For my capstone, I spent the year working on SLA’s Community Involvement Club (CIC). I scheduled volunteer opportunities that have more meaning, trained underclassmen to take over the club after I graduate, and creating a more organized system of informing students about upcoming events by making a website. The mission is to create a strong CIC staff that can reinforce the system I have been putting into place, all in hopes to improve the club and create a system that will serve the community. During CIC staff meetings, I make lesson plans for them, we brainstorm, and work on upcoming events. I have been curating a “master club document” and a club google drive folder with all the clubs contacts, advice, and steps to take. My guiding question for my capstone is “how can I create a lasting impact on the community in Philadelphia and SLA” During this capstone, I learned about how to improve my leadership skills. It was also rewarding to teach these lessons for the team and make sure they get something out of it. The most challenging part of my capstone process was having to find organizations in Philadelphia that make a real difference with organizations that fight for the homeless, rights for communities including people of color and LGBTQ+, and more. I wrote some personal reflection along with interviews from the CIC team, speaking about their experience as a leader and volunteer.

The website is constantly being updated with new events or lack thereof after the event passes and it is not necessary to promote any longer. On this website, you can find some pictures from this year's events under gallery and interviews with all the staff.

Link to the website- https://kgucciardikriegh19.wixsite.com/mysite

Link to the lesson plans-  Lesson #1  Lesson #2 Lesson #3

Kimberly Gucciardi-Kriegh

4-23-18

Changes in schools are typically seen or assumed to be an improvement, but that is not true in most cases. Change is typically involves the school district and state. But, in some ways, keeping the schools the same hurts even more than the changes do. Underfunding schools is not only detrimental because it can negatively impact the curriculum but it can cause them not to change at all, which can be worse.

One of the biggest and most known problems in schools is when schools arts programs are cut, such as, drama, art, and band. In a study conducted by Americans for the Arts, “Students who take four years of arts and music classes average almost 100 points higher on their SAT scores than students who take only one-half year or less.” Keeping creative classes in schools not only improves students time in high school or middle school, it sets them up for success getting into college and getting a job. Continuing these classes not only give students a place to escape from stress and personal problems and helps them discover their passions, but gives them more opportunities for career success. This confirms that changing the curriculum can seriously hurt the students academically.

Meanwhile, the opposite can be said, that not changing the curriculum can hurt students much more. Textbooks hurt students due to the outdated information and giving students no real life skills, they are just memorizing or reading facts. In the state of Nevada, the school district spent 3.8 million dollars to get the schools new textbooks during the 2018 and 2019 school year. This is a school that recognizes teaching children outdated information that is incorrect and no longer relevant hurts students more than it helps them. This shows a way that updating the curriculum can benefit students.

Another way that updating the curriculum helps students is providing them with better classes. In 2005, The School District of Philadelphia made a graduation requirement that all students need to take African American History class. This happened because in 1967 over 40,000 students walked out of school to advocate for this class. The inclusion of this class changed students lives by providing the necessary and crucial learning of the history of an unrepresented group. Without this change in ciciculum, most students in the city would not have learned about these amazing people.

Even though students, teachers, and staff look at change in schools to be typically bad, which it can be, it can also be good. Underfunding schools creates a significant change in curriculum for the worst, but, this can mean it staying the same, which hurts students too.

This was my best possible 2Fer because I reflected upon all the things I wrote in my reflective essay. I tried my best to stay focus and connected to my thesis. Something new I tried was to format my thesis differently and make it so I was able to show two sides of one story.

Sources-

“10 Arts Education Fast Facts.” Americans for the Arts, 6 Nov. 2013, 11:00AM, www.americansforthearts.org/by-topic/arts-education/10-arts-education-fast-facts.

Toliver, Rachel. “‘What Are the Children Who Grow Up to Become Police Officers Learning in School?".” The New Republic, 28 Sept. 2014, newrepublic.com/article/119593/surprising-lessons-philadelphias-african-american-history-course.

Gross, Sam. “WCSD Approves $3.8 Million to Replace Outdated Language, Math Textbooks.” Reno Gazette Journal, Reno Gazette-Journal, 31 Jan. 2018, 7:09PM, www.rgj.com/story/news/education/2018/01/30/wcsd-approves-3-8-million-replace-outdated-language-math-textbooks/1081301001/.

50 First Hates

Kimberly Gucciardi-Kriegh

Comparing "Taming of the Shrew" and "50 First Dates"

William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew deals with many themes involving romance, relationships, and the roles of men or women. The play is about two very different sisters getting married to two very different men. Petruchio sets out to marry Katherine even though she is considered to be a shrew with a hot temper that no man wanted to marry. He then tries to “tame” her and make her more ladylike. Meanwhile, her beautiful younger sister Bianca had many suitors, but finally chose to marry Lucentio because they were genuinely happy together.

In the 2014 movie 50 First Dates, Henry falls in love with Lucy, who has short-term memory loss from a car accident that happened over a year ago. Henry has to get Lucy to fall in love with him everyday because she forgets the next day. The two go through many family, health, and trust problems. Both have many connections involving the roles of men and women. Through it all, Henry, Petruchio, and Lucentio always stay dedicated to their partner. In both 50 First Dates and Taming of the Shrew, the characters are in  relationships that carefully balance control and dedication. This reflects to audiences that control is a sign of dedication.

“Your husband is your lord, your life, your keeper, your head, your sovereign, one who cares for you... And in exchange, he seeks no more from you but love, kind looks, and true obedience—too little payment for so great a debt. A woman owes her husband the same loyalty a subject owes his king."

(Page 219, Act 5 Scene 2, line 161)

In both the film and the play, the women doing something unnatural to their personalities to please a man.In this scene from Shrew, Katherine is giving her final monologue. At this point, Petruchio has tamed Katherine. She is no longer disobedient of her husband, starts fights, or acts out of turn. Petruchio had to “tame” Katherine by not letting her eat or sleep, this taught her that bed and food was not important and the only thing she had to care about was her love for him.  Katherine and Bianca’s husbands, Petruchio and Lucentio, are sitting with their father, Baptista, and their friend, Hortensio, who is recently married. They all make a bet to see whose wife is most obedient and would come when they call. Katherine won and this is her reaction to the other girls not going when their husbands called. Katherine started out as a head-strong defiant woman and Lucy had complete control over her life and got to make conscious decisions everyday.

Henry tells Lucy, “I love you very much, probably more than anybody could ever love another person." she responds "Wow. And how do I feel about you?" He answers “You’ve been dying to make out with me for quite some time now.”

In that scene, Lucy asks Henry if he loves her. His answer is a big turning point in their relationship and is something the viewers have not been told before.

In both the play and the movie, Katherine and Lucy are both under complete control of men. Some could say the biggest difference between Katherine and Lucy is that Katherine is letting this happen and she is choosing to listen to her husband. But, in reality, she was abused and deprived to be trained to act like this. Due to Lucy’s short-term memory loss, she has no choice in any parts of the relationship. It is true that each day she is happy being with Henry, but their relationship is so unhealthy. Henry could cheat, abuse her, do her wrong, and she would forget the next day, She also has no recollection of how she feels the relationship is developing and grow. This quote shows that just from saying he loved her, he got her to kiss him, even though she has no memory of him. Luckily, Henry really does love Lucy, but nevertheless, he still has all the control over the relationship.

"We have not yet been seen in any house, nor can we be distinguished by our faces for man or master. Then it follows thus: thou shalt be master, Tranio, in my stead, keep house and port and servants as I should. 'Tis hatched, and shall be so. Tranio, at once Uncase thee. Take my colored hat and cloak."

(Act 1 Scene 1, page 45, line 204.)

The quote above comes from Taming of the Shrew. Bianca’s father, Lucentio, has stated that no one will see Bianca unless they are school teachers visiting their home to give her school lessons. Lucentio and Hortensio are suitors to Bianca, they have devised a plan to dress up as teachers and go into Bianca’s house to try to win her over and seduce her. The two men were not concerned with the fact that their true identities would eventually be revealed, even long after they came up with the idea. They were ready to charm Bianca no matter what. Both Henry, Lucentio, and Hortensio were lying to a woman in hopes that they can captivate a beautiful woman by controlling her every move.

Before Henry met Lucy, her family and friends worked extremely hard to make her think that it was the day after the car crash. It worked very well and even though she was being lied to everyday. One day, Lucy realized she was being lied to and that was very hard for her. One thing she discovers is the newspaper dates are all the current date, not a year ago.  She discovers all the tricks they used and begins to scream and cry on the dock.

In both Taming of Shrew and 50 First Dates, Bianca and Lucy’s loved ones performed elaborate schemes in hopes of very different things. Lucentio and Hortensio completely erased their identities. The two men proved their dedication to the woman they loved, but they also had lots of control over Bianca by intruding in her home and time to learn. In the end, their lie worked and made Bianca very happy. Unlike in the film where Lucy was unaware that she was being lied to everyday but it made her happy, so they all continued. Until, their lies were exposed and she felt heartbroken and betrayed. These relationships, reflect that being very dedicated to controlling the ones they love is important, but it has to deal with control. These lies and all the control over the women was the start of their relationship and was the key to making their relationship last.

"For in Baptista’s keep my treasure is. He hath the jewel of my life in hold, His youngest daughter, beautiful Bianca, and her withholds from me and other more, suitors to her and rivals in my love, supposing it a thing impossible, for those defects I have before rehearsed."

(Act 1 Scene 2 page 57, lines 120-125)

This scene from Taming of the Shrew is right after Lucentio and Hortensio devise the plan to be school masters. Hortensio announces how much he loves Bianca, a girl he doesn’t even really know. He is addressing Baptista, her father, who will not let her get married until Katherine does. Hortensio and Henry both felt they had to stay dedicated to a woman they don’t even know. These characters reflect the idea that male suitors will stop at nothing to get a woman.

At the beginning of the movie, Henry was considered a ladies’ man because he went on lots of dates and never called the women back. In this scene, right after Henry met Lucy, he went on a date with another woman, Noreen. They were drinking and she invited him to go home with her, Henry thought of Lucy and declined her offer.  

Noreen says, “I’d like to do something extra fun tonight… so, what are you thinking?” “What am I thinking?” He then thinks of Lucy and turns her down.

These characters represent the idea of love having to start from dedication and control. The biggest difference between the two decisions is that Hortensio did not get the woman he was dedicated to, but Lucentio did the same thing and he did. They also had to do a lot more to prove their dedication. Henry was making a clear choice to go against his typical character and leave a beautiful woman.

The characters from the play, The Taming of the Shrew and from the movie, 50 First Dates, represent the two values that are important in a long term relationship; control and dedication. The ideas shown in these stories represent the crucial parts of a real life relationship, even if the movie was made long after the play.

Works Cited-

50 First Dates. Director, Segal Peter, 2004

Shakespeare, William “Taming of the Shrew”

Kimberly Gucciardi-Kriegh

Hola, yo soy Kimberly Gucciardi-Kriegh. Tengo dieciséis años. Nací en Wallingford PA, mi familia y yo vivimos por un año. Mi familia y yo mudo a Roxborough en el verano de 2002. Fui a la escuela de Green Woods Charter, combinamos el lugar tres veces. Me gusta que es una zona segura, tiene  poco  delito, algunos de mis amigos. Viven allí y tengo que tener una casa unifamiliar y patio para mi perro. No me gusta que no hay mucho que hacer en Roxborough, y es un poco lejos de SLA. No cambiaría donde vivo. Sé que quieren hacer algunos nuevos edificios y algunas personas odian esa idea y algunos les gustan.

Yo quiero mi mural en esta pared porque está abierto al público y todo el mundo verlo. Voy a usar colores rosado, púrpura, azul, amarillo y rojo. Esto no está lejos de mi escuela vieja. Todos los estudiantes, padres y maestros lo van a ver. Su mensaje simbolizan y representan lo que Roxborough es hoy la historia de hoy.

El tema de mi mural ser "las cosas que piensas cuando piensas en Roxborough".Ver todas las ubicaciones claves y calles como, Ridge Ave, Andorra, Huston, Parque Gorgas, Roxborough High School, Saul, la biblioteca, El Nuevo Objetivo, Sala 21 donde muchos niños juegan el béisbol y el fútbol americano y mucho más. Mi mural va a tener un mapa de las cosas que la gente piensa cuando piensan en Roxborough y lo dibujan representa una comunidad. Esto es para mostrar lo que está pasando en Roxborough en este momento. Mi mural también ser tener una tortuga en ella porque el símbolo de Roxborough es una tortuga, que lo tienen en los basureros, murales y pegatinas de coches.

Mi mural se puede llamar arte público porque está en un lugar disponible para que disponible para siempre. También es algo que la comunidad entera puede relacionarse y entender. Mi mural muestra con precisión lo que es la comunidad de Roxborough en 2017. Las generaciones futuras pueden mirar este mural y conocer la historia de su ciudad.

Kimberly Gucciardi-Kriegh

Mi verdad

Mi familia es completa

Me encanta mi familia, estamos separados.

Mi hermano vive de Texas

Mis tíos viven en San Francisco, Alaska, y Boston

Mi prima vive Seattle

Nosotros estamos separados  

Yo veo sus fotos, y a veces las caras

Yo saboreo y huelo famosa pizza de mi tio  

Yo toco amor de lejos

Yo oigo voz de teléfono

Las palmas de Texas con mi hermano

Los árboles del Otoño en Boston con mis tíos

Yo veo roble árboles en mi jardín

Gato, protege mi casa

Los mismos árboles

Somos productos de Filadelfia

Soy de Filadelfia

Toda la familia migra

Cuando junto

Los gestos volantes de mis manos

Tienen significados

Soy completa

Mi familia es completa

Me encanta mi familia,

Soy De Filadelfia

                      Me gusta Ir de compras y cantar

                     A Veces soy poderosa!

    Soy mucho fEliz y positivo

      En escuela, soy siempRe ambiciosa

    Cuando soy Tiempo con amigos, soy cómica

           Soy amour Ir a SLA diario

Mi cumpleanos es el primero De mayo