Above The Class – America's Gifted Youth

In this project, I reported on the necessity of Gifted Education in the classroom. This topic has been of much interest to me due to my familiarity with the system and its challenges. To get information about this story, I talked to many friends and family members who are familiar with the successes and challenges of Gifted Education. I think that this issue does not receive very much attention due to the overshadowing counterpart of Special Education. If anything, due to the rising rates of Autism, this topic will become even more overshadowed and will receive even less attention. From this project, I learned about local crisis reporting, understood how current Gifted students view gifted programs, and even had the opportunity to investigate some of my mother's various awards for Gifted Education efforts.

To download the full story, click here.

Inside/Out

My capstone was working to create a mural with a youth group in Pennsauken, NJ called BPSOS Delaware Valley Basement Breakers (B3) on a project called Inside/Out.

 

The Inside/Out project was started by a French street artist who goes by J.R. He won the TED global prize last year for his idea of using photography to turn the world Inside Out. People from all around the world participate in the project, as they take photos of facial expressions, submit to the website, and receive large black and white copies to paste in a public space. SLA had done similar project under the JFK bridge. Through this project,  participants journal extensively with questions about their identity and hopes. Through exploring questions such as “where is your home? Where do you come from? Have you ever felt like you are the problem?” participants would be able to have a space to start thinking deeply about themselves and the world around them.


Digital Artifacts come soon!!!

Globalization in Philadelphia - Photo Essay

As I walked through Philadelphia doing my very best to find examples of Globalization, I found myself overwhelmed. Examples of globalization were practically everywhere. Every street corner had a different flavor to it. It's almost as if you can sense a shift in culture as you walk. And for every shift, there were plenty of pictures to be taken. That said, sometimes it was hard to take pictures that had a different feel to them. It almost always felt like the real photo you were taking was an odd juxtaposition, not a true mix of cultures. That said, I particularly liked the photo inside of the Perelman building's chapel, because that was a more true mix of cultures. Islam, Judaism and Christianity all coming together in the same room to remember that we are all humans, and while medicine can do many things it's important to hold onto faith.
There is no doubt in my mind that globalization is prevalent in Philadelphia. How prevalent, well that is up for debate. Philadelphia certainly has it's fair share of evidence showing globalization, but how true might this be in Pittsburgh  which breathes (or used to) American steel and sheer production, leaving very little to be imported. Chances are Philadelphia takes in a bit more foreign culture, but when you compare it to a place like New Orleans, there's no question that New Orleans has more evidence of globalization.
With all that said and done, I learned that globalization can be where you least expect it. Just because your house was made with American materials doesn't necessarily mean it's an American house. Architecture borrows a huge amount across the world. Just because you bought a GM car doesn't mean that the raw materials weren't harvested else where or even assembled else where. Examples of society trying to hide globalization are almost as prevalent as society trying to showcase globalization.

You can read more about my explorations and analysis of globalization in Philadelphia here.

Uyen Nguyen: High school Blood Drive


Summery
For my senior capstone, I am putting myself on a task to host a school blood drive. I will be working with the American Red Cross crew to set up and host a blood drive here at Science Leadership Academy.


Abstract 
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My capstone was to participate, get certified by Red Cross to host a Blood Drive and also to recuit donors. My task was to plan out a Blood Drive event and to use my ability to organize everything and getting it into SLA. My partner(Gisela Giolafina) and myself organized multiple meetings and short announcement  to grabs students and teacher's attention to drawn themselves into participating and becoming a blood donor. We also got certified to train volunteers to make sure we have enough helpers and keeping our environment safe for all. We also reserved the drama studio specially for the event and maintain the amount of kiodic to minium level. With the help of students and teachers, we were able to do a run though and complete our project smoothly.

Co-captain of the Pep Squad Club Creates a show

 

 

     Step team performance &

      The “Show your colors” show

 

Ashley Etheredge

Mr. Bey



Manuel Advisory

 

Summary

I helped create a club (SLA’s fist pep-squad), I put on a show as well as choreographed a step routine that was performed in the show.

Abstract

My project was a performance that was based around SLA’s new pep-squad; I put on the show; including getting acts, setting up the performance space and setting the date and time but I also choreographed a step routine that was performed in the show. My step team performed in my show the “Show your colors” show, which was originally going to be a Black History Month show however; due to complications (of which I will explain in depth later in this paper) I was unable to meet my deadlines and missed Black History Month. I wanted to create a club that would continue on at the school after I was gone, that girls and boys could continue into college if they wanted to. I felt that this club could bring people together from all grades like other clubs such as SLA capella, Ping pong and the Poetry club but in a different way that people might not have seen before. I wanted to give insecure teenage girls and boys more self-confidence while having a ton of fun and meeting new people.


If you were unable to attend the show, don't worry you can view it here!

The Transit Navigator – Jeff Kessler's 2012 Capstone Project

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The Transit Navigator uses a website and other web tools to improve the usability of Public Transportation ("make public transit navigation simple").


Capstone Summary:

This capstone project developed and founded the innovative resource known as The Transit Navigator. The service takes two approaches to solving the problem of simplifying transit systems. First, the website provides detailed but simple information about public transit in a variety of cities. This makes it easy to understand the transit options available, how to navigate them, and where to learn more. The other aspect of TransitNav is the use of foursquare tips to facilitate on-the-go information. Users can simply follow transitnav on foursquare for access. When they check-in at a location, the system automatically populates one of The Transit Navigator's numerous tips and displays it on their screen. Foursquare's "Lists" feature allows users to browse these TransitNav suggestions by region and service. There are also a few TransitNav sightseeing guides that make it easy to quickly explore a region. Personal experience (over six years of gathering transit knowledge and working as an Amtrak intern!), mapping tools (such as Google Maps), photographs (from photo-sharing tools) and individual transportation sites acted as references. Plus, thanks to the "live" nature of the Transit Navigator Web Terminal, these resources will continually be updated as new information is required. Check it out online at http://transitnav.com!

A Checkers Game written in Java

For my capstone project, I created a Checkers game using the Java language. Creating a checkers game in the Java language requires translating the rules of the board game into something the computer can actually understand. Most of the time was spent on just acquiring a basic knowledge of computer science from my mentor, Mr. Miles. The rest was spent actually developing the game with the assistance of Jobe Naff.

Below are some screenshots of the checkers game and code:
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Emma Hersh Quarter 4 Benchmark Reflection

​For the forth quarter I decided to do an option that was not actually on the list, I added a point to Jared Diamond's five point framework (to make it a six point framework). My point was the impact of the government on collapse was never mentioned in any of the chapters and it should have been. So I went in and researched all of the chapters that I thought an explanation of the government at the time would be helpful to completely understanding the collapse of that society. I chose Rwanda, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and China. The most challenging aspect of this project was fully understanding the economic state of the country as well as what type of government was in place and understanding the dynamics. I was also interested in the history of the government and what they are currently doing in their own country and in the global community. Another difficult part for me was analyzing what I had found and making it relevant to the book and the work that Jared Diamond was doing. If I were to do this again I would also analyze one of my countries from the benchmark last quarter like Mali, because as soon as I turned in the benchmark a coup took over the country. 
Here is the link to my final website product. 

Newon's Capstone

I will be creating my own line of Liberian-Inspired prom dresses. There will be hopefully about six or seven dresses in the collection and I will be having full involvement in in everything that goes one. I plan to study and learn more about fashion design and more in college and it’s practically all I could think about since ninth grade. The product I’m creating is even more appropriate because then I’ll have something to start up on when I head to college and when I create my own business. Like I said before I’ve had this project in mind since ninth grade because I knew it would make applying to colleges much better since I would have my own line already out and doing well.

Here a link to my Capstone blog:  http://libcapstone.blogspot.com/ 

Pure Love Capstone 2012

For my Capstone, I planned out what I was going to make, how I was going to make it, how I was going to fund it, who I was going to sell my products to, and much more. I thought about what the design was going to look like, the color scheme, and how I was going to organize the label on the bottle. I went to stores and looked at examples of natural products that people have made and I asked them questions about how they made them. This is my temporary logo and may be my permanent logo depending on how well I can make another one :).

Blood Brings out the Best


The most challenging part of this benchmark was actually finding a story. My initial idea was to find a super tragic story that nobody paid any mind to but then I got the idea to report on something positive about a teen. I feel live negativity about Philadelphia teenagers are over reported but the accomplishments we make are under reported. I remembered what an exceptional student Shalia Wallace is and saw how good of a deed she was doing by running a blood drive was so I decided to report her story. Not just Shalia but other teens all over the city and their accomplishments are unreported because there are so many teens who are doing wrong and the media just has so much more to say about that. I think this story will get some attention but not a bunch of attention because it isn't a negative or tragic story that captures peoples attention which is sad. It's a shame that people would rather hear about a shooting rather than teens making differences in their communities but that's the reality of it. Overall, I learned that the process of running a blood drive isn't as simple as it may seem and requires time and dedication to ensure that the drive is successful.
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high functioning autism

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My topic was how does teens go through High School with having high Functioning Autism. In order to complete the project I had to develop questions to ask the students to help me go through this process. To understand the capstone process it takes a lot of researching, collaboration, Inquiry that are the main components of completing any project at Science leadership.


322x Productions & Creations - Tariq

My Senior Capstone Project was to take the existing non-profit organization that I co-founded last year, and providing youth with opportunities to showcase their individual talents to large amounts of people. I am collaborating with two close friends to demonstrate 3 different components of running an organization. The section that I am focusing on is the production phase of the organization. This essentially is the execution the projects that we have scheduled and the process that we undergo to make these ambitions a reality.
322x Productions & Creations (Official Logo)
322x Productions & Creations (Official Logo)

Fangda Luo: Process of Making an Animation

​Abstract:

This is a Performance Project: A short animation movie entitled “The Forgotten”
 
This choice was deeply rooted in my philosophy of modern life that modern human

beings should enjoy both the convenience of technology and the warmth of art, for

my ideal is to become an artist, not the one in its conventional sense, but the 21st

century artist that is armed with and can take advantage of new fruits of science and

technology. I understand that both art and computer science will play a central role in

this career and I must work hard in both these two fields. So in this sense, the project

I chose to work on offered me a good chance of practicing for my future career.

Furthermore, I strongly believe that interdisciplinary studies/projects like animation

making have become a new approach to innovations. This project will also contribute

much to my sense and competence of innovation and originality.



First of all: This is the settings for characters.
This animation is intended to reveal the corruption and devastating influence of money and

money-worship upon human spirit and human relationship by means of narrating the experiences

and observations of two young people.

Two major characters:

1) The Young Man

The young man is well-educated, and culturally and physically strong, and good at martial arts.

He has been told that he is an orphan and was taken and brought up by his stepfather. In fact, the

stepfather is the young man’s biological father, who, a wealthy businessman, has an illusion that

his son was adopted instead of being his own son just due to his strange psychological disease

which was caused by his great sorrow over the death of his wife, and thus puts his whole heart

onto money-making.

The young man is struggling between two values. On one hand, he is tired of the crazy wealth-

hunting acts and money-dominated values of his father and his father’s business partners. On

the other hand, he believes that he cannot live without money. Driven by such a dilemma, the

young man decided to live away, asking his father to give him the money just enough to support

himself.

The young man moves to a small and shabby lane, where poor people of different walks of life

stay.

This young man tends to humiliate people by showing them his money purposefully when he

comes to find somebody covets his money but never giving any chance to the latter.

He enjoys this kind of tricks, but in fact he is hurting himself at the same time. The more he

behaves in this way, the more evident the power of money proves, then the more it proves his

father is correct about money, and the more it proves that his values and spirit are twisted. So his

struggle and pain seems to be endless.

2) The Young Girl

The young girl’s father is also a businessman, and a business rival of the young man’s father. He

offends the powerful man over his big investment and later is killed quirkily in a traffic accident,

which the young girl is luckily absent because she is ill and is taken care of by her neighbor. The

father does not leave a will.

The young man’s father takes all measures and takes over the girl’s father’s business. The girl

moves to the home of her uncle, who works with the young man’s father’s company. The latter

cheats the girl’s uncle and usurps the girl’s father’s possessions.

Once the young man intentionally drops off some food and money when he notices the girl might

be seriously in need of money and food, and catches her when she picks them up. Then they

meet.

My process of making the animation is not fully finished because of time and difficulties of making animation and I have no way of converting the animation file from producing file into video file. However, Here are the drafts I have for the animation I am making.

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Gina Dukes Capstone2012

Gina Dukes

Mentor: Matthew Kay

 

Capstone Abstract

Summary: The purpose of my project was to serve as the coach of SLA’s poetry slam team while also creating an online anthology of poetry in celebration of youth poets.

 

Abstract: Since the start of this year’s poetry club, I’ve been leading the group’s weekly meetings and had been coaching the team in preparation for the slam season. As the leader of the poetry club, I was in charge of developing activities, writing prompts and discussion topics that would inspire conversation and allow the group of students to open up to each other with poetry as the key. During my time leading the club, I’ve witnessed among the students that bonds had formed, confidence in public speaking developed and amazing growth shown in performances. After the end of the slam season, I sent out a call for submissions for the online anthology and was grateful that there were youth out there with a story to tell and were letting me publish it. While helping those who were just beginning to discover their voice, I in turn strengthened mine and learned many valuable lessons about revision, performing and believing in the power of telling your story. 

You can view my capstone below or click on this link to access it full screen.

http://issuu.com/gmarie/docs/youthvoice?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

Converse! By Alexander Ringgold


When I was told I could do anything that would help me, or others, in the future, it could be my capstone. So I though maybe I could flesh out out a manga and make it my own, because I do want to draw Japanese graphic novels when I grow up. So, I made Converse! a manga about a boy who gets powers and saves the world meeting interesting characters along the way, going through love, hate, death, life, and betrayal. You know, not too original but not too boring. Well, for me. Converse!, like other manga, I had to come up with a storyboard, characters, plot, concept art, and an idea that my peers and I enjoy.

This is my artifact, the official cover to Converse!

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Capstone Artifact blog post

What I did for my capstone is write reflective essay for 9 days out of each of the month (5).  About how I deal with using a c-pap machine each night that allows me to breath continuously throughout the night.  What I learned from this is that I felt more strongly about having this disease then I thought once I had to think about it I realize it had made a bigger impact on my life then I had thought. 



Below is the questionaire I had about 12 people fill out anonymously.

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Emilisa Lopez Capstone

Abstract:

For my senior year I needed to complete a capstone as a final project before I graduate. It could be anything from an event to even writing a book. I chose to create a video that captures what Science Leadership Academy is truly about and other basic information about the school. Working along side your mentor you get one on one help to create the product or event and get the chance to reflect on the whole process and product.

NXT Controller By Vichhay Roeung

The NXT Controller is an application made in Xcode, a program made for developing IOS applications. It uses a button-based method that sends X and Y coordinates based on which button is pressed. When the Forward button is pressed, it sends coordinates such as (0,1) to a computer running Matlab. In Matlab, based on the coordinate, Matlab would send a specific function for that coordinate to the NXT robot and the robot will follow those functions. Throughout the whole process, one major concept that kept popping up was research, as these new programs made it so that I had to be familiar with them in order to understand the problems that kept popping up. Which almost at every corner there were many things that I didn’t understand, but later overcame as I further my knowledge of the programs. In the end learning new methods, and even thought the product was not completed to the point I wanted to, it was still a useful and beneficial learning experience that i am proud to present.   

Use the link below to see the concept of my product:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/524665/VRoeung%20Engineering%20Poster.pdf

Link to video:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/524665/%20.mp4

The "New SLA" Senior Capstone

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Since I am planning on pursuing a career in architecture I decided to go down the path of building design for my Capstone. A teacher suggested designing the “New SLA” for my project. I found my mentor, who lives a few houses over, through my father. Together, my mentor and I worked on different assignments that when put together makes an official building proposal that could be given to a client. The entire project consists of site plans, zoning codes, building precedents, space diagrams, material research, floor plans and finally a digital 3 Dimensional concept of the completed school.

Rafiq Robinson Capstone


For this project I produced music, sung music and I shot a concert. The music content is in the final stages of producing and mastering but the concert is finished. In total I learned how to work with music in a variety of ways, I feel proud that I have gained a number of new skills.

 



Song that We will actually do

Finding a Home: Thomas Nicolella

            My capstone originally started out as a maneuver to receive grant money from organizations in order to help out Science Leadership Academy with sports equipment. As the year went on I quickly realized that equipment was not the real problem. The school district of Philadelphia has actually funded baseball teams this year so they could get three regulation bats and bases (along with a pitching mound). Our real problem was finding a home field. The purpose of my yearlong project was to find a field for the baseball team that was somewhat close, while making equipment more affordable for students on the team.


Here's a poster promoting savings on sports equipment.

SLA TIPS INTERACTIVE Ali Ahmed

An interactive made in keynote with the purpose of provided a user-friendly option to self-servicing minor laptop problem. s

With the use of input from upperclassmen of our school, this keynote was made addressing the problems they once had and the fixes they went through. This interactive is intended to ease these processes by taking the failures  experienced by us and alleviating them for future students. This project will have room for expansion as the years go on as technology changes and it would be optimal if a new student could carry this over in a future year.

Click Here to download the file:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxpIBHWh-l4SNHoxeC11TjlHLUE
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Xavier Molina capstone2012

My capstone is an enhanced podcast tour of the Upenn museum of archeology and anthropology. My mentor gave the idea of a podcast to me after hearing my interest in archeology. By doing some community service At the museum I was able to get the information I needed to start the process. With the help of one of the workers there, Amy Ellsworth, I was able to get access to the exhibit and images for the enhanced portion of the podcast, an idea given to me by Amy herself. A script was written first with the information given then turned into the podcast.

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