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For my Capstone project, I decided to write a short album. I tried to write one song each month which tied into my experience throughout senior year and my High School experience in general. It was fun to work on, and I’m proud of the final product.

I wrote a whole bunch of music, but, as time went on, I tried to slim it down to the seven songs I felt were best suited to the project. I spent a lot of time writing, bits and pieces here and there, and towards the end I started to flesh out a lot of the parts I had written, and trimming many bits I didn’t think made sense. I spent a lot of time recording it through the equipment I have at home in GarageBand. It took a while, but I feel like the recordings themselves turned out well.

The songs are on a broad range of topics, from my experiences throughout my time at SLA, both in school and out, people I’ve met, things I’ve learned, and more. For better or worse, I’ve tried to condense my time here as much as possible.

I’ve posted the music online publicly, and I’m attaching a link to this post. Check it out if you want to.

The topic of my senior capstone project is Puerto Rico. I am Puerto Rican so this was a way for me to take advantage of learning more about my homeland. By doing this project I hope to learn more about my lineage. This project will helped me improve my research skills, and by the end of this project, I hope to learned a lot. I got to interview and meet a lot of people, one of which was a hairstylist who upon arrival to Puerto Rico, after the Hurricane Maria, found out her father had passed - in which she is pictured. I learned about the culture and the highly catholic population, in which people always had faith in unity. For this project I created multiple art pieces 5 of my favorite are attached, each corresponding stories for art piece for each piece created, creating a double portfolio. During this project I collaborated with clubs in Science Leadership Academy (SLA) to coordinate, drives for Puerto Rico, as well as doing some on my own in collaboration with the first Spanish Baptist Church of Philadelphia,  during the hurricane recovery after hurricane season. I also, used Latino club as an outlet to interview students. The people of Puerto Rico were beyond grateful for things such as canned food, and paper towel. In some places, people didn’t have water and food for weeks and were left to eat dogs and cats. I have gained a new appreciation for Puerto Rico as a whole, their unity inspired me beyond words.

Works Cited

Santiago, Roberto, editor. “Boricuas: Influential Writings - An Anthology” . First ed., 'A One World Book' by The Ballantine Publishing Group, September 1995. Print.

This anthology of puerto rican writing helped me put into perspective what I wanted to exemplify in part of my capstone. Taking different writings and then having an artist create a small art piece was one of the key component of something, that I did in a similar manner with taking interviews and stories and turning them into art pieces. Also, the anthology of writings gave me an idea to do an anthology of art along with my personal gallery inspired from gallery

Silva, Daniella. "Trump Defends Throwing Paper Towels to Hurricane Survivors in Puerto Rico." NBCNews.com. NBCUniversal News Group, 08 Oct. 2017. Web. 27 Jan. 2018.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-defends-throwing-paper-towels-hurricane-survivors-puerto-rico-n808861

I know that usually the news isn’t the best source of information, but for my project I also wanted to portray how current events are affecting puerto rico and how politicians think of or respect Puerto Rico. This puts into perspective a different lense than what I would normally see, and gave me another idea for an art  piece. (j.b.)

Benítez, Marimar. “Neurotic Imperatives: Contemporary Art from Puerto Rico.” Art Journal, vol. 57, no. 4, 1998, pp. 75–85. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/777929.

 Looking at contemporary art gives a new style of art for me to explore. This displays very boxy picasso like inspired art pieces with a traditional spin, as well as art work that was composed of many lines.

FELICIANO, HÉCTOR, and Francisca González Arias. “The Museum of Art of Puerto Rico, or, the Reconstitution of a History of Art.” Remix: Changing Conversations in Museums of the Americas, edited by Selma Holo and Mari-Tere Álvarez, 1st ed., University of California Press, 2016, pp. 34–37. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt19rmbt3.10.

Viewing a historical standpoint this is very important because its about the first museum dedicated to Puerto Rico.  The subject with-in itself opens the world up to history that was kind of left behind for a while. I think this museum is something to consider because what happens to the Puerto Rican artist, work today and it leads me to asking myself how to make sure people will have access to art made today, tomorrow?

Ward, Sarah Laleman. “Hidden in Plain Sight: The Story of the Hunter College Collection of Puerto Rican Graphic Arts.” Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, vol. 34, no. 2, 2015, pp. 204–222. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/683381.

Including around 150 art pieces between 1954 and 1985, This book gives me a really good view of art development and changes and techniques. It even helped me view the changing architecture through art, which looked very similar to that of what my Great grandmother illustrates of la Isla.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016703797003359

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=vyQDYqz2kFsC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=puerto+rico+art&ots=A0LSrhq9t4&sig=hLtCaJzq9IAK0yiTPYCaZlRP9JY#v=onepage&q=puerto%20rico%20art&f=false

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0094582X9802500308#articleCitationDownloadContainer

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/24/americas/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-aftermath/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2017/12/29/power-puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-pkg-santiago-erin.cnn

Capstone

When I started my capstone, I had a vision to engage kids from my area in STEM. By the end of the project, I hoped to gain a deeper understanding of how to work with younger kids. I also hoped to refine my coding and engineering skills. Overall,  my most important goal was to actually inspire the kids to pursue engineering when they get to highschool and college. These goals were appropriate for me because I have been involved with engineering every year at SLA. Personally, growing up in a school lacking in resources and with a weak STEM curriculum, I was not exposed to any substantive science, technology, engineering, or math projects until high school. I have had the privilege of attending a immersive, project-based high school. This is a privilege that unfortunately many kids hailing from my socioeconomic background do not have. Partnering with the West Philadelphia Community Center, in addition to my debate mentoring program, I explored several STEM related topics with a group of black children over 5 sessions.  During these sessions, I gauged their interest about circuitry, NXTs, and Arduino to design an event that is an appendage of my capstone. This event will be open to disenfranchised youth across Philly and will be funded by Braskem. I felt that I could not just cap my capstone at the five sessions because I have the capacity to do more given my funding. I will also be designing a website that will include all of the STEM programs I have participated during my high school career, to keep the kids engaged even after the two hour event is over. I will launch the website during the event to solidify the kids’ interest in STEM and ensure they will continue to pursuit STEM programs afterwards. I am so happy to have had this experience because I met a group of talented, underprivileged kids who taught me more about myself than I could have ever anticipated. The sessions became more about STEM and we had discussions about issues affecting black inner city youth as well. I really feel like I planted a seed of curiosity in their lives, but also acted as a big sister/mentor to these kids.

Bibliography:

Williams, Joseph J. “Bringing STEM Education to Underserved Communities.” US News, www.usnews.com/news/stem-solutions/articles/2014/05/29/bringing-stem-education-to-underserved-communities.

This source is effective in providing a basis for the impact of my capstone. My ultimate goal for my capstone is to create change within my community by exposing sixth and seventh graders to engineering. I think this will come in handy when I am articulating my pitch for Braskem funding. It specifically details a non-profit organization’s journey of bringing STEM to less affluent communities. Although my capstone is not a non-profit, I can still gain insight on why there is such a need for a capstone like mine. It will educate me so that I will be able to inform others on why I am doing my capstone, not with emotion, but with empirical data that highlights the lack of representation in the STEM field.

Camera, Lauren. “Low Income Students Nowhere to Be Found in Stem.” US News, www.usnews.com/news/stem-solutions/articles/2017-05-25/low-income-students-nowhere-to-be-found-in-stem.

This source is effective in providing a basis for the inquiry aspect of my capstone. When brainstorming ideas for Capstones, I knew I wanted to created change within my local community by using something I learned in high school.Before SLA, my knowledge of engineering was very minute because the science department at my local neighborhood school was terrible. I knew that I had to do my part somehow in exposing younger underrepresented kids in southwest to engineering before they apply for high schools, in hopes that they apply to SLA or schools offering similliar engineering programs. Over the years, I have learned that programs that preach about career opportunities do not really engage and inspire young children.  This article corroborates the fact that programs that allow low income students to work with circuitry and robots are the ones that actually plant a seed of interest.

“STEM Education: Helping a Generation of At-Risk Youth.” Evōk Advertising, 6 Oct. 2017, www.evokad.com/insights/stem-education-at-risk-students/.

This source will be effective in articulating the impact of my capstone when I am pitching for funding from Braskem. Exposure to engineering can inspire at-risk teens to focus on their academics and dissuade them from engaging in high risk behaviors and succumbing to peer pressure. This is the larger goal of my project, A lot of the time, low income, teens of color feel trapped in their situation. They do not see any form of social mobility in their neighborhood so they are often discouraged when it comes to school and their future. I want to solidify that confidence in them and make them realize all that they are capable of through these workshops.

Porterfield, Ph.D. Daniel R. “Bringing Low-Income Students Into STEM Education.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 31 May 2014, www.forbes.com/sites/dporterfield/2014/04/03/bringing-low-income-students-into-stem-education/#43b895963ae8.

This source outlines an initiative that already exist that is helping to enroll low income students into the top schools for engineering.I will use this source to justify why there needs to be intervention at a much earlier stage.  I want the kids in my program to become involved in various engineering programs during high school because engineering will expose them to a plethora of opportunities. Just by being involved with SLA’s robotics team, I have had access to scholarship, extracurricular, and mentorship opportunities. Being involved with engineering could even inspire the kids in my college to seriously pursue a college degree when they are older.

Wilson, Donald, and Marcus Conyers. “The Teenage Brain Is Wired to Learn-So Make Sure Your Students Know It.” Edutopia, 8 Nov. 2016, www.edutopia.org/article/teenage-brain-is-wired-to-learn-donna-wilson-marcus-conyers.

This source delves into the science of neuroplasticity and the teenage brain. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to expand. Neuroplasticity occurs during normal brain development when the immature brain first begins to process sensory information through adulthood.  This is important to teens because you can train your brain to study better and instill a growth mindset in your brain while you’re young. Neuroplasticity is especially high among teenagers, whose synapses are proliferating by the second. Teenagers are very impressionable due to this reason. I will utilize this source to corroborate why i chose sixth and seventh graders for my target audience. Their brains are developing and new information makes a resounding impact on them. I know that if I can get these kids to attend two or three workshops, the experience will stick with them for a long time.

“Article: How Do Electric Circuits Work? .” How Do Electric Circuits Work? | Discovery Kids, discoverykids.com/articles/how-do-electric-circuits-work/.

I will utilize this source to give a basic description of circuits so that they can understand it on a basic level.

Soclof, Sidney. “How Circuits Work.” HowStuffWorks Science, HowStuffWorks, 21 Jan. 2008, science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/circuit.htm.

This source will help me create the curriculum for the workshops. It is informative and thoroughly explains how circuits work. I will refer to this article when I am trying to communicate what circuitry is and the components circuits entail.

“{{PageGeneralData.HeaderMainText}} {{ContextHeader}}.” Help 2 - Help 2 - Help 2 - Help 2 - Help Topics - Service LEGO.com, www.lego.com/en-us/service/help/products/themes-sets/lego-education/lego-mindstorms-nxt-software-downloads-408100000007850.

This source will also help me create the curriculum for the workshops. It is informative and is a library for the NXT software. Lego Mindstorms are very helpful  for understanding the logic behind engineering and coding. I initially wanted to frame my workshops on my summer internship working with Arduinos. Upon talking to my in school mentor, I realized that coding from scratch would be a hard feat for middle school students. Working with circuits and NXTs will inspire the kids to think about engineering in a building-block kind of way. Once they learn these rudimentary skills, developing raw coding skills in the future will be much easier for them.

Cawley, Christian. “DIY 10 Jaw-Dropping Lego Mindstorms Projects.” Make Use Of, 7 Sept. 2016, www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-jaw-dropping-lego-mindstorms-projects/.

I will utilize this source to introduce the kids to really cool lego mindstorm projects. I want them to get interested before I officially begin my presentations and demos. It would be really bad if they were bored while I am trying to spark their interest. I plan to show them the videos to get them hooked and then move onto some hands-on activities.

Fronderville, Tristan De. “How to Keep Kids Engaged in Class.” Edutopia, 3 Aug. 2009, www.edutopia.org/classroom-student-participation-tips.

This source explains how educators can keep the attention of the students they are teaching. This will be useful for me because I will be directly interacting with younger children and I do not have too much experience with this. The only experience I have working with little kids is tutoring them in basic algebra concepts. This did not require too much creativity, especially since their parents were making them come. My workshops will be voluntary so I need to make sure that they are interesting so that people actually come. I found some helpful tips such as starting class with a warm up using movement to keeps kids focused. I will incorporate these tools into my teaching.

Capital gains is a miniscule part of federal revenue, it is about rewarding or punishing different economic behaviors for rich people

They change how rich people use their money,

Encourages rich people to invest wisely

Eliminate capital gains tax to encourage rich people to make smart choices

Bibliography:

"College Now | Leaders in College Access & Completion." College Now Greater Cleveland. Accessed January 24, 2018. https://www.collegenowgc.org/leaders-in-college-access-completion/.

This is a successful peer college mentoring program that is established in Cleveland, Ohio. I wasn't sure how effective of a source this would be for me at first but then I realized that it is really effective. It shows how to really run an effective program, and gives data on their success rates running this program

Chajet, Lori. "“We’re All in It Together”: the Role of Youth Leadership in College Access ." The Role of Youth Leadership in College Access . Accessed January 24, 2018. http://caranyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/VUE30_Chajet.pdf.

"Preliminary data, conducted as part of an internal program evaluation, suggest that the SSCs are increasing the numbers of students engaging in and completing the college process: in 2009-2010, more than 70 percent of seniors at two of the sites applied to six or more colleges (there are no data yet on the third site)" This is interesting that with the implementation of this program for New York students by this school teacher the amount of applications to college went up as well as the amount of students that are even engaging in the college process that just goes to show that program implementation like these help kids out with the process.

CONSORTIUM ON CHICAGO SCHOOL RESEARCH. "From High School to the Future: Potholes on the Road to College." March 2008. Accessed January 25, 2018. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED500519.pdf.

The University of Chicago did a research on the life of a high school student and the many bumps on the road that they encounter throughout their high school career and gearing up for the college application process. This is a really great insight into seeing what resources people applying to college will need, and allows me to see how the process is different for people that aren't me or from SLA.

For my capstone, I decided to work with holograms, as a hologram is something that interests me, and holograms involve different kinds of engineering that I am not very familiar with, electrical engineering and coding.

In my final product, there is a port which takes the input from a laptop, process it through an Arduino Nano, then display it on a TFT LCD screen. Then the information displayed on the LCD screen reflect onto a mirror, then to a piece of translucent acrylic glass. The whole thing is connected to a pair of glasses frame, and the wearer can read information from the acrylic glass through their right eyes.

My capstone did not end up exactly where I wanted it to be, I was imagining something better, but I did not have the skills to do that yet. I do plan to continue working on it throughout college. Since it did not turn out to be as good or as small as I wanted it to be, I decided to have some fun in the end, and I made the case very spiky, and I named my final product “Spiky”.

In the end, not only did I learned electrical engineering and coding, I also had a lot of fun and learned things about myself.

For my capstone, I have reopened the SLA library. We had a soft opening on Thursday, and plan to be fully reopened on Monday. All of the prelabeled books have been restored and reorganized according to traditional library standards. This took longer than I had hoped, I wanted to be open by the new year. Unfortunately, because there are often events and meetings hosted in the space, I could not have proper time in the library in order to move this process along speedily. I also had a lot of hard workers (Thank you Pablo Salvatierra, Matthew Yemola, Harrison Wellner, Zoe Chernowski, Claire Byrnes and CJ Irwin-Diehl) to help me move the hundreds of books into a system that made sense. I hope to be able to hire my interns soon, and begin to discuss the move to Ben Franklin!

“15 Interesting JavaScript and CSS Libraries for April 2017.” Tutorialzine, tutorialzine.com/2017/04/15-interesting-javascript-and-css-libraries-for-april-2017.

This is a really interesting source about different library programs that could be used to code a library system. I am not familiar with computer code, but most of the programs come precoded and you can make adjustments to the code if you like. These would be interesting model to follow in the future, if the new head of the library after me is interested in computer sciences and could program their own library system as a capstone. I do not have the knowledge, but it is still good to have these programs in my head in case I decide to choose one of them, and know that I do have the power to arrange the system as I please.

Baird, Nicola. Setting up and running a school library. Peace Corps, Information Collection and Exchange, 2012, files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED536911.pdf.

This is a short book that gives step by step instructions on how to open a school library, which I have been following and found very helpful. This book was my inspiration for opening SLA’s library, if the Peace Corps can condense opening a library into 146 pages, I can do it in a school year. The book is written for teachers, but I believe a student could also take this advice to help open the library. On page 16 there is a list of steps a teacher should take generally to open the library, and I have been following the guidelines so far and have been successful in my plans to reopen the space.

Barile, Nancy. “Encouraging Students to Read: How to Get Your High Schoolers to Embrace Books.” Hey Teach!, 6 Dec. 2017, www.wgu.edu/heyteach/article/encouraging-students-read-how-get-your-high-schoolers-embrace-books.   

This resource is just a small article concerning how to get teenagers interested in reading. My biggest worry with the library would be that I would do all of this hard work, and the community would not use it. I think that with the advice given in this article, I can help get more kids interested in reading, and be able to put the space to it’s best use possible. It’s important to me to not only get the space to be functional again, but to also give the space meaning. This is more of a classroom guide, but I also think it will help the library promote reading in a positive light.

“DestinyExpress.” DestinyExpress.com, www.destinyexpress.com/.

This is a general guide for pricing for most of the library equipment that I would need in order to get the electronic equipment. This is really important for my Braskem pitch in figuring out how much money I will need for all of the equipment, and what equipment I can already get within the school. This source was a really important step for me to figure out if my capstone was a financially viable option for me to do. This resource provided a general price range for scanners, barcode labels, and printers.

“Dewey® Services.” Dewey Services, www.oclc.org/en/dewey.html.

This source is where I can buy the physical copies of the complete Dewey Decimal classification and the online version. This would be a helpful resource to have in the library mostly for the people working there, but also for anyone very interested in the system. The web version is very helpful because it constantly updates and changes, with new revisions being added instantly. It would be really great to be able to shelve our books in the most correct way possible. The physical book would be a really great resource to have, but I would choose the web version if I could only have one.

“Follett | K-12 Education Technology, Products, Materials, & Services.” Follett | K-12 Education Technology, Products, Materials, & Services, www.follettlearning.com/.

This is the website for the creator of an app that could actually link the whole library system to everyone’s chromebook through an extension. I would allow all of the students to check the libraries inventory, status of books, and the status of their checkouts. This could also allow the incorporation of ebooks into the library, which is something that I hadn’t thought of, and would be a great option for the library in the future. This is also the system that the School District of Philadelphia uses for organizing all of the districts libraries into their own systems.  

John, Chad. TED-Ed, TED-Ed, ed.ted.com/lessons/what-s-the-fastest-way-to-alphabetize-your-bookshelf-chand-john.

This video presents a couple different organizational theories for libraries, and teaches the most efficient organization theory for alphabetizing, called Quicksort which could allow you to sort over 1,000 books in hours, compared to the days it would take others. This video is presented by TedEd, a nonprofit that believes in the spreading of knowledge. I found this source useful because it presents ways of organizing books that I had never thought of, and will save me a lot of time in the future, when all of the books will need to placed in their respective order and when I am returning books to their order.

“LibGuides: Library Organization and Classification Systems: Dewey Decimal Classification.” Dewey Decimal Classification - Library Organization and Classification Systems - LibGuides at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 26 June 2017, guides.library.illinois.edu/c.php?g=439687&p=3091563.

This source is from the Illinois University and is an informational breakdown of three different types of official library organizational systems, such as the Dewey Decimal System, and the Library of Congress Classification. This source was really helpful in explaining the Dewey Decimal System, since that wasn’t taught in the classrooms. It also has a really great infographic that explains what all of the numbers on the labeling mean, which would not only help me, but educate other people on the importance of the system. The site also includes an extensive list of all the classes and subdivisions of the system, which is really helpful since I do not have all of the numbers memorized of the system.

FitzHenry, Sarah. “Fitz Between the Shelves Home.” ...Because libraries should be magic., fitzbetweentheshelves.com/.

This is a great blog recommended to me by Ms. Giknis. It’s a librarian who posts a lot about how she runs her library, and the events she hosts there. She’s a great person of contact should I ever need one, and she runs a great instagram page. This page is most of my influence for how I want to run the SLA instagram page for the library, and shows not only instagram organizational techniques, but library organizational systems and lists of books to include in the library. I really like the style of how Ms. Fitz-Henry organizes her library, and I hope to run the SLA library in a similar manner

Schroeder , Donna . “DDC 22 - Dewey Decimal Classification Edition 22 – Just ...” Kent State University Library, Ohio Library Council , Aug. 2003, www.bing.com/cr?IG=C79E4AE39A4E476BB80FED3A4B95899D&CID=0F8258BD5328611533D1533E52876070&rd=1&h=-IQISb6UubsB3iqo-hmCLZOf8QBMGXBBQO6FJ_OWtf0&v=1&r=https%3a%2f%2fwww.library.kent.edu%2ffiles%2fTechKNOW-July2003.pdf&p=DevEx,5064.

This source is an article written by the Ohio Library Council about the the Dewey Decimal Classification Volume 22, and what has changed since volume 21. This includes information about the newest changes to the Dewey Decimal System. I want to keep our non fiction section in it’s traditionally Dewey Decimal Organization, but all the new changes may prove this to be very hard. I think this source really brought to my attention that the Dewey Decimal system actually changes a lot, and is still a relevant and ever changing library subject.

For my capstone, I hosted a shoe drive throughout the month of April. I hosted this shoe drive to gain more experience in giving back to others who are in need. I also have a passion for collecting sneakers so I knew doing a shoe drive was exactly what I wanted to do. I noticeably found out that people tend to sell and throw away sneakers in good conditions, and hosting a shoe drive will instead attract people to give them away to a better cause. I worked with an organization called Soles4Souls which serves a mission of providing relief by distributing sneakers all around the world to the people in need. This shoe drive brought variety of pairs of sneakers from pre-owned to brand new, different colors and sizes. With my process of my shoe drive, I post this on social media and asked friends and family who had shoes they wanted to donate. After my shoe drive, I received over fourty pairs of shoes in different conditions and sizes. With the shoes I gathered, I sorted them out by sizes from youth and women sizes in one bag, and men sizes in another bag. I then drove an hour to New Jersey to hand deliver the sneakers to my local drop off location. I found this shoe drive very successful, as I felt like I was only going to receive a few pairs of shoes, instead, receiving and achieving over my intended goal of 30 pairs of sneaker donations.

Sorting donated shoes

Me organizing sneakers and tying each pair together

Putting the sneakers in a bag to get ready to ship

Annotated Bibliography

Ravenhill, Megan. The Culture of Homelessness. Routledge, 2016.

After reviewing this source, it provided a lot of experiences with the homeless as well as causes that impacts a person into becoming homeless. It also provides the impact on long-term homelessness and homelessness process of getting back on their feet into a house society. This source gives me more insight on how homelessness is caused and the process of living as a homeless. What I noticed was that this book was published in 2016, meaning that these are fairly recent news regarding the homelessness of the 21st century. This source is more of an overview over homelessness for my project and later on in this capstone process, use this morally as an introduction for my film and presentation.

“Characteristics of Persons Who Are Homeless for the First Time.” Psychiatric Services, 1 Nov. 2002, ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ps.53.11.1472.

This source showed the characteristics of a person who becomes homeless for the first time. Something that I notice is that this homeless project took place in Toronto and interviewed 300 people in a homeless shelter who had recently became homeless. They had more similarities than differences and a major similarity is from the way that they all had issues regarding childhood experiences that relates to housing. The people who have short term experience with homelessness, after 6 months, 60 percent will fall right back into homelessness and into homeless shelters. This source is credible to me because I can use this in the beginning of my documentation.

Uccioli, Luigi, et al. “Manufactured Shoes in the Prevention of Diabetic Foot Ulcers.” Diabetes Care, American Diabetes Association, 1 Oct. 1995, care.diabetesjournals.org/content/18/10/1376.

This source is credible to me because it explains the effects of people without shoes. Many homeless people do not have something to walk in. Homeless people are always on their feet begging for money, or traveling to somewhere safer for them. Many of the homeless can inherit foot ulcers which can be bad for the homeless. Researchers find that it can get worse when continuing to walk without treatment. This source was really helpful for me because I may run into a homeless who has a foot ulceration and providing a gift of shoes to them will be helpful.

To, Matthew J., et al. “Foot Conditions among Homeless Persons: A Systematic Review.” PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, 9 Dec. 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5147925/.

Foot problems are a common issue from homeless people, but are also very overlooked. This source summarizes the research about foot conditions and associated interventions among the homeless. Walking is a common form of transportation among the homeless which increases the risk of foot problems. Overall, the lack of health services because of financial resources prevents the homeless to recieve the right and best treatments. This source is credible to me because it gives me more information on why the homeless needs shoes more than anything. There are too many who walks barefoot especially in the cold and hot weathers.

News, CBS. “The Rise of Sneaker Culture.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 1 Dec. 2016, www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-rise-of-sneaker-culture/.

This source gives me an insight on “the sneaker culture” meaning that I learn more about how sneakers evolved and became important to the fashion as well as lifestyle industry. The gallery of particular shoes and the description about how its fame was created, showed that the particular choice of primary colors and geometric shapes, as well as the limited pairs made, which makes the demand for the shoe much higher. This source isn’t particularly going to make a big impact on my presentation, but it gives me a better reasoning to donate shoes to the homeless as a sign of giving them something they can cherish.

Johnson, Robert. “I Spent The Night In A Homeless Shelter-Here's What It Was Like.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 18 Jan. 2012, www.businessinsider.com/sleepingin-a-homeless-shelter-2012-1.

A reporter decided to see what it's like to be in a homeless shelter. He tried going into one in New York City, but he failed. He turned his way to Atlantic City where he somehow found a source that would take him in. The reporter explained that everything was well except for the bed, which was very tight and had trouble sleeping. This source is credible for my documentary because I am able to use this as a source on how homeless shelters are a good place for the homeless and with the amount of shoes I’m donating, it can be brought to a good home.

Silverman, MD Lance. “Two-Thirds Of Homeless Population Suffers From Foot Problems | Foot Doctor in St. Paul.” Silverman Ankle & Foot - Edina Orthopedic Surgeon, 22 Feb. 2017, www.anklefootmd.com/two-thirds-homeless-population-suffers-foot-problems/.

This source just like all my other foot sources, talks about the problems within the foot that the homeless has. Although this source provides much more in depth and main quotes from 2 students at Dalhousie Medical School in Canada, whose going out to these abrupted homeless populations. This is credible for my documentary because I want to run into these homeless people so that I can provide them a place to seek treatment. The shoe itself will not bring treatment, but ease foot problems and take some heavy weight off their feet.

dot, Toeslayer. “All about shoes.” The anatomy of the shoe, 1 Jan. 1970, allaboutshoes-toeslayer.blogspot.com/2009/10/anatomy-of-shoe-according-to-mcphoil.html

This source gives me the anatomy of a shoe which basically every part and function of shoe. It explains the different materials used, as well as how stitching works. It isn’t going to be used as a part of my project, but it is important for my process for just knowing more about a shoe and knowing every detailed part which gives my project informative based. I still find it credible because I am thinking about adding this onto the website I’m going to create for this project so that when I present, it gives details about it and how comfort plays a part within it.

“Best Sneakers For Walking.” Health.com, Oct. 2015, www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20680036,00.html#sketchers-go-step.

I chose this source as a primary source because when I get into the process of using all my funds for finding a sneaker I want to buy, this would be the source I would go to. It has the perfect pairs that are affordable, as well as essential comfort parts that would provide cushioning. These would be good pairs for the homeless due to the fact that they travel their distance by feet. It would not impact my presentation itself, but it would show within the core value of research on how I found a credible source for choosing sneakers.  

Fuller, Carey. “Homeless Shelter Systems and What They Don't Tell You.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 Oct. 2011, www.huffingtonpost.com/carey-fuller/homeless-shelter-parents_b_1035952.html.

In a homeless shelter, this post explains that there is no guarantee when going to a homeless shelter. There is a process that the homeless has to go through. Even if they go through the process, there is still no guarantee that they will be manageable to get into the homeless shelter. They explained that there is also eligibility requirements. The particular man writing the post explains that he had an addiction which would not provide him shelter. I find this source credible to me because it gives me more details about homeless shelters that not all outside sources would hear about.

For my capstone, I am doing is an essential drive for homeless teens in Philadelphia. Knowing how bad the statistics are right now, I wanted to help my community out. For the past couple of months, I have been telling my friends and families about my capstone and how I’m planning to step up in the Philadelphia community to help teen that are less fortunate. My friends and families have donated as much as $150 towards my capstone and they donated essentials like paper towel, tissue, soap, shampoo, and more. For the money I receive and continue to receive, it’s going to towards to more essentials due to the face there are a bunch of teens that are in need. What I did was I went to BJ’s and Walmart where I bought a bunch of stuff that was listed on the email that the organization have given me. Everything was hard when the capstone was first introduced because I didn’t know what to do but after I had my first idea (Clothes drive) I soon began to realize that it wasn’t going to work out. Then I quickly turned to an essential drive because I knew it was going to be much easier and more useful. Throughout this project I want people to learn that they can be the reason why we can make a change in the Philadelphia community.

Annotated Bibliography

“2016 Energy Benchmarking Report.” PECO, 2016,

http://www.phillybuildingbenchmarking.com/

This source is an annual report about energy consumption in Philadelphia in the year 2016. It especially breaks down the consumption of the percentage of school usage in the city. This report also shows how energy consumption in the city has changed over four years. This report is reliable since it is coming directly from PECO’s website; a major provider of electricity in the city. I plan to use this source as a way to show how my data can connect to our larger community, Philadelphia. I plan to include this data directly in my end report when comparing the city average to our average as a school.

Desjardins, Jeff. “What Uses the Most Energy in Your Home?” Visual Capitalist, 14 Nov.

2016, https://www.visualcapitalist.com/what-uses-the-most-energy-home/

This site shows an infographic of what appliances use the most electricity in an average household. I need this because I need to know the primary appliances I need to focus a lot of my analysis on when I collect the data in the school. This source shows me that heating and lighting are the things I may want to focus on when approving the amount of energy we use at SLA. This source is kind of reliable as the publisher of the site has done other infographics that have been referred to, but I am a little weary because it is data on a household and not a larger building or school.

“Electricity and the Environment.” Electricity and the Environment - Energy Explained, Your

Guide To Understanding Energy - Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=electricity_environment

This source explains the importance of lower one’s energy usage for the environment. I really want to include this source in my report to explain why my Capstone is important and relevant. The source even does talk about greenhouse gas emissions, so I need to make sure I reference the specific part about electricity consumption in my report. I do want to reference where our electricity is from and how it affects the Earth as well, which this source completely covers. I find this source very reliable because it is published from the United States of America’s government and from its energy department.

“Estimating Appliance and Home Electronic Energy Use.” Department of Energy,

https://energy.gov/energysaver/estimating-appliance-and-home-electronic-energy-use    

This source is a calculator like website which can help someone determine how much an appliance is costing them on their electricity bill. It is especially useful because the price calculator includes wattage of you appliance and price per state. I plan to use this to calculate how much our school would be spending if we had to pay these fees out of pocket. I would then use it to determine the solutions I want to implement and see the savings we gain. This source is reliable because it is sponsored by the U.S.’s department of energy in the government.

“Estimating Electricity Usage.” Calculate Your Energy Consumption | SaveOnEnergy.Com®,

SaveOnEnergy.com, https://www.saveonenergy.com/energy-consumption/

This site is a step by step guide on figuring out how much electricity different appliances actually use. It also provides a small section of different estimates of different appliances’ usage. The site even goes a step further and helps someone convert the rates they found into kilowatts per hour and then a month estimate. I plan to use this source to help me understand the data I will be collecting. Then I can use this guide to figure out some hypotheses on some of the appliances’ electricity and then later, cost. This source is reliable because the domain it is on is also a company that professionally deals with electricity conservation.

Guidelines for Writing Reports in Engineering. Monash University,

https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/567156/guidelines-writing-reports.pdf

This article is a lesson showing how someone should write a professional engineering report. This source explains the key parts of the report, as well as a more detailed breakdown of what structure it needs to have and what things need to be included in the report. It even provides examples of every section, which is very helpful. I would use this source mainly in the fourth quarter when I distribute this report I will write with my data and findings. I find this source really reliable because it’s written to especially teach university students by mature engineers with a degree.

Lanzisera, Steven, et al. Methods for Detailed Energy Data Collection of Miscellaneous and

Electronic Loads in a Commercial Office Building. U.S. Department of Energy, Apr. 2013,

https://eta.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/publications/methods_for_detailed_energy_data_collection.pdf  

This source runs through a longer official report on an energy use analysis in a larger building environment. This is especially useful as our school building is a larger building than just the average household. This report even walks through their data collection process using different technology. This source is also useful as a way to see how a longer report might look like to a degree. I would use this source as a model on how to approach my larger data collection process in February through April. I find this source very reliable because it is produced from a professional laboratory.

Meier, A, and HP Siderius . “Should the next standby power target be 0-Watt?”

Escholarship.org, 2017, https://escholarship.org/uc/item/566951pn

This source is another longer report on power consumption. However, this report talks specifically about the concept of standby power consumption. So, lights that are left on when they do not need to be, devices plugged in when they are fully charged or not in use, and other examples. This source is very useful to me as SLA uses a lot of standby power consumption and this source can help me think of a potential avenue to take (the standzero option). I find this source to be reliable as it is sponsored from the U.S. government and is produced from a professional laboratory.

Safar Hatami, and Massoud Pedram. Minimizing the Electricity Bill of Cooperative Users under

a Quasi-Dynamic Pricing Model. University of Southern California, 2010,

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5918/097ada30b8f50400c8a9abd5aba88bea8065.pdf

This source breaks down how to save money in a more mathematically based concept, using a quasi-dynamic pricing equation to complete the goal. The source helpfully breaks down time based pricing and runs through this scenario of an alternative environmentally friendly way of using electricity. This source is useful to me in running through on how to implement data collection (various sensors) and different cost optimization for saving energy. However, I am a little weary about the mathematics involved, but I plan to work through it and see how much I can include in my report. This source is reliable because it was produced in the University of Southern California from an electrical engineer.

Sexton, Joe. “Calculate How Many BTUs are Needed to Heat Home.” Inch Calculator,

Construction Calculators, https://www.inchcalculator.com/calculate-many-btus-needed-heat-home/

This source is a calculator like site where someone can determine how many BTUs it is necessary to heat and cool a room from their thermostat. This source also includes a climate zone option because the heating is also determined by the area in which people live. This site also provides explanations on what BTUs are and more information on thermostats and furnaces. I am going to use this source to determine how much energy we need to heat up a room for my data collection process. I have a source for this because our furnace may be hard to access in the building. This website is reliable to a degree, but it is sponsored by Amazon and other companies. It also includes links where the website’s data calculations are based on.

My capstone project was to travel to Costa Rica on a field study to research water supply, security, and interactions. Before my trip, I did a lot of research to gather as much information on the topic as possible. I did not want to travel to a new country completely ignorant and blinded. Going into the project and trip, I knew that all of my research would not be feasible. Because most of the research I did were from secondary sources, I knew that I was not collecting the desired information, which made my trip more important. On the trip I was able to collect and gather as much primary sources as I possibly could; just being there and seeing everything for myself was also a primary source. The process was a little challenging since only a few natives spoke english. With the help from guides and a few of my classmates, I was able to understand and gather useful information. A lot of my information also came from observation. Any observation I would make, I asked questions pertaining to it to clarify my understanding. Arriving to Costa Rica, I was stunned by my ignorance and I wasn’t the only one. If a group of people were ignorant of the country’s lifestyle, then it’s for certain that a lot more people are too. Once I returned from the trip, I wanted to not only create a project surrounding water in Costa Rica, but on the small details of the country as well.

Annotated Bibliography

Bower, Kathleen M. “Water Supply and Sanitation of Costa Rica.” SpringerLink, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2 Apr. 2013, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12665-013-2416-x.

When I first opened this source, I thought it would have all the information I would need. It was titled “Water supply and Sanitation of Costa Rica”. This made me think that I would gather, if not all, majority of my information here. Although this source did not hold all of the information I needed, it did help with my process. This source is an article on water supply and sanitation in Costa Rica. It holds informations about environmental care and the sustainability of water resources. I found it by simply researching water systems in Costa Rica. This source supports my capstone by giving me thorough information about my topic. This article provided stats on population and supply of domestic water resources, which helps me get an understanding of how things happen in Costa Rica.

Porras, Nazareth. (2016).The Sixaola River Basin: Costa Rica and Panama. San José, Costa Rica: UICN, 12 pp. https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/content/documents/bridge_sixaola_english.pdf.

When I first found this source I was very impressed with the amount of information it provided. This source is a textbook article on the Sixaola River Basin. The basin is located between Costa Rica and Panama, right by the Yorkín community, which is relatively close to the Bribri community. The Sixaola River extends over 2,848.3 km2 (1099.73 mi2). 19% of the river is located in Panama and 81% in Costa Rica. The river plays a huge role as a watershed for several communities including the Bribri community. I found this information very useful since I will be studying the interactions between the people of the community and the river. Learning the aspects of the river gives me an idea of how it may be used by the community. This also makes me question Costa Rica’s interaction with Panama.

Blanco, Adrián Martinez, and Diana Ubico Durán. “Water Security in the Sixaola River Basin.” Peace and Conflict, Monitor, 30 Apr. 2014, www.monitor.upeace.org/innerpg.cfm?id_article=1043.

I found this source by researching the security of the Sixaola River in Costa Rica. I searched this topic because the security of the river is something to keep track of since the river is shared by many communities and multiple countries. When I found this source, I thought it was pretty useful because it identified challenges within the basin and communities and how security impacted different communities.  This source is an analytical article on the security of the basin, as a whole. Parts of the article focuses on Costa Rica and other parts focuses on Panama. Overall, this article gives me information on how the two countries are dependent on each other.

“The Binational Commission of the Sixaola River Basin Draws Municipalities Together for the Environment.” IUCN, 19 May 2016, www.iucn.org/content/binational-commission-sixaola-river-basin-draws-municipalities-together-environment.

When I found this source I thought that it was a perfect representation of how Costa Rica and Panama works together. I found this source by researching collaborations of Costa Rica and Panama with respect to the Sixaola River. It basically explained what companies and associations are involved and what roles they play in taking care of the basin. It also elaborates on why it is important for the two to do so. This source is very helpful because it allows me to see how certain associations take stances on specific human resources. It also helps me because it answers many of my questions of how the two countries come together.

“POV Call for Entries Broadcast Season 2018.” POV, PBS, 2017, http://cfe.pov.org/POVcfeSubmissionGuidelines.pdf.

When I found this source, I thought it was very helpful for my final product. Initially, I wanted to make a documentary and post it on the SLA homepage. This source is an article and flyer for a documentary competition. I found this source very helpful because for part of my final project I will be creating a documentary. Since this documentary will be on water supply, security, and interactions with the Sixaola River in Costa Rica I want to share my findings with more than just the SLA community. I feel as though more people in the world would be interested in my projects and its findings. This source also benefits me because it helps advertise my project. But overall, I want my documentary to be a learning experience to many.

Stinson, Jim. “Shooting the Journey: A Guide to Vacation Video.” Videomaker, 1 Mar. 1995, www.videomaker.com/article/f2/1404-shooting-the-journey-a-guide-to-vacation-video.

When I found this source, I thought it was very beneficial. Because the basics of this documentary is the journey that I will be on, I wanted to learn how to properly record my trip. Since I have never recorded any type of experience or journey before, I thought it would only be right to research how. This source is very helpful because it teaches me how to keep track of what I record and what things I should record. Rather than just explaining what to put in a documentary, it explains how to acquire certain aspects.

Fisher, Sky. “How to Visit The Largest Indigenous Community in Costa Rica.” Epicure & Culture, 7 June 2017, https://epicureandculture.com/bribri-travel/.

This source is basically someone’s personal experience in the  community themselves. It gives a perspective of the things that happened or that’s going to happen. It’s basically a “what to expect” guide. This guide explains things that someone usually wouldn’t wonder; like, how do you get to the actual community? Well, the community is only accessible by boat. This is very useful information, especially since, I will be journeying their myself. This source gives me an idea of what everything will be like. It also allows me to prepare for the tri and the many encounters within it. This source also provides ways to get involved with community; whether it’s for vacation, touring, or service work.

Fariña, Ana Lucía. “Bribri Women Lead the Way in Community-Based Tourism in Costa Rica.” Cultural Survival, Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine, Mar. 2012, www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/bribri-women-lead-way-community-based-tourism-costa-rica.

This source is an article story written by a Costa Rican tour guide. In this article they reflect on the indigenous people of the Yorkín and Bribri communities. Since we will be invading a community, I wanted to study the people that’ll be there. I wanted to know their background and history so that I was not completely oblivious and ignorant of their growth. I found this source very helpful because not only did it elaborate on the people, it explained the culture and history behind it. It made me aware of some of their struggles and how they may overcome them. It also points out the diversity in the community; gender, age, and color diversity are uniquely important within Costa Rican communities. This source also points out some future goals that the native people has made.

“Making Documentaries: A Step By Step Guide.” Desktop-Documentaries, www.desktop-documentaries.com/making-documentaries.html.

I found this source by looking up ways to prepare for a documentary. Because I am planning on filming and creating my own documentary, I searched the proper steps in order to do so. I’ve made a documentary before, in the past, so I’m not completely in the dark of how to create one. But since it has been a while since I’ve done so, I didn’t want to miss any components when creating one. When I was looking for this source I thought it was the best one. It basically has the whole thought process and timeline laid out for the planning, filming, and editing process. Not only does it have the process broken down, it also has instructions and examples on how to do it.