core values.

For my capstone project, I decided to make a crochet club for elementary school. I started this idea because I wanted to give back to my community. Being a black person in America while also attending public school I wanted to give back to other black students in public schooling. I know not a lot of public schools don’t offer extracurriculars or many clubs for the kids to join and I got lucky with a school that was big in clubs and things for students to join. It was a very important part of my education and how my development as a person. My goal with this club was to teach the students a skill they can use throughout their lives while also creating a safe environment for them to express themselves and hold open communication with me and my volunteers. I held my capstone project at Martha Washington and I had two volunteers along with my mentor and me. We taught eleven students how to crochet. The club lasted for seven weeks once a week on Tuesdays from 4 pm to 5:30 pm. I taught the students how to crochet a hat and gave them a crochet starter kit to continue crocheting once the program was over. The proudest thing I achieved from this club was being able to know that the students enjoyed the club and would do it again. It made an impact on their lives they hopefully remember.

Over the past school year, I have made a video game podcast. The number of episodes I have produced is twenty videos, each ten to twenty-five minutes long. The reason why I chose this podcast was that I was inspired by a previous capstone last year on a student who made a Batman podcast. The reason why I like doing this style of project is because I know a lot about video games and I felt as though this medium would be the best outlet of choice. When making this capstone I went through a lot of trial and error with my first idea involving my love of comic books but after much thought, I wanted to talk about a topic that more general people knew about. Despite the base idea of having a video game podcast sounds easy at a glance I put a lot of effort into all of my videos. Some episodes took hours of research and finding time to record and edit was hard due to scheduling mishaps. That being said I still had fun with my podcast and I learned a lot through myself and made sure it envisioned SLA core values and made me happy.

(Link to playlist) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOdwi7XiJ9ZHi5nvfZOG6I-ifns8aMXJA L

( Annotated Bibliography ) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gNVFczFOl-68xD4iRF8X3EYKizqJyhrBA7D0I5PZ_18/edit?usp=sharing

Creating my capstone was a challenge, but one that I powered through. The process involved many interviews—one involving an author, others from students, Instagram, and a plethora of books. I made myself a schedule to work on the book, which included three hours a week of writing and two mentor meetings a month with my capstone mentor. All of which led me to be successful in completing my capstone on time. My final product is a novel about a Black teenage Mer and her life as she is shoved into a mission to save her city, Resirea. The main character, Shauna, is an awkward-unlikely hero. What I learned by creating my capstone was how prevalent racism is throughout literature. Despite many books having characters of color, many of the people I interviewed as part of my research for my capstone reported that there weren’t any characters that they related to nor any main characters that were people of color. Although there is a rise in people of color in books now, I wanted to write my book in a way to not make it centered around racism or anything that children of color have to shoulder on a regular basis. I chose to do this as a way to have a fun escape from reality that kids could see themselves in. All in all, I created my capstone with the purpose of bringing entertainment and joy to children of color at a time when it is desperately needed.

My capstone is about donating to kids in poverty/in need. During my research, I learned about the crisis of poverty in Philadelphia and made a decision to focus on this topic for my project. First, I reached out to many different organizations before choosing Cradles to Crayons, which is a non profit organization that has been around since 2002 and it still running strong. They serve kids birth to age 12 and their families. It was the best fit for my project. They were also well organized and responsive, providing information about items they needed and how to drop them off. Once I selected the organization, I sent out emails to my neighbors, friends and family about donating items. I asked people to drop off their donations at my house, where I had set out a big box. I kept it out for about two weeks. I collected about 50 of each item. I also had to arrange with the manager of Cradles to Crayons to drop off the items at the site, where they had a huge bin outside for all the donations.

I learned a lot from this process and project. I learned that it takes time and effort to finish and accomplish something that others will benefit from, but it is worth doing it. It was clear that the community wanted to help out and that made me feel that I am part of a community were people actually care about what is going on in our city.

Link to bibliography below

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lJa3Q07sqE8w0kxC5EBLfXZGyf5w39jHmbq26x-SdG4/edit?usp=sharing