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For my capstone, I created baking videos and posted them on Instagram representing the five core values. For the first couple of months, I did research on a lot of different baking tips and I put it all together in a Google Document. I also did a lot of research to find the recipes I wanted to bake. For inquiry, I asked how can baking videos impact the SLA community. My reflection was that I should have researched how to get good angles for making baking videos for Instagram. Through this project, I learned how important it is to measure correctly and not miss any details when it comes to filming a video on baking. It’s also important to take your time when you are editing the videos so that it turns out well. That’s something that I learned from this project. When you slow down, you have a better outcome with anything that you do but it was really important for my project because you have to measure everything correctly and you have to film the videos right or else you would have to start all over again.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PithCDC7kjRAPfPb91GFixPNNFGhBvHe9SPSVoBQqi4/edit

For my capstone project, I wanted to create something that would directly impact my community. As someone who walks around the city, whether to hang out with friends, to get out of my house, or to get to and from places, something that I and many others have noticed is Philly’s trash issue. It’s become such an enormous issue in the city, where streets are unwalkable and unsanitary.

Being a young student, I wanted to do something to tackle this issue. By creating a multi-day clean-up event throughout the city, I helped tackle this issue in any way a young person could. The majority of volunteers that were involved had been to the places we cleaned up in. As I planned these events, I tried to think of locations that I am frequently and familiar with. This led me to plan events at FDR Park, South Philly, Temple University, and here at SLA!

Although not all of the dates went as planned, being involved and connecting with people was something that will forever stick with me. Creating this project not only showed me that a “regular” student can do something for a change but also helped many other young volunteers to do their own thing for their communities as well. In the end, there are several different issues that go into the Trash Issue in Philly, but as long as we are being proactive and wanting change, that change can happen. I am happy that I could do something with my power for others.

Final Product:

• A Google Drive Folder holding multiple pictures that captured the process of the clean-ups

• A [Photo Essay] (https://docs.google.com/document/d/12-O9rI608bHDpuN7FcTP8t3kIpPqmZQawRQ72evOKYg/edit?usp=sharing) visualizing The PHILLY: Clean-Up

• The Annotated Bibliography

Since I was a freshman here, I’ve hoped to see the music room become a quality space where myself and others could play and record music. After the unfortunate circumstances of my first two years at the school, I realized that the way to make this hope come true is to take it into my own hands. For my capstone, I wanted to explore the different ways in which I could improve Science Leadership Academy’s music room, specifically the studio. I wanted to create a space that SLA students could use more freely and create music they’re really proud of. Music education is incredibly important, especially in public schools, and I wanted to highlight that with my capstone project. To do this, I gathered and installed equipment that would make the room better, acquired donations from the SLA community, and sought to find ways to ensure that the space is used appropriately.

Annotated Bibliography Here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aT0CBQp_ZCwyl2NAElCq7cxZXM-R3R55bBZoQUR17tg/edit?usp=sharing

MORE/BETTER PICTURES COMING SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I started a hot sauce company called Hot Sauce for Heat based on my emerging interest in social impact through entrepreneurship. I chose this name for the business because a portion of the proceeds from the sale of my hot sauce pays the heating bills of people who can not afford heat in the winter in my hometown of Philadelphia. In our city, there are approximately 19,000 households that struggle to pay their annual heating bills. My mission is to reduce that number each year and one day get it to 0. I began selling my hot sauce at farmers’ markets and street fairs in different neighborhoods across the city. Originally Hot Sauce For Heat was just hot sauce I made in a blender at home with my father, an experiment to see what we could create that would be better than what we could find at that time. Over time people became very excited about my company and way too many orders (for our capacity at that point) were placed quickly which made it challenging to keep pace. Because of this, we made the choice to use a co-packer to exponential the pace and quantity of my outputs. Fast forward 5 years, and I am bringing back my company for my capstone by selling bottles to my peers.

Evidence: https://hotsauceforheat.com/

Bibliography:

Greer, Quinn. “The Journey of Getting My Hot Sauce into Stores.” Craft Hot Sauce, Craft Hot Sauce, 4 Feb. 2020, https://crafthotsauce.com/blogs/blog/how-to-sell-certified-hot-sauces-to-stores. I find this source useful because it teaches me to sell my hot sauce in stores. I have always wanted to sell in stores and resruaraunts but I don’t really know how to get to that point. This website can and will get me in that direction. I like how detailed the article is overall. “How to Sell Hot Sauce Online.” Shopify, https://www.shopify.com/success-stories/hotmaple-foods. Selling online would be a gold mine for me but shipping just simply costs too much in these times. This website will help me learn more about the nitty and gritty details of shippin online and it will hopefully stear me into the right direction. I also do know that shopify is a great website and is reputable. “How to Bottle and Sell Your Own Sauce.” WebstaurantStore, https://www.webstaurantstore.com/article/676/how-to-bottle-and-sell-your-own-sauces.html.
How to bottle hot sauce for shipping. This shows me how to not only bottle my sauce (which I already know) but to ship it out to people. I have a few article that cover this topic but I feel that it is crucial to have a balanced perspective and an array of different opinions put out to me so I can decide/know how exactly to do this. “How to Sell Anything to Any Audience.” Mailchimp, https://mailchimp.com/resources/how-to-sell/. How to sell someone something. The skill of selling someone something is not only helpful got my capstone but it is one of the best skills to have as an entrepreneur. For my capstone though I will have to make sales and this website can be somewhat of a handbook for me if I ever need help with this specific skill. Forsey, Caroline. “What Is Marketing, and What’s Its Purpose?” HubSpot Blog, HubSpot, 24 Jan. 2022, https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-is-marketing. What is marketing. Marketing is a crucial part of selling things. I am quite unfamiliar with what marketing is so this article will show me that. It also shows different kinds of marketing and what they are used for. I can figure out which one is the best for me through trial and error. “8 Steps to Marketing Your Business.” Small Business Development Corporation, https://www.smallbusiness.wa.gov.au/marketing/8-steps-to-marketing. How to do marketing. This will walk me through the steps of marketing. I can use this as a handbook in a way. Throughout the process of my marketing I can refer back to this article to see the next steps or just for guidance in a broader sense. “Farmers Markets.” Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, https://www.agriculture.pa.gov/consumer_protection/FoodSafety/Retail%20Food/Pages/Farmers-Markets.aspx.
How to get into a farmers market. This is one of the biggest challenges I am facing for my capstone and it will be a re-accuring problem. I need to get into markets to sell bottles and make good profit. This article will help me with the first steps of that. “The Cheapest Way to Ship Liquids and Beverages.” Shipping School, 21 Nov. 2020, https://www.shippingschool.com/the-cheapest-way-to-ship-liquids-and-beverages/. Cheaper ways to ship liquids. This is another huge problem that I have encountered. When i sell my bottles online I lose money, while bumping the prices up due to expensive shipping. This article starts to help me on way to liit the costs of shipping Cressida, by. “Reduce Your Shipping Costs with Flexitanks: Sia Flexitanks.” SIA Flexitanks | Flexitank Manufacturer and Supplier, 2 Feb. 2022, https://siaflexitanks.com/news/reduce-your-shipping-costs-with-flexitanks.
Here is another website that is about reducing shipping costs for liquids. Once again this is a huge problem for me. If I can get the shipping cheap enough to where the profit margins are beneficial then this capstone will do amazing because I won’t necessarily have to go to a bunch of farmers markets. Decker, Allie. “The Ultimate Guide to Entrepreneurship.” HubSpot Blog, HubSpot, 21 Dec. 2021, https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial guidance. My capstone is entrepreneurial, so throughout my process I thought it would be worth while to learn more about entrepreneurship. This website teaches me about entrepreneurship and steps/tips to be a better one. This is not only helpful for this capstone but for my whole life.

For my capstone, I along with Nick Reed, another senior, created five murals in the SLA commons representing the five core values. The first four core values, inquiry, research, collaboration, and presentation, are represented on the four support columns and designed in collaboration with freshmen in the mini-course we ran. Reflection was designed and painted, primarily by me, on the wall alongside the steps leading up to the rest of the SLA building. Unlike the others reflection is intended to be continued by every future senior class. In order to complete this project Nick and I spent the first half of the year researching. We pitched to Braskem and received full funding. We ran a quarter-long mini-course. We spent the last quarter of the year completing what we began during the mini-course with a dedicated team of freshmen and a handful of volunteers. Through this project, I thought myself how to make murals and teach an art class two things I had never done before. I learned how to work very closely with someone equally passionate but with different ideas about what we were doing and how we should do it. I learned that even after the chaos of my high school experience I can still make a positive change to my community, and more importantly I taught the next generation of SLA students the same.

Over the course of the year I started, maintained, and developed a small school library for SLA with a grant from the Laura Bush Foundation. Our small library aims to give our students a space for leisure and serendipitous discovery. Pursuing that goal led me to numerous strategies with varied sub-goals, which slowly built together into an unachievable ideal of what I wanted to leave behind after my time in SLA. However, the continued achievement of that goal isn’t all up to me, it’s a task for all future members of the SLA community to uphold, maintaining cleanliness and organization is crucial, and encouraging that without being in the building has been one of my biggest goals. Read all about the simultaneously slow and panicked rapid struggle that established SLA’s library, and when you’re done, stop in, look at the books, and enjoy the bean bag chairs— and remember to throw away your trash and put your books back where they belong. :)

Bibliography

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15C1srdgnyDYzfr7hlJ5QTlWx-3DW0-gpfhL1skcIOWs/edit?usp=sharing

If anyone decides to continue working on the library in the future, here are my basic thoughts and plans. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pbZ2xOVqKuJXPFMHZDHuOQC0Q8LsYQyElESTZl3tuIU/edit?usp=sharing

The Spring 2023 Keystone testing window is here! Beginning on Wednesday, 5/15, and ending on Tuesday, 5/23, SLA will operate under modified schedules. Please reference the below information for critical dates and times of tests and abbreviated classes.

Wednesday, 5/17 – No classes: Work period in Commons and Cafe

Thursday, 5/18

11:00 - 11:45 X1 Band
11:45 - 12:25 Y1 Band
12:30 - 01:10 C1 Band
01:15 - 01:55 D1 Band
02:00 - 02:40 E1 Band
02:45 - 03:25 A2 Band
03:30 - 03:45 Advisory

Friday, 5/19

11:00 - 11:30 Y2 Band
11:30 - 12:00 X2 Band
12:05 - 12:35 B2 Band
12:40 - 01:10 C2 Band
01:15 - 01:45 D2 Band
01:50 - 02:20 E2 Band
02:30 - Student/Staff Basketball Game

Monday, 5/22

11:00 - 11:45 X1 Band
11:45 - 12:25 Y1 Band
12:30 - 01:10 A1 Band
01:15 - 01:55 B1 Band
02:00 - 02:40 C1 Band
02:45 - 03:25 D1 Band
03:30 - 03:45 Advisory

Tuesday, 5/23

11:00 - 11:40 Y2 Band
11:45 - 12:25 X2 Band
12:30 - 01:05 E1 Band
01:10 - 01:45 A2 Band
01:50 - 02:25 B2 Band
02:30 - 03:05 C2 Band

For my capstone project, I made the decision to teach a Career Exploration Mini-Course for freshmen at SLA. My motivation for teaching this mini-course stemmed from two primary reasons. First, I recognized that a mini-course would enable me to have a direct impact on the students at SLA, which was a key objective of mine. Secondly, I wanted to create something that would have a lasting impact beyond my time at SLA, which was my primary objective.

To begin my journey toward becoming a teacher, I researched what Career Exploration Course Curriculums typically look like to further brainstorm how I would model mine. Drawing inspiration from the sources I found online, I was able to develop my own curriculum. The process of creating my curriculum took me approximately two months, and once it was approved, I was ready to begin teaching.

During the course of my mini-course, I realized that students do not have sufficient access to college readiness classes. Planning for life after high school can be an overwhelming experience for many students, and I observed that some students were genuinely interested in learning how to navigate this process and the possible opportunities that are out there. Ultimately, my capstone project proved to be a highly rewarding experience, as I was able to contribute towards improving the SLA community.

SLA will follow the below half-day schedules during Q3 report card conference days.

Wednesday, 3/29

08:15 - 09:05 D2 Band

09:10 - 10:00 E2 Band

10:05 - 10:55 A1 Band

11:00 - 11:55 B1 Band

12:00 - 12:30 Dismissal/Lunch

04:00 - 07:00 Conferences

Thursday, 3/30

08:15 - 08:55 C1 Band

09:00 - 09:40 D1 Band

09:45 - 10:25 E1 Band

10:30 - 11:10 A2 Band

11:15 - 11:55 X1/Y1

12:00 - 12:30 Dismissal/Lunch

01:00 - 04:00 Conferences

Friday, 3/31

08:15 - 08:55 B2 Band

09:00 - 09:40 C2 Band

09:45 - 10:25 D2 Band

10:30 - 11:10 E2 Band

11:15 - 11:55 X2/Y2 Band

12:00 - 12:30 Dismissal/Lunch Happy Spring Break!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1e9obFls5PStGyXzs_eSqq2o4wz0xYORwmNUFZtl0BXA/edit?usp=sharing

This is the film shelf that best represents me.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1f03p9l6QvBmlaperngJJwxbTIK9DJyBHEuhrjd8dJLs/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MiHvrsvKfht_z3aHSojFTPVyAs_aB1aD7dOLlUcOb8M/edit?usp=sharing

These are my most enjoyed films, A series of my childhood+Recents I hope you enjoy. link

Bridge to Terabithia

This film had a big impact on me as a child. I usually don’t get emotional during films but I felt as if the story was created very well to make it be able to be realistic and so the audience could relate to points in the film. Even though the main character Jesse is very young and likes to live in an imaginary world with his best friend Leslie. Even though he was poor he was able to use his imagination to get through the hard times. The film hits a sharp plot twist when his best friend Leslie passes away. He felt as if the passing of her was his fault because he introduced her to the forest. Now he has to try and cope with the loss of his only friend. This movie showed me a valuable lesson to enjoy the time you have with the people around you. Also it shows how valuable our time is in this world and to enjoy every time with the loved ones you have. This hit lesson never really had an impact on me until I lost a friend in my country that I grew up with. I remembered how me and him grew up together the same way Jesse and his friend did by using our imagination and acting like we were WWE characters. After hearing the news about his death I broke apart and specifically remembered this film and how Jesse felt.

The Giver

In this film Jonas lives in a utopian world where everything is perfect. After spending time with the giver he was assigned the job as the receiver and realized that in the perfect little world he lives in isn’t as perfect as he thought. Throughout the film the movie was black and white to show that the people in the future can not see color or have feelings among many other things. Once the main character(Jonas) has the power to have the memories of the past to see how the real world is he starts to see color and act differently from everyone else. He then escapes to see the outside world. This taught me a valuable lesson of how the world I live in can never be perfect and to be glad of the blessings I have. Immigrating over to America was a big change because seeing the country from an outside view this country was full of promises of being the perfect land as if it was a utopia. Once I grew up in this so on ¨Utopia¨ my view on this country became more clear like Jonas started color. The perfect things that I was told of weren’t as perfect as I thought. I still was very grateful for everything I had and the opportunity the country gave me.

Creed series

This movie is about a boxer that lives under the shadow of his father who used to be one of the best professional boxers. After working hard and putting in so much effort he was able to go above the expectations everyone gave him and shine above the rest. This taught me a valuable lesson that I use everyday of how when I’m at my lowest I need to keep my head up and work harder than anyone else, so that one day I will have my shining moment and make everyone proud. This was also one of the inspirations of how I first got into the gym. I grew up with a lot of expectations from my family because of how I was able to come over to this country instead of them. Growing up I never really saw the importance of it but it was when I was around 16 when the switch in me flicked and I realized I needed to change my life set and work harder than everyone else because I have gone through more than everyone else. The movie was very motivational that it helped me flip that switch and become addicted to winning and progressing through the challenges.

The wolf of walnut street

Growing up my family never had a lot of money to buy me and my siblings the things we needed. Watching the main actor Leonardo dicaprio build his business up to become one of the most known brokerage firms had a very big impact on me. This shows me a valuable lesson that anyone in this country has the chance to become a millionaire. After watching the movie I wanted to be able to do the same thing and run around with my close friends spending money and not caring about how much something cost. This movie gave me the richman mindset of never being comfortable in the situation I am in and always trying to achieve more. To always try to raise the high income in the society we live in the world revolves around money and if you have money at the end of the day you have power to make change. Watching the main character build a company and then putting his friends on to his way of making money

Charlie and the chocolate factory

In this film, a child that grew up in poverty was lucky and won an invitation to get a tour of the chocolate factory. A bunch of other kids were also invited but all had some type of flaw and misbehaved during the tour. The other children were spoiled and impatient with the tour guild for when he gave instruction. The one boy ended up winning the whole thing because he was patient and behaved and at the end of the day he was rewarded for behaving. This taught me a very valuable lesson at a young age of how kids that misbehave don’t get rewarded anything. As a young child i always behaved but never expected an award for my behavior because if i keep expecting something for something that is expected of me then i’ll be disappointed when i don’t get anything. The movie overall had a big message that a lot of younger audience watchers could be affected by and I was a part of the audience.

These are the movies that shaped me and guide me through my day to day.

All SDP schools have a two hour delay on Monday so that we can all cheer on the Eagles in the Super Bowl!

We will follow the adjusted schedule:

A1 Band – 10:15-11:00

X1 Band – 11:05-11:50

Y1 Band – 11:55-12:40

B1 Band – 12:45-1:30

C1 Band – 1:35-2:20

D1 Band – 2:25-3:10

ADVISORY – 3:15-3:45

I don’t watch that many movies but, these are my top five movies for the movie collection assignment.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/154Uli8Wm8df3GkkK6m2L4ad5D4M87qiTz0fedfmulv4/edit?usp=sharing

These films are what shaped my sense of humor. Rewatching these movies make me think about when I was little and how my family bonded.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lEEPazbm65BybBsDEAKTU1ZrAjqfAPiWFR3AbhopNxA/edit?usp=sharing

Here is a collection of movies that I think represent me. I had a hard time narrowing it down, but I think that the five I ended up on are very suitable.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1usa1lZ1AhALm0N9dWmQV9lvvDaS07NlpmI8zERmLfZA/edit?usp=sharing

Here I put together a collection of films I believe to have influenced who I am today.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1JiR1c-riVXBVO8KopmkEmP2izGcgAubAPo00SLLN8uY/edit?usp=sharing

It was quite challenging to really sit and pick only 5 movies/shows. You don’t realize how many you have watched until you have to make a list of like your top picks. These shows and movies have grown with me and continue to be something I’ll never forget.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18gTFrkzebDh7baVA6-6Yj2qi2JH9rGh3Df8HEwTt-eU/edit?usp=sharing

This list is in the order that I watched these films throughout my life. I have created a collage of the film posters to go along with my vignettes.

Films link

Collage link

This is my ideal film shelf, these moves either have personal meaning to me or just a good story behind them. There is a paragraph for each about why I included them on my film shelf.