Jamilah Woodards' Capstone

As seniors eager to walk across the stage in June at graduation, we often look at Capstones as another mandatory project that we need in order to get there. For what I look at as the most important project of my senior year, I wanted to be able to put forth a product that would be beneficial for my personal growth as well as the potential growth of my peers.

Initially, I did not know what exactly I wanted my final product to be, but I knew that i wanted my target group to be young females in high school. After pondering I came up with a concept of helping build self-esteem and unity among the girls in your community. Growing up I was bullied by some of the girls that I was surrounded by, but me being young and naive, I confused it with it being apart of the process of becoming cool. Coming into SLA allowed me to find genuine girls that cared, loved, and supported one another. My capstone was targeting the underclassman and attempting to get them to take part in like behaviors for the greater good of their community. Along with having special lunch dates with 9th and 10th grade students where we created a safe and non- judgemental space to talk freely to one another, I also put on a Ladies Who Lunch event where myself and about 15 other girls got together, enjoyed sweet treats, and got in tune with our inner selves to build each other up. My final product is a video documentation of my event followed by a Girl's Guide To Surviving High School. Although graduation is rapidly approaching, I was able to take away lessons from my events and hope to implement them into my college life.