Science Leadership Academy @ Center City

Alejandro Bautista Garcia Capstone

Posted by Alejandro Bautista-Garcia in Capstone - Bey - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 11:30 pm

As Senior year came in closer I often wondering what I should do for my capstone, I never really knew what to do and always felt stressed about it since it was a project that I had to dedicate myself to for a whole year. As time passed by I always heard of my peers starting their ideas or already finding out what to do, at this point I asked my advisor, Mark Bey what I should do and he came with one of the most innovative and impressive ideas as always and told me that I should do my capstone of how live is an immigrant. I took this rough diamond idea and perfected it by turning into a documentary comparing lives of three types of people. Someone who was born here, born outside of the U.S and moved when young and lastly someone who moved to the U.S very recently.

After taking this idea I realized that I didn't have so much time so I got started on it since I needed very specific people and barely had anytime to work on it. As weeks went buy I had a very nice amount of people that wanted to be part of my documentary as well as aiding me throughout this process. Many days later I compiled a good amount of interview and decided to show my advisor as time progressed in which my advisor often gave me good tips on how to make my documentary better which I'm proud of and I wish the world to see.

Overall this idea was very fun and I really enjoyed completing because I learned about many people who I only knew so little about and made me be closer with them since I often knew this people as acquaintances or sports friends and now we have a better bond and communication since everything that was sad was very personal yet useful.

1)http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/magazine/debunking-the-myth-of-the-job-stealing-immigrant.html?smid=tw-nytimes

Davidson, Adam. "Debunking the Myth of the Job-Stealing Immigrant." The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 Mar. 2015. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. This source is very useful because it talks about a myth that many uneducated citizen in the U.S. seem to have and use whenever they feel like. I'm going to use this link to understand different topics or immigration and how most of their lives are afterwards. This link mostly talks about why this myth is wrong and how it actually works.

2)http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/21/opinion/sunday/exposures-uncertain-journeys.html?_r=0

Gilbertson, Ashley. "Uncertain Journeys." The New York Times. The New York Times, 20 Nov. 2015. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. I’m going to use this source to feel or be prepared to what most people have to say about their lives as non-natives from the U.S. This article is about Syrian refugees who had to flee their ordinary lives because of the acts done by terrorist who had be done some horrendous acts for example the Paris attack. This just helps me to expect more crazy or untold stories that not that many have heard in their lives and I want to project all of it during my project.

3)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tswCrfRGEA

Land, Bev. ""An American Alien" by Dania Ramirez." YouTube. YouTube, 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. This is an outstanding story about a little Dominican parents that had to leave their daughters and other family members. After this they were talking about their lives as how it changed meaning moving to the U.S. going to college, learning the english language, owning a house, struggling through many things and even starting a new family. This is a great source because I really need sources like this or information like this in my interview. This helps me understand more and more of the immigrant life.

4)http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/nyregion/fleeing-violence-in-honduras-a-teenage-boy-seeks-asylum-in-brooklyn.html?hp

Leland, John. "Fleeing Violence in Honduras, a Teenage Boy Seeks Asylum in Brooklyn." The New York Times. The New York Times, 05 Dec. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. So pretty much this explains why most of the immigrants in the U.S. come to the U.S. to begging with. This is useful because I can expect a maximum of one person in my interview process to have a story about violence or something related to it. This source just talks about why this boy moved from Honduras to Brooklyn due to violence. This source will mostly help me to prepare myself to expect something big and make better questions for my interviewees.

5)http://articles.philly.com/2014-11-11/news/56395062_1_war-refugees-congolese-juliane-ramic

Matza, Michael. "Congolese War Refugees Start over in Philadelphia." Philly-archives. 11 Nov. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. This source mostly talks about how most immigrants come from other countries due to war and poverty it says a lot about their struggles and what they have to go through to even learn about the new language. This link will help me to understand what most people have to go through in order to become a citizen of a country. This source will also help me to formulate better questions throughout my interview process.

6)http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/education/edlife/first-generation-students-unite.html?hp

Pappano, Laura. "First-Generation Students Unite." The New York Times. The New York Times, 11 Apr. 2015. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. This link is very important to my research because it talks a whole lot about being a first generation student coming from a family who migrated not so long ago. I’m going to use this source to understand how most of these people think and how they see their world. This source mainly talks about the first generation students or family members and how they live their lives. This mostly helps me with more research questions to think of and maybe how to get to important stories out of them.

7)https://medium.com/@humansofnewyork/humans-of-new-york-refugee-stories-243336f4adeb#.57au3b5lx

Stanton, Brandon. "Humans of New York Refugee Stories." Medium. 2015. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. This incredible story is about a Turkish men who was affected by ISIS and how his life went from being the best in the world to complete hell. After a while everything started to get better, he decided to learn as much as possible I believe even learning roughly 3 languages followed earning a citizenship in Austria and getting things better with his family. I like this source because it is exactly what I wanted to learn about and it is exactly what I want to show people in my movie.

8)http://aldianews.com/articles/opinion/2014-story-year-immigration/37080

Editorial. "The 2014 Story of the Year: Immigration." The 2014 Story of the Year: Immigration. 29 Dec. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. This source is about current things that happened not so long ago about the immigrants being deported without any justice even being kept around the border in cages. This source also talks about immigrants not being able to have their rights properly followed. This source helps me understand the injustice towards immigrants that have no papers.

9)http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/opinion/a-life-without-papers.html?hp

Vasquez, Ehiracenia. "A Life Without Papers." The New York Times. The New York Times, 02 Mar. 2015. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. This link is very useful because it talks about the life of many immigrants without papers in the U.S. and how difficult it is at the beginning but by doing the right process their lives can change very quickly and achieve the American dream that all immigrants want to achieve. this teaches me what to expect in my upcoming interviews for example people like I stated above and other sort of things. This source s mostly useful for my research and question making.

10)http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/18/what-do-we-owe-each-other/?action=click&_r=0

WENDLAND, AARON JAMES. "What Do We Owe Each Other?" Opinionator What Do We Owe Each Other Comments. 18 Jan. 2016. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. I used this website because it gives me a better understanding on different backgrounds. I’m going to use this website for some of my capstones questions because by doing so it will give me a better understanding on how to obtain stories from whoever I will be interviewing in the future. This article is about what would be right in terms of morale about the refugees. It talks about how nowadays different cultures are often generalized, a few examples that was brought up during this article was “Brits are reserved, Americans are outgoing” while “Jews are greedy and Muslims are terrorist”.

https://youtu.be/D44kwfXHPqw

Brian Torres Capstone

Posted by Brian Torres in Capstone - Martin - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 11:15 pm

For my capstone, I worked with my church(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints aka the Mormon Church) to better improve the family history/ancestry program that is run through the church with a program known as Indexing. Indexing is a program that is used my members of the LDS church to further increase the database of names in the church's genealogy records so that things can be done in a more sacred setting. So, to further simplify what it is that I did, for my capstone, I worked with the genealogy group at my church to archive as many names as I could through the Indexing program into the LDS church's database. I chose to have my dad as my mentor, for several reasons, for one I knew that he would keep me in check through the whole process of completing the project and was always asking me for updates on how far along I was.

What you see in the picture above is just one of the many files I went through and archived names and information that I could find based off of those documents. In the photo, we can tell that what I'm looking at is a draft registration card for someone who had just been drafted into the US Military to go on and enlist to fight in WWII. On the left side of the card, we see a good portion of personal info about the person(name, place of birth and current place of living, date of birth, etc.) and on the right side which is a little cut off is where we see more info describing his looks(race, height, weight, complexion, hair and eye color) and we also at the bottom of that part of the page which is cut off in the photo, we see the date that the person became a registered and enlisted member of the US Military.

The indexing program was and is a very tedious program to work with. Everytime you download a file to archive/index, you as the user are given a week to complete the indexing of that particular file before the file is removed from the user's account and returned to the database of files yet to be fully indexed so that someone else somewhere in the world can finish what you started.

What you see in the above picture is the screen the user is brought to when they log in. As you can see here, at the moment that the picture was taken, I was working on two different files(which are known as batches in the Indexing program), one thing that stands out is the due dates for each one, once the due date reaches three days or less before a batch is due, the file name will turn red signifying to you that time is running out and that you need to finish or get as much done before the batch expires and is returned to the system.

Miles Cruice-Barnett Capstone: Solar Panel

Posted by Miles Cruice-Barnett in Capstone - Martin - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 10:58 pm

My Capstone project was a joint effort with Jonas Bromley to create a solar powered charging station. The plan was to create a solar panel that would provide power to a charging station for phones and laptops inside the school. There were three main steps in making this plan come to fruition: one, making a solar panel; two, making a circuit to ensure that the battery does not get overcharged; and three, creating a station with charging cables in an accessible location.

My job was creating the solar panel. After getting the solar cells, I realized that there was more work to be done than I originally thought. The cells that I ordered needed to have tabbing wire soldered to each cell to wire them together. The biggest issue was that solar cells are extremely fragile and any moderate force would shatter them. Thus, creating the solar panel required a lot of patience; a lot of cells were broken by the end of the project. I spent a lot of time with my mentor and engineering teacher John Kamal problem solving and learning about electronics. He was a huge help in completing this project and kept me on the right track.

My partner Jonas completed the table that will be used as the station as well as the circuit that regulates the flow of electricity to the battery. All that is left to do as of now is mount the solar panel and place the charging station in a hallway.

Brand new solar cells

Breaking the brand new solar cells

Breaking lots of cells

Shattering even more cells

Finished solar panel on charging station table

Circuit schematic

Finished circuit

Jasmin Gilliam Capstone

Posted by Jasmin Gilliam in Capstone - Jonas - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 10:54 pm

The Art of Conversation; often times we take for granted the impact that our words can have in situations that are not necessarily clean cut.. Through my year long, senior capstone my main goal was to remind everyone to reflect on past actions in these kinds of conversations and try to put themselves in uncomfortable situations. Especially in cases that, in the end, make you think about things in more complex ways than just getting a solution. While that might be the end goal it doesn't have to be the purpose of each conversation..

My first major process of was to collect responses from the people around me. At Educon I handed out surveys for the guests to take (administrators, teachers, counselors, etc.) and I made an online survey for the students at SLA. That data was then used to create an art piece deriving different colors from the topics and questions covered in the surveys..The art piece is still in process because of artistic blocks but the meaning behind each stroke of my brush will come clear with the final product. On the date of my presentation I will hang the piece in the school with everyone there to commemorate the reminder we all need sometimes to have tough disussions.My capstone has taken on a life of its own and went from statistic based, social justice, artwork to a reminder piece of art that will live in our school as long as we are Science Leadership Academy

Link to my progress with the Art Piece

http://theartofconversation.weebly.com/

Annotated Bibliography

Dell’Angelo, Dr, Tabatha. "Creating Classrooms for Social Justice." Edutopia. George Lucas Educational Foundation, 29 Sept. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. This site shows the breakdown of a few basic classroom practices that allow teachers to engage with the students on issues that have happened in the real world. The article specifies different techniques the author (who is a professor) has used or the=inks are useful in situations such as these. This site is important because this is from a higher level educator who is seeing what is working or not first hand in her classroom with this I will be able to have a write up to help explain the art piece that I am creating in my blog post and in my presentation.

Emerich France, Paul. "Controversy in the Classroom: Why We Shouldn't Teach Our Kids That Columbus Was a Bad Guy." InspirED. Wordpress, 12 Oct. 2015. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. This is a personal story from a teacher who was reprimanded for trying to teach his class about the different types of marriages that exist in the world (one that he was apart of). Because of the fact that he had a personal connection to the issue he was told some things that made him write this article. “The classroom is not the place for personal agendas,” I was told while being reprimanded one day." these are the comments that around the nation and the world steer many of the teachers away from talking about the issues that are relevant in the world at the time.

Emmerling, Leonhard. Basquiat. New York: Taschen, 2006. Print. This book goes through all of the life of Jean‑Michel Basquiat. Through his life he went through a lot of emotional and controversial times and through his art he shows all of this stuff. I am using this book as inspiration for the art piece that will come at the end of this Capstone. He has many pieces that make you think. That feeling is exactly what I want people to think when they see the piece of art. through the thinking I hope to start conversations the same way that Jean‑Michel Basquiat has in his emotion filled art pieces.

Guler, Adem. "Http://www.jcam.com.tr/files/KATD-157.pdf” JCAM Journal of Clinical and Analytical Medicine 2.2 (2011). Web. This Report makes a number of important recommendations for getting to a world where we can address the vulnerabilities and can build the resilience to future shocking revelations. It calls for universal access to basic social services, especially health and education; stronger social protection, including unemployment insurance and pensions; and a commitment to full employment, recognizing that the value of employment extends far beyond the income it generates. It examines the importance of responsive and fair institutions and increased social cohesion for building community-level resilience and for reducing the potential for conflict to break out.

"Is This Why I'm Still Single?" Is This Why I’m Still Single. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. I like this site because this is a student that isn't too far away from the ages that we are in high school and he is still dealing with the same things that we are in high school in college. Through this site I gained insight to what the inner workings of a white ally's mind was because it is hard for white allies sometimes as they try to be politically correct at all times and try to voice their opinion while not overstepping the boundaries of speaking for someone of a minority group. A white ally's job is hard and this site really outlines what that role actually means.

Kluegel, James R., David S. Mason, and Bernd Wegener. Social Justice and Political Change: Public Opinion in Capitalist and Post-communist States. New York: A. De Gruyter, 1995. Print. This is basically a bigger version of what I am doing I think that through this book or what of it I can get from online I can base a lot of my project off of. The world is going through the same things that it was when this experiment was conducted and through this the project that I am doing will become richer because there was something very similar already conducted by people who have had time and money and the energy to focus completely on the topic. I will be using this extensively in order to analyze my data.

Faith47. Johannesburg, South Africa. My Modern Met. My Modern Met, 18 Feb. 2010. Web. 5 Feb. 2016. This is the exact type of art that makes the viewer stop and try to decipher and analyze what the meaning is. Having words is something that I haven't considered but I am open and through this piece has made me reconsider and see if that will work for this piece of art that I want to do. This piece was Inspired by Lady Justice, this beautiful piece by Faith47 was seen on the streets of Johannesburg, South Africa. The imagery and bold words speak loudly about Faith47’s concern on crumbling worldwide justice.

Nadworny, Elissa. "Uncomfortable Conversations: Talking About Race In The Classroom." NPR. NPR, 24 Apr. 2015. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. This piece is a very specific conversation that happens in the classroom (or at least should happen in the classroom). When talking about race we answer questions that we may have had about our own ethnicities or even others ethnicities. With these conversations research shows that those people start to feel better or more comfortable in their own race. In turn "People who feel good about their own race do better academically." If we have these conversations we will become more and more comfortable talking about these things and they won't be treated as if they are untouchable in a way. With this openness in the conversations the class feels comfortable bringing up the topics that are more risque.

Quigley, Bill. "Social Justice Quiz 2015: Inequality." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. This site is a reality check of sorts because you get to view you perception of the world versus how it actually is. It's kind of the same thing as that link that was going around on Facebook and t=with that you get the reality check what you think versus how the world is. Question Eleven. The federal government keeps statistics on young men, ages 15 to 19, killed by the police. How many times more likely is a young black man to be killed by police than a young white man? The questions are very jarring and very nerve racking because most of them you are actually guessing.

Thomas, Hank Willis. I AM A MAN. 2009. Mixed Media. Hank Willis Thomas. Web. 5 Feb. 2016. In reference to the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike where the declaration “I Am A Man!” emerged and became a popular phrase in the Civil Rights Movement. This is the most emotional piece that I have found and through this piece I see the power of words. I really admire the play on every single piece. But then you read them as a cohesive piece and it gets even better than that. It is poetry in Art. With Kay's help maybe I could achieve this kind of artistry but I don't know if this is possible with what I have so far.

Hikma Salhe Capstone

Posted by Hikma Salhe in Capstone - Manuel - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 10:53 pm

Abstract:

The purpose of this capstone is to help people understand the power media has over us as a society. There isn’t a lot of ‘good’ coverage about muslims in media, so I thought that it would be a great learning experience, both for myself and my classmates, about Muslims. Many are not aware of the affect the media has on how we perceive the things around us. With the different terrorist attacks that have happened in the past year, the relationship between muslims and the rest of the world has been an estranged one. Initially, I had not expected to focus on the portrayal of muslims, however, as time progressed, I realized that it was a topic that I felt strongly about. I conducted a series of interviews of students in my school, my final product is a website and a documentary/interview style video. By the end of this project, I hope to be able to teach people about stereotypes, effect of media, and differences. This learning goal is appropriate for me because it is something that I feel very strong about as a young, female Muslim living in a Western Society.

Work:https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1dW5w_NZ4uCRjBL6xeHxepepn1SQCSNkyDDz36Wozymk/edit?usp=sharing

Website:http://mediamuslimsandmore.weebly.com/

Adowa Mohamed's Capstone

Posted by Adowa Mohamed in Capstone - Martin - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 10:52 pm

Science Leadership Academy was ranked 16th in most diverse high schools in America. Not many students at SLA knew this so I took it upon myself to make this my capstone and to make sure that these students knew how diverse SLA really was. Summer of 2015 I took a trip to the Eastern part of Africa and really got in touch with my culture and wanted other to understand their own culture. During my time in East Africa I took footage of the culture around me and what really struck me as unique and decided to share that with others at SLA too.

For my capstone, I hosted a school-wide International Day. I asked for students to represent their cultures by bringing in food, wearing cultural clothing, and sharing their favorite stories about their culture. Again, my intention for this was for the students, as well as the staff to, understand how diverse our school is. It turned out to be a success. We had a good time. Many students dressed in their culture attire, we ate good food, danced, and took time to appreciate how different we all are. This is definitely something that I want to happen annually at SLA in the future. It is important for things like this to happen, because we learn so much about each other. In the future however, I’d want it to be bigger. I did promotion, but I think to promote earlier, would have been effective. We had just enough food, whereas next time, I’d want to have much more. I am currently looking for someone who will carry the torch and make this an annual tradition, possibility a junior.

- Photo's taken in East Africa- Summer 2015

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_DXyWeasvNiMFNkWVJsVF9jeXc

- Photo's of the International day event- 4/14/16

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3j8s60BA7ipc2piZ0FUdmlidVk

- Bibliography

https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/19lzECluWmlmu-Ky2MyKYdYgmdYOVioRmnJuqqD6S6Ns/edit?usp=sharing

Jamie Turner Capstone

Posted by Jamison Turner in Capstone - Manuel - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 10:46 pm

My capstone from the start was going to be a Dodgeball tournament. My partner and I had high aspirations for the tournament and when the time came it didn't work out. We went through all of the motions of hosting the tournament for months and worked really hard on it. It was very disappointing when it didn't work out. Once we realized the tournament wasn't going to happen, there wasn't much time to try and host a different type of event. Serge and I decided to do our own seperate projects/ activities so we wouldn't be limited by one another. Instead of sitting around and doing nothing I decided to use my time wisely. On Wednesday afternoons I would go to my mom's classroom at Dobson Elementary School and provide 1 on 1 help with her fifth grade class. For the most part I helped them in math but I provided help in english as well. Here are my resources for planning the Dodgeball tournament and a few pictures of the class and myself working together. Working on the Dodgeball tournament was my main process and working with the fifth graders at Dobson was just a little extra bit I tried to get done.

Lauren Thomas Capstone

Posted by Lauren Thomas in Capstone - Bey - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 10:41 pm

Website

Disney-Edu

Abstract

The process for my Capstone has been a rough one. In the beginning of the year, I had no clear idea what I wanted to spend my senior year working on. I had two different ideas and topics before I settled on what my finished Capstone looks like. I knew I wanted to do a website because I enjoy web design and I wanted to integrate photography into what I was doing because images are worth a thousand words. After what felt like wasting a lot of senior year trying to pick my focus, I finally talked to my mom and mentor and they urged me write about what I know best - Walt Disney World.

I already know a lot about Walt Disney World, it is my life-long passion, hobby, and obsession, but I did find myself learning new things. I was inspired to let people really know about just how educational Disney can be, which is something I defend everyday. Following a research heavy trip to WDW in February, I was finally able to visualize my website. I wanted to use all my own photographs for my website and I’m glad to say that I accomplished this - every single photo found on my website (with the exception of five images) belong and have been taken by me.

In the end, I wanted to prove that something I hold near and dear to my heart, Walt Disney World, can be educational and valuable to children and adults of all ages. (And I think I achieved this.)

Bibliography

Find here.

Hispanic/Latino Representation Through Media

Posted by Alex Colón-Vazquez in Capstone - Manuel - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 10:41 pm

For my capstone I chose to make a documentary about hispanic/latino representation in the media and how society treats hispanics/latinos because of this issue. I have conducted several interviews which feature different students and their thoughts on hispanic/latino stereotypes that they have observed in movies, television, billboards, etc. The students I interviewed gave a short introduction about themselves and where they were from, I asked them questions that ranged from personal experiences to people they may know that have been affected by stereotypes. The questions I asked will also help the audience understand how stereotypes can alter the daily lives of not just hispanics/latinos but of other cultures and ethnicities as well. Finally the last question I asked in my documentary will require the students I interviewed to define the difference between hispanics and latinos/latinas. By doing this the audience will understand how hispanics and latinos/latinas are separate from each other, my overall goal for creating this documentary is to inform those who don’t have to worry about stereotypes or people assuming different things based on topics they may see in the media and for those who may be concerned with issues surrounding the hispanic/latino community.

Annotated Bibliography:

1). "In Search of Respect." - Cambridge University Press. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2016. <http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521017114>.

I recently ordered "In Search of Respect" by Philippe Bourgois because it relates to my capstone. This book revolves around street level drug dealers living in East Harlem. Bourgois goes into detail explaining why drugs have become the new economy and writing about the countless homeless heroin addicts that have filled the streets. He also key figures that had changed the lives of residents living there and their knowledge of drug trade in East Harlem and around the country. I decided to use this book because Bourgois mentions situations that define what the latino community has to struggle with and the stereotypes surrounding their identity. Bourgois's offer of culturally privileged information has helped me find the direction I want to go in order to finish my capstone.

2). "Hispanic Culture - Latino Culture -Latin American Culture." Hispanic Culture - Latino Culture -Latin American Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2016. <http://www.explore-hispanic-culture.com/>.

This source has helped me discover information that may help me create questions to ask students who I plan to interview. This source has exposed me to famous individuals that I had no idea shaped the latino community and have been awarded for their work and success. This source provided a section of contributions of the latino community that will be able to help me share those contributions to my peers. For my capstones I will attempt to include different locations that I think are important and essential to show respect to the latino community as I am presenting my documentary. Lastly this source provides different hispanic customs that will help me grab the audiences attention and teach them different customs that they either never knew before or are familiar with something similar to that.

3). "The Rise of Victimhood Culture." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2016. <http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/the-rise-of-victimhood-culture/404794/>.

I have decided to use this article as a source of research because it is a great example of stereotypes directed to the latino community and amoung individuals. This article writting by Conor Friedersdorf is about a recent incident at Oberlin College, a talk was held there for Latino Heritage Month. During the event a student attending the college emailed a hispanic student asking if she would be attending the event or not, then asked if she would be playing futbol instead. The student took offense to this and decided to post it on social media and give her response. The Hispanic student took offense that the white student thought the talk was pretty great and shut him down for writing in english then writing improperly in spanish. She accused him of dropping the language when it was convenient, she also accused him of other things that the white student probably didn't know what he was doing. This article is a great source because I can analyze the information and show how it is a stereotype and a struggle of the latino community.

4). "Hispanic Political Figures." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2016. <http://www.biography.com/people/groups/hispanic-political-figures>.

I plan on using inspirational quotes and videos about their struggles and what they have completed in their lifetime. I will also include how it affects the Latino community today, whether it’s a positive or a negative. I will research and possibly create a short video about the individual and portray them in a positive way. I have decided to use hispanic figures to grab the audiences attention and bring light to figures that haven’t gotten the recognition that they deserve. I will also give a short description of their childhood and any influences that were present in their life, this will give the audience an idea of what “identity” means to the latino community.

5). "Hispanic Culture." , Posters and Prints at Art.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2016. <http://www.art.com/gallery/id--b7514/hispanic-culture-posters.htm>.

This source contains images of paintings and different types of art created by famous hispanic figures, I plan on included how the latino community has influenced art and how it continues to influence many different types of artists today. In my documentary I will be sure to give credit to the artist and give a short summary of their life and how their work was had a positive influence in the hispanic community. I am planning on showing my documentary to a younger audience as well, if I am able to do this I will try to include art intended for children to catch their attention.

6). Understanding The Hispanic Culture, n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2016.

<http://www.coedu.usf.edu/zalaquett/hoy/culture.html>.

This source explains cultural characteristics between other cultures and also gives statements about their origin and demographics as well. I have also chosen to use this source for my documentary because it gives a short description of latino communities along with family dynamics. Once me and my partner Hikma finish completing our documentaries we will look for different ways to combine our capstones and show how the two cultures are related, we have chosen to focus more on family dynamics and cultural background once we are ready to collaborate for our capstones. A trailer will be a part of our capstones and will give a short description of our work once we are ready to present.

7). "Hispanic and Latino Traits - Hispanic Culture | Latino Culture | Latin American Culture." Hispanic Culture Latino Culture Latin American Culture. N.p., 14 July 2013. Web. 02 Feb. 2016. <http://hispanic-culture-online.com/hispanic-and-latino.html>.

I have chosen to use this source to research my capstone because it provides information on traits and different characteristics that many latino families have in common, by providing information on family dynamics it may help the audience better have a better insight of latino communities and identity as well. I also really like this source because it include a personal article about the author’s family and how they celebrate special events and traditions passed on from previous family members. Lastly I as using this source because it also provides information on different baby names that are commonly used in latino families and latino communities.

8). "Hispanic Traditions to Keep Alive." LA Times Pulse. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2016. <http://www.latintimes.com/pulse/13-hispanic-traditions-celebrate-and-keep-262003>.

This article gives the reader different traditions of the latino culture to continue to celebrate and pass on to future generations. Many of the traditions that are listed are traditions that I celebrate in my family, by having first hand experience it will help me give a better understanding to my peers on latino culture. The article also gives information on different individuals that have helped create latino traditions and make them a part of the latino community. For my documentary I plan on including my experience of celebrating traditions and the traditions listed on this article, this will help my peers understand latino values.

9). "Hispanic Languages & Literatures." Faculty. University of Pittsburgh, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.hispanic.pitt.edu/people/faculty>.

This source provides a detailed description of the language and the use of slang that has evolved over the years, I am including this into my documentary because of my first hand experience with the use of slang and how it has become a part of the latino culture. In recent years many stereotypes have been pinned on latinos and have been discriminated against for the use of slang. I will include a short summarization of the use of slang and how it has envolved over the years in my documentary, I will also interview students that are hispanic and asked them how they feel about the use of slang.

10). "The Ph.D. (HLL)." : Department of Spanish and Portuguese. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2016. <http://spanish-portuguese.berkeley.edu/graduate-programs/the-ph-d-hll/>.

Although this source is very similar to my last source, this source goes into detail of latino language and literature. In my documentary I plan to include famous latino art and how artists, adding a summary of latino literature and language will help me give the audience more information regarding education and knowledge in the latino community. I will also interview a number of students on their knowledge of latino literature and how they believe it had a positive influence on the latino community. Lastly I will give my ow personal statement about latino literature and how I believe in has had a positive influence in the latino community.

You can find my documentary on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b05-CYZ2clE

Tenzin Chemi Tibet Capstone

Posted by Tenzin Chemi in Capstone - Martin - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 10:24 pm

Having been in America for over nine years now, I have always loved the diversity of culture and race within my surroundings. It’s fascinating hearing and seeing the colorful facet of varying cultures. However, it’s distressing when I tell people about my culture and where I’m from because they’re so unaware of it. A culture so rich and beautiful, yet so invisible to people. Also, to be frank, I did not know much about my culture and my country, Tibet, as well as I should have. Through this year long project, I wanted to reach out to people through digital media, an ubiquitous tool around the world, to teach about Tibet and to teach myself about its history.

I wanted to teach people about Tibet in a compelling method. I wanted to create something that people could easily access and understand. I aimed to produce work that was content rich and concise. So in order to meet all my requirements, I settled on publishing a website where I could aesthetically present the different components to my work. I’ve created three parts to my work and I have four pages on my website. My home page gives a brief background on Tibet and the project. The Identity page is where I’ve collected quotes from young Tibetans about what their definition of being Tibetan is. The History & Today page presents a two and half minutes long video I’ve put together from a Tibetan National Uprising Day protest in New York City and a slide show of powerful images taken during the protest. My final page, Cultural Preservation, presents a six minute video I’ve diligently worked to complete showing Tibet’s culture and the ways in which Tibetans preserve it today.

Website: http://beautifultibet.weebly.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aTO_OhqvshWXWj9xyE5GPC9rHatnNZDY7KiU07d4fbw/edit

Stephanie Dyson Capstone

Posted by Stephanie Dyson in Capstone - Bey - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 10:21 pm

From the ever-influential (and never-aging) lips of Pharrell Williams: “'Entrepreneur 'just denotes that you recognize that you're doing things across disciplines and that you're blazing your own path.” My capstone was my own exploration of the term entrepreneur and of myself as a renaissance woman. I actually began my Capstone in June 2015 when I began work with a thrift shop located on South Street called Here’s To Cool Stuff. There, I met a myriad partners and friends who would work with my over the course of my senior year to attend learning events and produce the following projects:

Administrative Internship at The Village of Arts & Humanities in North Philadelphia
YCenter 2-Week Social Entrepreneurship Incubator
Five Finger Posse Art Shows
Radiation Media Gang Events
Philly Art Collective Events
Events Internship with Art(is) for Kids
Elebration Celebrations

Elebration, the group that I did a majority of my work with, gave me the opportunity to build my personal clientele and help me decide that I’d like to go to school for Public Relations. I worked with countless artists, managing their social media accounts and commission requests, creating business cards, organizing and being a liaison for galleries and shows. In terms of shows and events, I managed four over the course of the school-year:

South Street Cypher @ InksterInc (530 S. 4th Street) - 3/12
Philly Art Collective 7th Installment @ OpenSpacePHL- 4/16
Locals Only @ H2CS (1214 South Street) - 5/6
Frieday @ The Boom Room (1300 N. Front Street) - 5/20

Video footage from our extremely successful South Street Cypher. Hosted by Elebration at InksterInc, only 23 people showed up when our doors opened. By leaving doors open and allowing the music and art to ebb and flow, we ended the night marching to Kendrick Lamar's "Alright" with nearly 70 people. This made the way for various interviews on small blogs and media outlets within and out of the city. All credits for the video go to our media specialist at Elebration, Yusri Yunivrs.

A poster that I created for an event I co-curated with the Here's to Cool Stuff team. A multidisciplinary art show and locally curated pop-up shop, Locals Only garnered nearly 80 enthused patrons. In helping H2CS curate and manage events, I helped their profits tremendously. When they were previously breaking even at best, they had a booming 6 months of profits when I began promotional work with them. I have also been commissioned as their In-house Events DJ when school lets out for the summer.

One of my favorite and most interesting side jobs was doing creative direction and styling for my good friend, Sean. Han.soloo on instagram, Sean has had his recent work published in many online, New-York-based publications. This gave me some insight not only on entrepreneurship, as he is one of the few artists I know who makes a living as an artist and as an artist alone, but on the fashion industry and allowed me to create my own ideas on style and creative direction.

--

From working with my various teams, I found that, however long and tasking the processes of event and project management may be, it’s something that I love to do. My future projects include the Philly Art Collective’s 8th Installment @ OpenSpacePHL - 5/22, Elebration Banquet - 6/11, Eleblock Party- 6/18, Art(is) For Kids Wine & Dine - 7/1, "Gentrified" Book Signing with author and photographer Lamar Bonéy @ The Village of Arts and Humanities - 7/4. I was a quiet power-player in Philadelphia’s underground art scene, and plan to take everything that I learned this year and not only incorporate it into my studies in college, but continue to follow the path that I am blazing.

View my annotated Bibliography here

Isabella Blackwell's Capstone

Posted by Isabella Blackwell in Capstone - Martin - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 10:21 pm

For my capstone, I initially wanted to base it off of Youtube, and create a Youtube channel with content of my own on it. I watch Youtube videos everyday, and it has honestly become apart of my daily life. I thought it would be a great idea to create videos of my own that people my age could relate to, and take a liking to. I started to "vlog" in the fall, but in the end, I just wasn't comfortable with the content. I also just didn't know how I could connect that capstone idea back with SLA's core values. After talking with my mentor, and throwing around ideas, I decided to do something that I love, which is volleyball. Along with my team and coach, I worked hard to create a "Students vs. Teachers Volleyball Game", that will take place on Tuesday, May 24th 2016.

To make this all happen, a lot of things had to be planned, and difficult decisions had to be made. We had to get a gym to have it in, decide who was going to play, get ahold of teachers who wanted to participate, spread the word and get students interested, figure out how to make money off of it, etc. Phone calls were made, and we ended up booking Lloyd Hall, on Boathouse Row, to host the game. I made a forum for teachers to sign up to play, with information about their shirt size and nickname so they could have a "jersey". I signed and distributed tickets to sell to people interested in coming to the game to have fun and support. I also made flyers to post around the school with information about the game like, the cost of entrance (initially 3 dollars, now 2 dollars and 5 dollars at the door) and the time, date and location. Below is a picture of the flyer, along with a picture of the matching slip of information about the game that goes with a ticket when bought.

Here is my Annotated Bibliography!

Allison Kelly

Posted by Allison Kelly in Capstone - Bey - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 10:19 pm

When entering senior year, I had no idea what my capstone would be. I didn't feel interested enough in anything to dedicate a whole school year's worth of work to the project. I was actually one of the very late bloomers when deciding on a capstone idea. I had messed around with a few different topics, but nothing really stuck with me. It wasn't until one day when I was reflecting on senior year and all of the things I wish I knew going into it and I wish I was warned about that it finally hit me. I was going to make a senior year guidebook for the incoming seniors of SLA.

The book consists of 8 chapters. It starts out with an intro to senior year, just a general idea of what to expect. After that, it goes on to tell my experience as a senior. I try to the best of my ability to warn them to steer clear of all of the mistakes I made. I then talk about some junior year necessities. In hopes that all of the advisors will make their advisory read the book over summer, this chapter will help them know what exactly to have done before even entering senior year. I then talk about test prep, creating their own future plans, and some of advice on how to be accepting of situations and motivated to make something work for them. The best chapter of this book are letters written by some other select SLA seniors giving their own stories and advice.

Overall, I have learned that you can always take something away from an experience, even if it didn’t turn out the way you planned or would’ve liked. Maybe the best thing I have taken away from my senior year is the advice that I have crafted into this guidebook to be able to help other seniors out with some information and advice that I wish someone could’ve given me.

Below is an excerpt from the first chapter of The Official Guidebook to Senior Year.

And so that time has finally come. The year in which you have so longed for, the one you thought would never actually arrive. It’s here and it is going to go by faster than you will ever believe. All of our years in schooling are spent wishing for the weekend, the summer, the following year, etc. that we never realize until it’s all over how fast that time we wished away actually went. The scary thing is though, that is time you will never get back. So, I am here to help you not be in the current position I am in, wishing you could start senior year all over, do things differently, and get all that wished away time back.
I think the first place students go wrong when entering senior year is the mindset they have. Senior year has gotten itself this reputation of being the easy year, the year that you just cruise through. I hate to break it to you, but that is not the case at all. From experience, I can actually say that it is quite the opposite. Senior year was definitely the hardest year of high school. All of the work you get in all of your classes seem like so much more than it actually is just because you were expecting all of your teachers to be asking close to nothing from you, and sadly that’s also not the case, well not at least until about second semester. So, not only do you have your normal boatload of work, but it is also the lovely season of college applications.
Now at SLA, being as we are a very small, close school, we seemed to have been warned about everything. We have rarely went into a year not knowing exactly what the challenges entailed. We were warned about how hard physics class would be for most of us, we were warned about which teachers would always catch us on the elevators, which teachers were pushovers and would fall for accepting a google doc link for a submission even though they wouldn’t be shared in for weeks to come, what it would be like to finally be stuck in a Don Marcos or Reddy class, and even how hard junior year would be. But, for some reason, nobody decided to warn us about the hardest year of our high school careers.

Bibliography

Jonas Bromley Capstone

Posted by Jonas Bromley in Capstone - Bey - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 10:17 pm

When I started thinking about my capstone last summer I knew I wanted to do something with solar power. After that I had to think about what I could do with solar power that could help the school. With this I decided to make a solar powered charging station. This was a much bigger task than I first anticipated it to be, after doing some research on making solar panels I realized that this could be a huge undertaking. After that I talked to Miles about joining me on my capstone and splitting it into multiple parts, we started working together on wednesdays in Mr. Kamal’s room. We started off just doing research and got in contact with Stephen Pisklak, who works on solar panels at DOW. We reached out to him to figure out if making our own solar cells was a viable project. He told us that it would not be possible to make our own solar cells but that we could buy solar cells and build a charge controller. We started researching and ordering parts, we eventually accumulated enough parts to be able to start working on the panels. Attaching the cells together proved to be very difficult because the cells were very delicate. They are so delicate that when miles picked one up it snapped in his hand.

At this point in time we have everything assembled and we just have to connect a couple pieces together and mount the solar panel.

Below is an album highlighting the process of our capstone and what we have now:

https://goo.gl/photos/sAxb4au97Gs6cqAW8

Bibliography:

Byers, TJ. "Build a Solar Charge Controller." Mother Earth News. Mother Earth News, n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2016. <http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/solar-charge-controller-zmaz84mazale.aspx?PageId=1>.

This source is where I found the best schematics for a charge controller. This source was very helpful because it gave me a layout for the charge controller and the exact specifications on all the parts I needed for it. It gives in-depth descriptions on how to assemble it, and where to get certain components. One of the drawbacks of this source are how old it is, it was published as an article in 1984. I have checked it against other sources and it looks reliable, the reason I chose it over the other sources is that it is a lot more detailed.

Davis, Michael. "A New Solar / Wind Charge Controller Based on the 555 Chip." A New Solar / Wind Charge Controller Based on the 555 Chip. Michael David, 2014. Web. 02 Feb. 2016. <http://www.mdpub.com/555Controller/>.

Dell. "Dell Slim Power Adapter - 65 Watt." Dell. Dell, n.d. Web. 4 Feb. 2016. <http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&sku=332-1831>.

For the charging station I am including chromebook chargers because all of the students will have chromebooks and it will be helpful to have that hardwired into the station. I needed to know how much power is needed to charge the laptops so that the solar panel produces enough energy. It is also important to know how much energy the charger accepts and how it converts the energy. If I give it too much, it will blow out and will not work. If I do not give it enough, it will not do it’s job.

Dhar, Michael. "How Do Solar Panels Work?" Live Science. Live Science, 16 Dec. 2013. Web. 1 Feb. 2016. <http://www.livescience.com/41995-how-do-solar-panels-work.html>.

This source was very helpful because from it I were able to learn the basics of photovoltaic solar panels. This helps me to be more knowledgeable about my capstone. One of the drawbacks to this source is that it does not actually tell me anything about building a solar panel. I chose this source because it is useful to know the background information about what you are working on even if it is not actually pertinent to what you are doing. This information could help me work through problems I might have while building my panel.

DIY Projects. “Solar Cell Tabbing - the EASY RIGHT WAY to do it.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 23 January 2010. Web. 2 February 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDlcaILWP54>.

This is one of the sources to I used to learn how to tab solar panels. This one was really helpful for me because it showed me how to do complete tabbing of solar panels. The process is very difficult and without this source I would not have been able to accomplish it. One of the drawbacks of this source is the lack of explanation on some of the procedures to tab the panels. The video helps us find out how to connect the solar cells together to create a solar panel.

Dow Corning. "Solar Energy Basics." Energy for a Sustainable World From the Oil Age to a Sun-Powered Future (2010): 155-65. The Science of Solar: Solar Energy - The Basics. Dow Corning, 2009. Web. 4 Feb. 2016. <https://www.dowcorning.com/content/publishedlit/06-10028_solar-energy-the-basics.pdf>.

Everbright Solar. "500 Watt High Power Mono Crystalline Solar Cells for DIY Solar Panel." Everbright Solar. Everbright Solar, 2009. Web. 02 Feb. 2016. <http://www.everbrightsolar.net/500-watt-high-power-mono-crystalline-solar-cells-for-diy-solar-pa500.html>.

This is the company I bought my solar cells from so they have the specs for the cells I bought. I need the specs to figure out how big I want to make the panel and the specifications for resistors. It is also useful to know the specs for the cells so we could find the right materials to use with the cells to build the solar panel. This source also gave us the weight of the cells which will help build our support structure for our panels. One of the things that I would have liked this source to include is how fragile the cells are, when we first opened the box we took one out and it snapped in our hands.

kurtscottage. “Homemade Solar Panels Diy tutorial, complete build.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 12 August 2012. Web. 2 February 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouLa4Ftu3O8>.

This has been my main source for the complete build of the solar panel. Shows how to build a large panel from beginning to end with plenty of explanation and instruction. The one issue that I have had with it so far is that he has some slightly different materials. His solar cells for example are already tabbed, but mine are not so I had to find another more detailed source to learn how to do that part. This source is credible because it is simply and instructional video, it does not make and scientific claims that require citing. This source has been essential for step by step instructions on the creation of a solar panel.

Mik. "Overcharged Lead-Acid Battery - What to Do?" V Is for Voltage Forums. V Is for Voltage Forums, 7 Mar. 2013. Web. 2 Feb. 2016. <http://visforvoltage.org/forum/13446-overcharged-lead-acid-battery-what-do>.

This is an important source because I am doing something that could potentially be dangerous. I found this source when trying to research on the dangers of charging a battery of this size incorrectly. The source describes a man who over charged his battery, something that may happen if I do things incorrectly, and I now understand more fully what will happen to the battery. This source confirms my suspicion that not only will the battery be ruined, but it will need to be properly disposed of. This means that I need to check up on my battery periodically to make sure it is ok.

Schwartz, Drew. "Polycarbonate (Lexan) vs. Acrylic (Lucite)." Colorado Plastic Products. Colorado Plastic, 25 Sept. 2015. Web. 5 Feb. 2016. <http://www.coloradoplastics.com/blog-0/bid/42625/Polycarbonate-Lexan-vs-Acrylic-Lucite>.

I needed to figure out what I was going to cover my solar panel with, glass is expensive so I wanted to use some sort of plexiglass. The question was polycarbonate or acrylic and this source helped me know the difference. The source explains the impact strength of the polycarb (most notably by demonstrating in the video), and lead me to the decision to use polycarb instead of glass or acrylic. This option is cheaper but still has the strength that I need for an indoor solar panel.

SFUPTOWNMAKER. "PCB Basics." Sparkfun. Sparkfun, n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2016.

<https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/pcb-basics>.

This site helped me learn how about PCB’s or Printed Circuit Boards. We are going to be making our own Printed Circuit Board for our charge controller. We decided that a printed circuit board would be the easiest way to make our charge controller (opposed to a breadboard or wiring the components together manually). A printed circuit board will allow us to assemble our charge controller very easily and make it more reliable and more durable.

Solar America Cities. "Solar Installation Guidebook." Mayor's Office of Sustainability. City of Philadelphia, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.phila.gov/green/solarGuidebook.html>.

wtam69. “Diy automatic 12 volt charge controller.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 16 January 2014. Web. 2 February 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C-Q76y3wy8>.

This source on charge controllers was very helpful because it helped to verify our first charge controller source so we could know it was accurate. This is important to know because if your sources give different information you won’t know how to proceed correctly. This source also showed the actual construction of the charge controller instead of just showing diagrams like the other source. One of the good things about this source is that it outlines how to test your charge controller safely to make sure it works. This is very important because we are going to be using a large amount of current that could be deadly.

Katia Hadjeb Capstone

Posted by Bradford Latimer in Capstone - Pahomov - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 10:02 pm

Abstract:

The original project was to complete a novel by the end of this year, that talks about the way society treats people with visual disabilities. Also talking about what people consider as normal, and how is difference often rejected. In deed, I finished the first chapter of this book. I was not able to finish the whole book, because I kept having new ideas and changing the story; but also because of health issues I’ve had which required me to not do work for a very long time. I am planing on finishing the other chapters as I’m moving forward to college.

The other part of the project was creating a group that consists of high school students who have visual disabilities, and discuss the obstacles that face them and the reasons behind them as well as ways to overcome them. Also to participate in certain activities and workshops in order to raise awareness about blindness, and advocate for our rights. Although I found people who were very passionate about the project, we faces a lot of obstacles as moving forward. Because the students are from a private school for the blind, they were not allowed to get out of the school since they lived on campus; and in order for us to do our activities in that school I had to go through a lot of people. The end of the year started approaching and I still had to meet with other people in order to make it work. Meeting with those people was never a problem, but it took up to three months in order to schedule an appointment with one of the principals. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time and resources to complete this part of the project, but I’ll definitely keep working on it.

Over all, I have learned a lot about different ways of dealing with different people. Most importantly I worked with great mentors who thought me that when things don’t go the way I want them to, I should just make the best out of it. Even though the result of this project was not exactly what I wanted it to be, but this project is still a great start for a future greater project.

bibliography:

My project is mainly based on my personal experience, as well as the experiences of some other students whom I’ve met with a few times.

Marvin Pearson,Shaniyah Scott, Madeline Nobles, Tyler Jordan and Christian Childs all confirmed that they have been treated differently/negatively by people only because of their blindness/visual impairment.

The following books helped shaping the story and characters of my book, due to the critical and philosophical ideas and theories they introduce.

How to make friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie.

This book talks about human relationships, and the min theory that it introduces is that the deepest urge of all human beings is to feel important. Therefore the best way to positively influence someone is to make that person feel important, or unimportant if the goal is to destroy the person psychologically. So the question that comes out of this book is: do people feel important when they believe that people with disabilities need them to do anything and everything?

psychotherapy and existence realism (selected papers on logo therapy) by Victor Frankel

This book is very interesting. It is very philosophical. It questions truth and reality, but it also talks about what makes humans humans. To be a human being is not to be driven by instinct, but to be responsible. Humans are instinctual, but they are also existential and that’s what makes them different from animals.

Man's search for meaning by Victor Frankel

This book suggests that all humans need to find meaning in their lives, otherwise they cannot live because they’d have nothing to live for. It also states that if humans have the ability to find meaning in their sufferance/pain, they’d never be negatively impacted by that pain or suffering.

Ava Olsen Capstone

Posted by Ava Olsen in Capstone - Jonas - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 9:52 pm

My capstone was centered around the sport of ice hockey and the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation. I have been playing hockey for five years, and it has become such a huge part of me that I couldn’t help but involve it in my senior project. I started volunteer co-coaching a 10u girl’s ice hockey team in September, and stayed with them for an entire season for a total of 24 total hours volunteered. I also ended up writing four articles and counting for the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, as well as a tribute to Mr. Snider, who passed away recently. It was an amazing experience to be able to show young girls how the dynamics and team building aspect of ice hockey work, and to use my writing skills to have articles published in a newsletter. It was a privilege and honor to get to work with such great people, and I am so happy that I was able to have that experience. I will never forget the people that were involved in making my senior project a success, and I hope to inspire those around me to do great things for the people in their lives that have done so much for them. The Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation has done everything I can possibly imagine for myself, so I am ecstatic that I was able to give back to that community.

Click here for my digitalized capstone

Click here for my annotated bibliography

Sean Morris Capstone

Posted by Sean Morris in Capstone - Martin - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 9:50 pm

For my Capstone I worked on the preproduction process to be able to make a high quality short film. This project took many different forms as I edited and reworked it. From creating a TV pilot episode to trying to film this film, I decided instead to focus my capstone on the pre production aspects on making this film, in which the ultimate result would be that I am ready to start filming. Which I have thus far succeeded in! In fact I have already filmed some scenes, which will be reshot later, but certainly demonstrate some examples of how page changes to screen.

The bulk of this project and my work lies on the script that it all comes from, which was a more difficult process than I originally gave it credit for. Creating a storyline, characters and especially dialogue that you feel like most audience members would be able to listen and respond well too- are all very difficult things to do I found. Especially when the content of your script deals with a supernatural element as well.

I was able to learn a lot into the making of films and media creations, and how encompassing and difficult it must be when you're actually in the industry. From script writing to getting props and more it was an incredibly involved process. I have been able to get my movie at a good place and I hope you will all enjoy it when it comes out next year!!!

Link to Google Folder with my work: Sean’s Capstone

Link to Citations (also in folder): Citations

Kadija Koita Capstone

Posted by Kadija Koita in Capstone - Kamal - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 9:44 pm

Abstract:

I know first hand what it was like to be in crucial need for blood, because when I was thirteen, I got malaria and was in Children`s Hospital of Philadelphia`s intensive care unit for two weeks on dialysis. My blood was also O negative, which is the universal blood type, but unfortunately only makes up 7% of the world's population, which made the process even more extensive for me.

Every two seconds someone is in need of blood. The average blood donation is three pints, which takes about 15 minutes for a volunteer to donate. A single car accident victim could need up to 100 pints of blood. I know some people had no idea of these facts, which is partly why I chose my capstone. I wanted to not only educate those who were not aware of this blood crisis, but also help, even if it only made a small difference, to alleviate the problem.

I decided to partner with the American Red Cross to host a blood drive. Building up to the drive, I publicized the event by teaming with Timothy Morgan, an American Red Cross blood drive manager to help spread the word, not only in our school, but in our community.

Below is the link to some of the blood drive photos. As well as descriptions.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oa8glhnXVagAB4lg31bF1-ZMjZwGqk2cX22g3DcynKQ/edit?usp=sharing

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:

"Hosting a Blood Drive." American Red Cross. Web. 02 Feb. 2016.

This is about how you can sign up to be host for a blood drive. I didn`t know if you were supposed to go to the American Red Cross or if they came to your school. I now know how you can host a blood drive and be in partnership with American Red Cross. Prior to starting this capstone, I didn't know what steps I should have taken to start actually being a host for the blood drive, now I can move forward knowing. Before starting my capstone, I need to know the fundamentals of actually what my job is, this is why I looked up how to navigate a blood drive.

2. "American Red Cross Founded." History.com. A&E Television Networks. Web. 02 Feb. 2016.

This website is basically about how the American Red Cross was founded. Before doing this project I didn't know when the American Red Cross came about, so that is why I looked it up. This will help me access how long ago it Red Cross went back. Also who were all the people that were involved from the beginning. This is intended to signify the importance of how the American red cross was made. I also think that intended audience is for mainly seniors or adult students. The website is clean and gives lots of information.

3. "Donate Blood." Donating Blood. 01 Jan. 1948. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.

This website gives insight on what actually the blood facts are. They give you an understanding on how many people are eligible to give blood and how many people actually give blood. Prior to doing this research, I did not know the statistics and quick facts of giving blood. Also this would help me because I need to know the estimate of how many people will be attending in contrast with the statistics on how many people actually give blood. There are not any found authors, which is not good, but the website looks legitimate and the facts look exact as well.

4. "Carter BloodCare." Carter BloodCare. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.carterbloodcare.info/>. This website illustrates the importance of O negative blood. It helps people insure that people with this type of blood can know why they really should donate. There are no authors which I think can be detrimental to the authenticity of the website, but people should still be able to trust it. Moving along my capstone, I want to be able to have an understanding of what a “universal donor” is so it will make people be more aggressive to donate. I need to make sure that I know every type of blood type, so that I know the kinds of people are more common to have each type of blood.

5. "Donor Preparation - LifeSource." LifeSource. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.

This is an overview of what to drink and what to eat before donating blood. This site had lists about what you actually eat and what you shouldn`t. It had reasons on why it was important to not eat certain types of food. This website looks like it was made easier and simpler for people to follow and come up with. It also does not have a certain type of publisher, which is ok because they have explanations of why the put each thing in there. With other websites, they really don`t have explanations that go in depth like how this website deos.

6. "What Happens When You Give Blood." What Happens When You Give Blood. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.

This source includes every procedure of giving blood. It goes into depth about what the interviewer will ask you and what they do prior to taking blood. This website is mostly geared to people that are first time blood donors and want to take precaution as to what is actually going to happen. Other websites just glimpsed over it and made it sound like you actually knew most of the information prior to getting on the website.

7. After your donation. (n.d.). Retrieved February 05, 2016,

This gives you steps that you do to make sure you don't die when you give blood. It gives you ideas and facts about what to do when you have given your portion of blood. Some of them change when you have O Negative, because then you are able to give a double platelet blood which means you will have certain type of blood cells taken out and then it gives taken out. This will help me inform people that don`t know what type of blood they have and what their blood type means. This website was really helpful in making sure I know appropriate protocols for donors.

8. How Often Can You Donate Blood? (n.d.). Retrieved February 08, 2016, from https://www.mskcc.org/about/get-involved/donating-blood/how-often-can-you-donate-blood

When many people try and donate blood, they often don`t know the number of times you can give blood in a specific time. Often many people think if they feel ok then they can just give blood.When looking at this site, the intended audience was for people that were older in age because it had more medical terms and words that were harder in reading level. This website looked very sleek and had a medical feel to it, like many college students go on this site. Many other sites dealt with other things and not really specifically what I had searched. So now I have knowledge on this and it will help me further my project progression.

9. Dowshen, S. (2015). What's Blood? Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://kidshealth.org/kid/talk/qa/blood.html

This website grasped the attention of many people of a lower age. The website was very child-like and had a lot of pictures to illustrate what was being said. It also has a foundation as its contributors which I think will grasp the attention of many parents because it has a positive connotation. Also because the foundation may be a non-profit which means they are teaching this because of the goodness of their hearts. I did not find the people who produced or made this website which I could say is one of its flaws, but I think that this website was better than a lot of the websites that I looked up.

10. Frequently Asked Questions. (n.d.). Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://www.donateblood.org/donate-blood/faq

This website is great! All the research that I had previously researched was all on this doc. It looked very good and sleek. It gave background on what is in your blood, how are you going to be treated if you feel sick after giving blood and things like that. This website was very helpful and made me have more knowledge about the things that I previously researched. Also the contributors were not applicable which can cause damage to the recognition, but not that much.

Ilker Erkut's Capstone

Posted by Ilker Erkut in Capstone - Kamal - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 9:33 pm

Abstract -

When I was younger I played a lot of soccer. It all started in fifth grade when I first started at Independence Charter School. I played at recess everyday for four years. I grew to have a passion for soccer. The biggest thing I was missing while playing soccer was a personal coach. When I went to team practices I never felt that I was learning enough to play in high school. I honestly think that if I had a personal coach, I would have been a lot more ready for competitive varsity soccer. I went back to Independence Charter School so that I could give kids the opportunity I wish I had. I taught a small group of third graders very useful skills that they can continue to practice to become better than I was at their age. I enjoyed giving back to the community/my old school. My program got kids active and got kids enjoying soccer so much, they practice when they are at home.

Below, I have my annotated bibliography and below that I have a presentation of my experience teaching. This presentation explains my process getting ready for the program, what I taught each week and how each individual kid improved over the course of six weeks. I also touched upon the five core values, as required. I ended it with a few of my favorite pictures, a video and some acknowledgements. I enjoyed this project and hope that others do as well.

Annotated Bibliography -

http://www.independencecharter.org/

"Independence Charter School." Independence Charter School. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. <http://www.independencecharter.org/>.

This is my old school’s link. I looked at this website to get a feel for their environment and the after school activities that they have. I will be working there for 8 weeks and therefore I needed some background info. I learned a lot from this site and I liked all the things that have changed from my old school. I cannot wait to work at my school Independence Charter School.

http://www.coaching-kids-soccer.com/

Brown, Chris. "Coaching Kids Soccer, How to Make Soccer Practice and Game Day Dynamic and Fun." Www.coaching-kids-soccer.com. Chris Brown, n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2016.

This website is my first link to help me start my class. I got a lot of info from this such as game plans and what I am going to teach. I also needed a way to positively influence the children and help them enjoy the club. This website is quite reliable and gave me more info than most. The website was created by a father who coaches his son's team.

http://soccerhelp.com/Soccer_Dribbling.shtml

Huddleston, David, and Kay Huddleston. "How to Teach Soccer Dribbling to Kids - Amazing Results Fast." How to Teach Soccer Dribbling to Kids - Amazing Results Fast. Kay Huddleston, n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. <http://soccerhelp.com/Soccer_Dribbling.shtml>.

This sight was for the specifics for my curriculum. I need to have a lot of different drills for my students. If I do not have a lot of drills to show the kids my after school activity will not work. I plan to have a total of 10 to 20 drills that I rotate around so that they learn things and continue to learn things throughout the weeks.

http://www.coachingsoccer101.com/rules.htm

Eaton, Bill. "Coaching Soccer 101 - Soccer Coaching and Youth Soccer Drills." Soccer Rules. Bill Eaton, n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. <http://www.coachingsoccer101.com/rules.htm>.

I looked up the rules of soccer so that if the kids have questions I can give them specific rules and not mislead them in any way. THis will also help them in the future against refs and coaches. This was not as important but I also know that my knowledge on soccer is as far as I have experienced it in a game. This is why I chose this link.

http://hubpages.com/sports/Soccer-Rules-for-Beginners

N.p., n.d. Web. <http://hubpages.com/sports/Soccer-Rules-for-Beginners>.

This was another soccer rules site so that I could have some more insight. I looked up the rules of soccer so that if the kids have questions I can give them specific rules and not mislead them in any way. THis will also help them in the future against refs and coaches. This was not as important but I also know that my knowledge on soccer is as far as I have experienced it in a game. This is why I chose this link.

https://www.nscaa.com/education/resources/fundamentals

"The National Soccer Coaches Association of America." Fundamentals of Coaching Soccer : NSCAA Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. <https://www.nscaa.com/education/resources/fundamentals>.

I have a lot more links on how to coach, ranging from fathers to youth team coaches and even some professional coaches. THe point of this is to get a lot of opinions on coaching. When I was young I wish I had someone who could teach me soccer the right way from the beginning so that I would not be behind when I played with others. This is why I have this link.

http://www.pbs.org/parents/talkingwithkids/positive_discipline_tips.html

"Seven Tips for Practicing Positive Discipline." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. <http://www.pbs.org/parents/talkingwithkids/positive_discipline_tips.html>.

This source is very reliable. It is both PBS and a .org source. THis source was for guidance in making kids feel good about what they are doing. This is very important because if kids do not feel comfortable then they will grow up afraid to express themselves in soccer. That is a very hard way to play soccer because there will always be times when it is necessary.

http://literacynet.org/parents/

Nutters, Holly Fulghum, Pat Jarvis, and Leslie Shelton. "Smart Ways to Teach Your Child!" Smart Ways to Teach Your Child! N.p., 1994. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. <http://literacynet.org/parents/>.

This source was more general. I wanted to know how parents wanted their children to be taught. Not specifically about anything. I found that it is very similar to the source above in that they want there to be a lot of positive energy and that the kids should be able to express themselves. This is why I chose this link.

https://www.empoweringparents.com/article/why-consequences-arent-enough-part-1-how-to-coach-your-child-to-better-behavior/

Bean, Sara. "Child Behavior: How to Teach Your Child to Behave." Empowering Parents. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. <https://www.empoweringparents.com/article/why-consequences-arent-enough-part-1-how-to-coach-your-child-to-better-behavior/>.

THis link was to understand how parents want their children reprimanded or punished. It was very interesting as I find that parents like the teachers to be very upfront with how they feel No physical altercations should be necessary. If it gets physical with 2 students then being physical is okay. This is why I chose this link.

https://www.youthletic.com/cincinnati-oh/articles/best-age-to-start-playing-soccer/

"Best Age to Start Playing Soccer." Youthletic. Youthletic Staff, n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. <https://www.youthletic.com/cincinnati-oh/articles/best-age-to-start-playing-soccer/>.

THis was the most interesting link because it is said that kids should start learning soccer around the age of 4. That is really young. The kids will not really learn anything till they are at least 6. My audience will be 3rd and 4th graders. But I believe with good coaching I could get them to the place they should be if they started when they were 4. I hope my idea works. This is why I chose this website.

Kevin Courtney Capstone

Posted by Kevin Courtney in Capstone - Martin - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 8:28 pm

For my Capstone I wanted to focus on what is it like to coach a baseball team. I wanted to understand the basics of it. For example come up/make drills for practices, workout routines, making lineup cards for games, and record games in the book. Since I had elbow surgery over the past summer I wanted to find a way to still be part of the baseball program at SLA. My mentor was able to let me coach throughout the fall, winter, and a little bit of the spring. I didn’t coach as much in spring because that was when I returned to action.

I was able to coach a few games in the fall when my mentor was unable to attend. It was a success and I had a winning recorded. I had two wins and one lost. During the winter of my recovery I had the opportunity to take over the winter weight lifting workouts. My goal was to make sure the team avoids injury and that was a success. Spring finally arrives and the doctor has cleared me to go back into action. Now I started to think what can be my final product for this project and I’ve decided to make a website based off the current season. The website has player analysis and statistics from the season. It also has all of the articles included that my mentor wrote from the season if no one has seen it. I hope everyone enjoys the website!

Website link:

http://slarocketsbaseball.weebly.com

Bibliography Link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-rKn3wtnb0NQpHwzWPMDk99IlU89wkKzEltzjCiYL6c

Jordan Meriwether Capstone

Posted by Jordan Meriwether in Capstone - Bey - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 8:19 pm

Abstract:

Hello, my name is Jordan Prince Meriwether. I am a senior student at Science Leadership Academy and eventually hope to move into a career involving Environmental Science. My final school year was full of new responsibilities and work, but the biggest project was the Capstone. Throughout this school year we were given the major task of creating a project that both reflects ourselves and the core Values of SLA, them being inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, and reflection. My personal interests, as stated, revolved around the environment, but I needed to get more particular. Before this project, I was an intern for the Fairmount Water Works and developed an interest in water quality, so I decided to focus on that over the course of this project. I had also partnered myself with the Water Works throughout this project and they would consistently be by my side ready to help me comprehend information, while supplying me with the tools I needed. Currently a pH kit is the best you’ll get when it comes to determining water quality, the problem is they are too subjective making them unreliable. Therefore, I believed the best way was to understand water quality is to look at the organisms that live in it, if they can not survive in their own environment what makes you think you can survive ingesting it? So my project was based on the variance between diatoms across multiple varied pH environments. I would take samples and see how they compared.

My project: http://jprince2u.wix.com/diatoms

Bibliography:

Busch, David E.. “The Patchiness of Diatom Distribution in a Desert Stream”. Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science 14.2 (1979): 43–46. Web.

Annotation:

This states a specific instance where the diatoms were used in a project. The scientists look for a correlation between diatoms and the patchiness of a lake in a desert. The idea is perhaps the microorganisms grow under certain circumstances. Personally, I feel this site is the most advanced in terms of vocabulary and outside references. I do not know a lot of the information involved in this project mainly due to it talking about other microorganisms, but still much of it is still understandable. Overall, this paper is harder, but it does still reference a few known pieces of information and even some interesting new information.

Crangle, Robert D., Jr. "Diatomite Statistics and Information." USGS Minerals Information: Diatomite. U.S. Geological Survey, 2 Feb. 2016. Web. 04 Feb. 2016.<http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/diatomite/>

Annotation:

This site gives a brief overview on the stone Diatomite, which is a stone made up of the dead remains of diatoms. They go over the structure and texture of it. I used the site for information of what diatomite is used for. It has been used for filtering, padding, and many other applications. The reason this site was chosen is do the the simple information given, it makes sure to given only the essentials. Which is all I need. If it went too in depth I would get lost in the information. Overall, this site gives a good explanation for diatomite.

Conger, Paul S.. “Diatoms”. The Scientific Monthly 73.5 (1951): 315–323. Web.

Annotation:

This paper is quite detailed in its analysis of how diatoms work.While appearing to be long, it actually is easy to understand and goes deeper into themes seen on other sites. It goes over the abundance of these creature, explaining how they are built to survive everywhere. They even touch on some of the darker aspects to diatoms, their ability to kill fish and over produce in water are both discussed. Even other theories are brought up throughout the paper giving more insight into the world of diatoms. Overall, the site adds so much to the my already vast information. Giving deeper insight than ever before.

DeColibus, D. "Tabellaria flocculosa." In Diatoms of the United States. 2013. Web. 16 May. 2016, from <http://westerndiatoms.colorado.edu/taxa/species/tabellaria_flocculosa>

Annotation:

Maria Potapova sent me to this site when I was studying the different types of diatoms I found in my samples. This type of diatoms was found in the sample and nd through the site I was able to learn more about the creature and how it works in its environment. The formation of these creatures may vary as you see them while some to look normal in their straight line formation some hold more of a disconnected square appearance.

Gross, Michael. "Diatom Evolution a Mystery." CEH Diatom Evolution a Mystery Comments. Master Plan Association, 11 Aug. 2012. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. <http://crev.info/2012/08/diatom-evolution-a-mystery/>

Annotation:

This site details the work of Michael Gross, who has studied the mysterious world of diatom evolution. The man state that they might have developed from endosymbionts, but even so how they grew into what they currently are is unknown. Their distribution is easier to explain though, do to their ability develop in any where there is water and sunlight they could spread quite easy. From their he also explains different advantages of their silica shells, most of which have to do with their internal organs. The site basically states that though their are so many of these creature little is known about them or where they came from. Still though they have a powerful effect on our ecosystem and everything around it.

Harvey, Anne. Personal discussion. 3 February, 2016.

Annotation:

Anne Harvey is one of researchers at the Fairmount Water Works, as well as has been my mentor during the duration of this project. She has lead me to meet multiple outside sources as well has given me her personal information. Without her I would not know what a diatom is, let alone complete this project. Her outside resources also allowed me to be able to be able to connected with many knowledgeable and helpful individuals. She is a source mainly do to her help with finding and helping me understand many points of information throughout this project. She was pinical to the completion of this project.

Hines, Sandra. "Tiny Diatom Has Global Environmental Impact." UW Today. University of Washington, 7 Oct. 2014. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. <http://www.washington.edu/news/2004/10/07/tiny-diatom-has-global-environmental-impact/>

Annotation:

This site speaks on the overall effects diatoms can have on the rest of the world. It details how they can do so much even though they are so small. They have a strong impact the carbon cycle in on the world. As well they control the the production of nitrogen as well. Their effects are imperative to the progression of most gases throughout the world. This site really gets into how important these creatures are to our environment. They even touch on genetics, implying that these creature vary greatly in how the aspects that they have. Intern, not only can this site be used for showing their impact of gases in the air, it also shows genetic changes for these diatoms.

Mikkelsen, Naja. “Silica Dissolution and Overgrowth of Fossil Diatoms”. Micropaleontology 23.2 (1977): 223–226. Web

Annotation:

This site has a focus on the silica of diatoms, primarily how they change. They note both how the shell can grow out or break down. They also go further and discuss the environments around them, mainly the salt and fresh water. They state how as the shells dissolve almost completely in the ocean and either turn to rocks on the ocean floor or dissolve into water. The most interesting part, structurally speaking, is how they left many references, I could use them for more sources if necessary. Overall, I think this source is very informative on the topic of silica, I will be able to go more indepth than anywhere else.

Potapova, M. "Achnanthidium minutissimum." In Diatoms of the United States. 2009. Web. 19 May. 2016. <http://westerndiatoms.colorado.edu/taxa/species/Achnanthidium_minutissimum>

Annotation:

This was a site recommended to me by a Maria Potapova who was helping me to identify diatoms. We noticed a solid amount of these creatures clustered around algae and debris in the water. Looking over the site I had leader about how these creatures are build much differently than the average diatom being smaller in length. This site allows me understand how this organism both effects the environment and they are effected by the world around them.

Spaulding, Sarah A. "What Are Diatoms?" Westerndiatoms.colorado.edu. Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2016. <https://westerndiatoms.colorado.edu/about/what_are_diatoms>

Annotation:

This site details the basic world of diatoms. Intern they are able to give great insight on how the world works in general. They explain basic structure, environment, classification, and even physiology of diatoms and how they work as microorganisms. They do not just limit themselves to organism’s functions; they also go into the history about their changes throughout life. From their vegetative division to them dying and leaving behind their shells this site has it all. Finally, this has greater pictures of varying diatoms. Overall, this site gives good general information to compare to others I find for validity.

Stevenson, R. Jan et al.. “Development of Diatom Indicators of Ecological Conditions for Streams of the Western US”. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 27.4 (2008): 1000–1016. Web.

Annotation:

When I first read this paper I believed that it was a simple overview once again, but I found that the it held a very strong effect from showing the applications of diatoms. Many of the past and present uses for diatoms can be seen in this paper and it is really well made. It can also be connected to other sites in its explanation of how the environment is affected by diatoms. Overall, I will use this site to explain the different implications and applications diatoms have on the world, as well, I will connect it to the rest of the other site on the environment.

Simons, Paul. "Cool Aid Aquatic Test." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited, 5 Feb. 2003. Web. 4 Feb. 2016. <https://www.theguardian.com/science/2003/feb/06/research.science>

Annotation:

This site once again overviews diatoms, but it goes mildly deeper than the previous sites. They go over their effects, uses and even evolution; the difference seems to be they focus on their shells. They go into detail how the main point of the shell’s glass appearance is to let in more photosynthetic light, as well this adaption, while not entirely unique, shows very specific qualities through their species. Overall, the reason I had chosen this site is its ability to convey information about a particular aspect of diatoms, but still show more widely varied aspects of these little creature.

Weckström, Jan, Atte Korhola, and Tom Blom. "Diatoms as Quantitative Indicators of PH and Water Temperature in Subarctic Fennoscandian Lakes." Rctic Fennoscandian Lakes. Springer International Publishing AG, Mar. 1997. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. <http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1003091923476>

Annotation:

This details a paper written by a few scientist on the idea of how diatoms affecting pH. This is kind of the exact opposite of what my project is, given I wanted to find how pH affects diatoms. To see the exact opposite make me question which one actually affects the other. I personally have seen change in my diatoms, intern I question how they know this experiment is valid. Other than that, I do see potential in its explanation on how diatoms change the pH. Overall, I can see a lot of interesting questions coming out of reading that and explaining it to fellow skeptics.

Felix d'Hermillon Capstone

Posted by Felix D'Hermillon in Capstone - Kamal - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 8:12 pm

My name is Felix d’Hermillon, and for the last eight months I have been working on a project to give back to the community somehow. For a while I wanted to record an album that I would be able to post on icloud but It didn’t really feel right. After watching Back to the Future, a specific scene from the movie caught my eye. The scene where Marty McFly plays the gig at prom, and I realized how relatable that scene was to the scenario that I am in, considering I would be having prom soon. My final project that I decided to go with was a musical performance at prom. The requirements of the capstone project were to give back to the community in some way, and I think that music is one of the best ways that you can relate with somebody and everybody enjoys some type of music especially if they’re at a prom! I managed to scrape a band together and here we are! I have learned what it’s like to get a show together.

Bibliography

Presentation

Super Freakonomics Podcast Part 2 - Ava Olsen and Michelle Friedman

Posted by Ava Olsen in Statistics - Miles - B on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 7:53 pm

In the second installment of our podcast series about Superfreakonomics we discussed the first chapter, How Is a Street Prostitute Like a Department-Store Santa?, and the second chapter, Why Should Suicide Bombers Buy Life Insurance?. Though the two chapters covered a plethora of questions, studies, and data, we chose to discuss only a few of the topics that were the most interesting to us. We talked about the significant wage gap between equally qualified, professional men and women. Then, we investigated the critical emergency room procedures that make for the best and worst patient outcomes. Chapter two also showed us that doctor review criteria can be extremely flawed and ought to be taken with a grain of sand when choosing your doctor. Overall, these two chapters showed us a lot of new numbers on interesting subjects and we’ve learned to always investigate the nuances that can affect data results.

Click here to listen to our second podcast!

Kevin Horton Capstone

Posted by Kevin Horton in Capstone - Jonas - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 7:49 pm

My capstone is a collection of writing from over the years. I have shown my growth by ordering my writing from oldest to newest. I also have included a sample monologue. While I haven't done a huge writing-based project, I have grown continuously from 9th grade to 12th Grade, and I will continue to excel my skills. The process was very rigorous, and by no means, easy. I have spent hours after hours looking through my archives of quality writing, and I have various pieces to show my growth.

Below Is a piece of writing I did during my 11th Grade year.

Spectacular Now Monologue- March 2015

Have you ever felt you might just be the biggest joke ever? Like you want to be rich, famous and remembered for something great but all you can do is hang up shirts and get paid and be known for being an alcoholic? Well I’ve been there many times before. Like, more than I can count. Well, on my hands at least. Never have I cared about anything but downing my daily alcohol, seeing my girlfriend, and partying with Ricky, who was my wingman. I also find myself staring at my feet when walking. It's weird. Whatever. Anyway, I thought i was on the right track when I thought that me and my now ex girlfriend was gonna move to St Louis while she chases her dreams through college. I was about to, but once I met my father, then it hit me. I'm suppose to be a drunken failure with social smarts. So here I go, cutting my co-supportive relationship with someone who mattered the most, pushing my family away because my mom refuses to get a new job and my sister is just another bratty sibling. Of Course, school didn't work out so i got one less burden on my back. But here I am ready to disappear. My name, is Sutter Keely. I'm from Oklahoma City, and I'm living the spectacular now.

<Tharp, Tim. The Spectacular Now. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. Print.>

Tobi Hahn Capstone

Posted by Tobi Hahn in Capstone - Manuel - Wed on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 7:40 pm

This year, I made a game called Swat Team with my best friends August and Josh. I believe that we were successful. Our goal was to create a game that looked nice and that we were proud of. Additionally, we wanted the game to be fun. I believe we were successful in all parts. We started the game last year, but since making it our capstone we have revamped all aspects of the game. August redid the art. I completely rewrote the menu system and much of the gameplay. Josh made a lot of new music! We showed the game at Philly Tech Week to a huge audience. People young and old were filled with glee when they played Swat Team. We're excited to show you our work!

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c5e4jdBVhftXQzvcaiBk0YCibCLC8tufUdk6ThDRkKo/edit?usp=sharing

PLAY GAME: http://paisleygames.itch.io/swat-team