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For my Capstone, I created an online Queer-Straight Alliance (QSA) at Science Leadership Academy, in addition to preparation for the QSA next year. My Capstone began with an inquiry question: How can school communities better support LGBTQ+ students? This question developed over time into another question: In what ways is technology instrumental in overcoming obstacles to connect a community? This Capstone has taken a winding path, with many twists, turns, relocations, and adjustments. The first of many obstacles this year was the asbestos crisis. While the relocation was jarring and unexpected, the online adaptation of school sparked a new vision of what the SLA QSA could be. I created an online SLA QSA, via Discord, a social media platform. Once school returned to being in a physical location, it was a time of adjustment, during which I had to rework many of the plans. From designing posters for the in-school meetings to doing the necessary write-ups for the online SLA QSA to be approved by a lawyer of the Philadelphia School District, I learned and experienced the steps required to overcome the obstacles that come with connecting a community in a time of turmoil. Each time the date and location of the first meeting were determined, there was another relocation. In the end, the online SLA QSA withstood the obstacles that the in-school meetings couldn’t. The final result was an online QSA, as well as a variety of materials that can be used next year, by the future QSA leaders.

Capstone process paper
Jorge Dasilva Everyone remembers something. It could be from 50 years ago or from just a week ago. We all have good memories and the ones we don’t want to dig up. These are some of mine.

I grew up living in a dorm that is part of a college campus, the University of Pennsylvania. We’d call it “the quad.” There were college kids around. Some were our baby-sitters and some would wave at us. Most of these memories are scarce and not very detailed. When I look back in time I mostly see general colors and shapes of buildings. I do have one very vivid scene: I see an open field with a tent. At the same time, I’m inside the tent looking at a picture book about crabs. It’s a white crab holding a fish in one claw and on the back of the crab’s shell are tiny red dots and then that’s it.

At the very beginning of this process, my idea was of organizing a photo exhibit at the Green Line café. I took about 50 photos in three weeks, and I also used photos that I took beforehand. I looked over them in my free time, and I made slight edits to them. Most of my edits were because I’d rather have them be as raw as possible, as a stylistic choice. I’ve cut them down to 25 photos, to pick the 15 I have as the end result and for the final project.

I went through the process of selecting the final group of photos with my mentor Lori Waselchuk, who is a professional photographer. Together we looked over the 25 photos to choose what works and what doesn’t work, Choosing each by what photo really means and looking deeper into each photo by looking at emotion, meant also looking at colors: How the colors work, how the shading works, and how it looks in a total of how everything in the photo works together.

I worked at the Green life Café as a dishwasher, and I thought it would be a great place to host a photo exhibit, it’s easy to get to and very accessible by trolley, and it’s a nice space that already had the art of other artists up on the walls. So I had a plan to ask my boss for the permission with hosting it there, after my shift. The photos would have been 15 x 36” each, in simple black frames, either made of wood or metal depending on what’s available. I wanted them hung on the walls where viewers can walk around socializing while looking at the photos.

But now all social events and gatherings are canceled and we are having a virtual presentation“ and I will have each photo on each Google slide that I will talk about, according to each memory I have of that certain place or thing.

I thought this was going to be a foolproof plan but ith the Covid-19 pandemic cancellations. My plan for the capstone idea was to host a photo exhibit with 15 or fewer photos that will be hanging up in the green cafe on May 20th. But now the pandemic made sure that no one can leave the house, no social events, I thought of an alternative solution to so I’ll still be able to have my capstone project. The new plan is to have a google slide presentation to show my photos and have assigned writing according to the photo. This was the biggest challenge for my capstone. Overcoming this hurdle was seamless with creating a google slide with the photos that I’ve chosen. The biggest help that I received in creating this capstone was through being a part of the Teen photo program at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center (PPAC). In this program, we learn about other professionals and about the history of photography. This is the place that I was planning to use for printing out each photo and framing them.PPAC is a program where a gathering a couple of students who are all interested in photography add in high school and practice and learn more about photography

With slight setbacks, I believe I am most proud of is that I had a backup plan to follow the rules of social distancing and another thing that I am very very proud about is how much improvement my photos have shown throughout the years since when I picked up a camera, which was at least five years ago. I impressed myself with my art and that is the best feeling. I am also very proud that I was accepted at a university with these photos as part of my portfolio, which is really great. I had the idea of having my photo exhibit for a while now, and I am not very happy that I could not finish it. But everything happens for a reason I guess,

Hey all! I’m Zeniah and for my capstone I founded a non-profit called Women4Women. I was motivated to prevent women incarceration by tackling issues in our neighborhoods that brought down young women. Originally, I had an event planned. However, I’ve been able to help women in different ways during C0-VID 19. I am still motivated to cultivating self worth and women empowerment especially during these hard times where one is found questioning one’s worth. Love yourself always!

For my capstone, I wanted to create several fidget mechanisms for kids who have autism and highschool students who get disengaged easily. Once the fidgets are made I would examine how the kids interacted with them and if it had any impact. Creating fidgets for kids with autism and highschool students will make sure that when they are disengaged that they will still be present in class. These mechanisms consisted of spinning and sliding movements because it’s the simplest way to stay occupied with two things at once for highschool students. For kids that have autism, it will help calm their nerves since a lot of them feel so on edge since they aren’t in their own comfort zone. Creating mechanisms as my capstone is very important due to the fact I have a brother who has autism. He and several other people I know that have autism always carry an object that helps them calm down and attentive to what is happening.. To make it even more personal, I struggle with focusing on classes due to me getting easily bored. In order to stay focused I would spin my air pod case in my hand or roll a pen on the desk.

Process paper link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o5GgDQ_OUM7rRY8bxN9-hKsro8J-Gja_iGBD1ivoCTc/edit?usp=sharing

For the final event for my capstone I wanted to hold a skin care workshop but due to obvious reason I cannot. The goal of my capstone was to reform the way we look at skincare and make people feel more confident in their natural skin. My inquiry question was “How do the products people put on their skin impact them?” I created all natural body butters, using raw unprocessed ingredients. I made a lot with essential oils with different benefits, like lemon, bergamot, peppermint, jasmine and Lavender. I sold the body butters to different people and had them send me reviews. Some reviews I wrote down for feedback and others were put in the video. The video depicts me talking about my process, a tutorial and reviews.

The Self-Confidence Project is a research project orchestrated by myself and Oszain Bangura. Together, Oszain and I conducted a thorough study and completed extensive research on self-confidence within the minority adolescent communities. We took this information and formed our website as an accessible way for young women to engage, learn, and build their self-esteem by sharing experiences with others like them. In addition to this, our project included 6 digital interviews with people from different communities, different backgrounds, and different ethnicities. It is extremely crucial to us that the people we asked questions were always comfortable sharing their personal experiences. Consequently, the interviews were made anonymous with a choice of being identified if they wanted. With that being said, our main goal was to capture and accentuate the powerful and esteemed experiences of these young women who reflected on their journey of self-confidence.

The Self-Confidence Project Official Website Link:

For my Capstone, I decided I wanted to do something with the dance community. I took it upon myself to use my Instagram page where I would let people see how dance helped me express who I am. Over the course of the year, I would post pictures and dance videos of me and let people see how dance is a passion of mine.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bboy_manman/

Link to the slide show: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1VOxzBPHgzlnMSU0h_82R5odb8BRYJ853MaqDFvKct74/edit?usp=sharing

For my Capstone, I wanted to teach people about Lab-grown Meat and the advancements they have made in their product. The goal in mind was to teach people as well as get their opinions on it at the same time, to do this I created a website that had information about LGM that I thought to be important. I also created a survey that would help me get an idea of what people already knew about LGM and how they felt about it. When creating the website, I had to be mindful of how I worded things because I wanted to avoid portraying the wrong tone. I wanted to make sure I didn’t sound too opinionated because it might make people close-minded, Afterall my goal wasn’t to persuade them but to inform them. The survey helped me to figure out what things I should leave in and out of the website, and that was important to me because I didn’t want it to be too confusing for anyone reading it. I chose to make my Capstone to be about Lab-grown Meat because it is fascinating to me that technology like that even exists, along with that I think it has a lot of potentials to be something that could help us cut down the demand for livestock.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_eIsXrZVJcx8671a1HYm-9hCLKbVtL1vCXc9km0WRrI/edit?usp=sharing

For my capstone, I decided to create a BSU Archive. The purpose of my capstone is to give future leaders of BSU a guide full of tips and tricks so they can run the club easier and more efficiently. It has a series of google docs and videos that discuss key concepts that will be helpful in running the club successfully. As the President of BSU 2020, I recognize that in order for the club to grow each leader will need to build on the progress from the last. This project will provide the tools to do that.