Capstone · Sessa · Wed — Science Leadership Academy @ Center City

Sherell Messing Capstone

Posted by Sherell Messing in Capstone · Sessa · Wed on Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 1:20 pm

Abstract

For my capstone I wanted to create an ILP that was different from all I have encountered and heard about from my peers. This ILP would not only further a group of individuals way of thinking but way of communicating. No other learning topic can express SLA’s core values in complete silence than American Sign Language (ASL). As a community we are strongly opinionated and often forget to focus on a voice, or idea, other than our own. By learning ASL you use your eyes to listen, a talent many have concurred. A language as beautiful as this can truly make you see the world from a different view. There is history that is not taught in schools and a community that is separated due to lack of communication.

To inform our community and make a change I held multiple bake sales to bring the SLA community together in a creative way. During this time I also deeply searched for an instructor to teach ASL classes next year. Sadly, I was not successful due to the classes being too expensive or unavailable. At the moment I am waiting for a response from my final contact, which is Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. If they are able to provide their services then I will communicate with Jeremy to get a list of 10 students who are interested. I will finalize the process by organizing a schedule and providing welcoming bags filled with notebooks and stationery.

Digital Piece https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/18w0Ovg1W9H3PB-6ykBrYKpxWyAO26jo4i47uwtb3IzU/edit?usp=sharing

Bibliography https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CbkH6gEfY319HBIBeUYpuMdpGsGA39_NjK5ftI0ZpJs/edit

Shane Durkin Capstone

Posted by Shane Durkin in Capstone · Sessa · Wed on Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 10:43 am

What I did for my capstone project this year is it was on Minecraft and how it can be used as an education tool. My final product was a video explaining the ways Minecraft could be used as an education tool. The beginning part of the process for my capstone was first, I had to do lots of research on the topic itself and how some people actually use Minecraft for an education tool. Then, I also had to play a lot of Minecraft to understand, and figure out other ways Minecraft could be used as a learning tool. After that, I had to write the script for my video and pick which methods of how it can used as an education I wanted to talk about in the video, Then, I recorded some Minecraft gameplay in the background showing some Minecraft basics. Lastly, I combined the voice over and game play to make my final product.

VIDEO ENDS AT 2:49

Youtube Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K_ZTnfNtyc

Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17tYTN3C9rhrcbssrOhW5meVYv1h1jucxh7AsX5aPuCs/edit

Ella Petersen Capstone

Posted by Ella Petersen in Capstone · Sessa · Wed on Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 9:32 am

My capstone is a website, a video, and a panel. Ari and I worked together to shed light on the representation of women in the workplace, specifically STEM and business. Ari and I both want to go into underrepresented fields for women: I want to go into business and she wants to be an engineer. First, we interviewed women at the petrochemical company, Braskem, about their experiences being women engineers. We made a video of the interviews as well as messages that they have for young girls going into an underrepresented career. Then, we researched what it was like for women in our fields, and we held a panel of women in business and STEM in the drama studio. We had an information session with underclassmen where they could ask women about what it is like, and they were able to hear advice about working in an underrepresented field. Finally, we made a website where you can see all of this and a piece about how important our fields are to us. I benefited greatly from this project. I was able to hear really important women speak about what it is like in my career field and I received some advice from them that will stay with me as I enter this new chapter in my life. http://editor.wix.com/html/editor/web/renderer/external_preview/document/c7a6f084-29c4-4d88-bf02-06d8694f68f8?metaSiteId=67101350-c96c-43c3-bfce-534c2d8657c7

First, we interviewed women at the petrochemical company, Braskem, about their experiences being women engineers. We made a video of the interviews as well as messages that they have for young girls going into an underrepresented career.

Then, we researched what it was like for women in our fields, and we held a panel of women in business and STEM in the drama studio. We had an information session with underclassmen where they could ask women about what it is like, and they were able to hear advice about working in an underrepresented field.

Finally, we made a website where you can see all of this and a piece about how important our fields are to us.

I benefited greatly from this project. I was able to hear really important women speak about what it is like in my career field and I received some advice from them that will stay with me as I enter this new chapter in my life.

ahaven0.wix.com/capstone

Antonio Flores Capstone: The Smartphone's Influence on Photography

Posted by Antonio Flores in Capstone · Sessa · Wed on Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 9:23 am

For my capstone, I wanted it to focus on something that I like to do. I chose to talk about how smartphones have affected the photography industry. I like photography and enjoy taking pictures. In this capstone, I took picture on my Iphone and with a camera. I compared the quality of the the two and talked about what looked better. I talked about which was more convenient to use and why. Many people don't want to spend extra money on a dedicated camera and because of this, people would rather just buy a smartphone with a good camera. Camera's can be very expensive and require a certain level of knowledge and skill to use. If someone only uses their camera to take selfies or random pictures of where they are, they might not want to spend extra money on the few pictures they take. I talked about this in the capstone, and in the presentation that I am also posting, I included three pictures that I took and compared them. I only added three as to not make it overwhelming for a presentation. On the main document, I included the argument of which form of picture taking is better and which is used more and why. I included specifications for the phone and one of the cameras that I used and compared then. Basically, I wanted to talk about how the evolution of the smartphone has affected how people take pictures and how this has affected dedicated camera companies such as Nikon and Sony.

Main Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m21sMfnQGjYe_qrUpLQSvHn_WU5dWctUrR-mRX5IBVA/edit?usp=sharing

Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XI9dtMuaT722xjs3BCpYyWv0YxiWRznWVkv8P_sUbnQ/edit?usp=sharing

Bibliography:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-vIVx31p3ZtKAr_TR4MxC2Ktr8F0Kakcd3T7xgEJqBE/edit?usp=sharing

Ty Ellerbe Capstone

Posted by Teylor Ellerbe in Capstone · Sessa · Wed on Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 9:03 am

When I first started off with my capstone, I planned to make a documentary about how people joke about suicide and how it affects people who have been through suicide or now someone close to them who has. Also the stigmas and mental illness overall. It became overwhelming for me to complete that task. I changed my entire approach and decide on a website. I know my plan was still to spread awareness to people who are insensitive to the mental health world. A lot of people will use suicide to show a way of being stressed. For example “I got a C on this math test, I’m going to kill myself.” It’s very frustrating for people like myself who knows what's it like to want to die and how serious it is. Suicide is not a joke and I want to convey just how serious it is. I suffer from depression and anxiety so I connect with this on a personal level. I hear a lot of jokes in school and outside and it makes me very uncomfortable and that people take mental health as a joke. I want to change the way people speak of mental health. I interviewed different people of cultural backgrounds and gender. I created different sets of questions for each person I interviewed. I aimed to get people who suffer from mental health problems to speak on their experiences and shed light on it. I also shared my story. I want people to understand the importance of talking about mental health and how it affects people's day to day lives. All of my work is located on a website I created.

Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n6ZzCHRHnRCPIomsG81CFBmkuA96TZtIaBe3aocbD3Q/edit?usp=sharing

Capstone: http://callmety.wixsite.com/mental-illness

Kara Heenan's Capstone

Posted by Kara Heenan in Capstone · Sessa · Wed on Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 8:57 am

For my capstone, I volunteered at the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) located in Old City. The point of the capstone project is to reflect on your interests, and use that to make an impact in the world. I thought of doing this when I reflected on the goals I have in life, which is to become a veterinarian. I thought that this would be an amazing experience to contribute to that goal, to increase my experience with connecting to and taking care of animals while making a good impact and helping a non-kill shelter. In this way, it prepared me for my future. I was helping a good cause and it was also helping me. The process started when I filled out the volunteer application. I then got approved and attended an orientation, which taught me the responsibilities of each volunteer, and the actions each volunteer has to take. This was the ins and outs of taking care of the cats, which included cleaning their supplies, cleaning the rooms in which they stay in, feeding them and socializing them. I also took care of the dogs, which the actions were the same along with taking them for walks. I volunteered at PAWs every other Wednesday. Volunteering left me feeling satisfied, that I am helping a non-kill shelter and not receiving money from them in return. I learned a lot more about the animals I took care, coming across different kinds of dogs and cats and learning the disabilities or illnesses that they have, which will definitely prepare me for my future as a vet.

The process started when I filled out the volunteer application. I then got approved and attended an orientation, which taught me the responsibilities of each volunteer, and the actions each volunteer has to take. This was the ins and outs of taking care of the cats, which included cleaning their supplies, cleaning the rooms in which they stay in, feeding them and socializing them. I also took care of the dogs, which the actions were the same along with taking them for walks. I volunteered at PAWs every other Wednesday. Volunteering left me feeling satisfied, that I am helping a non-kill shelter and not receiving any money from them in return. I learned a lot more about the animals I took care, coming across different kinds of dogs and cats and learning the disabilities or illnesses that they have, which will definitely prepare me for my future as a vet.

Access my bibliography here.

I walked dogs, they wore "adopt me" vests to attract people on the streets

Arsenio Gomez Capstone

Posted by Arsenio Gomez in Capstone · Sessa · Wed on Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 12:00 am

Hello everyone My name is Arsenio Gomez , I am a student that attends Science Leadership Academy. I’m going to be documenting every practice and game of my final season of being an SLA Rocket. I played for the baseball team ever since I was a freshman. I love being a member of this team, every single member of this team is like a brother to me and together we are a family. I love every single one of them as much as they annoy me. As a tradition we start winter condition the day right after winter break is over.This prep us for the season ahead of us. This year is our year and every one in philly should know this. Since this is our first year in A division after working so hard to get here we need to show our worth. Before moving forward I must give some back ground. Before this year we were in B division and my sophomore year we were in C division same my freshman year. It wasn’t until the class of 2017 started helping the team with amazing defense and offense that lead this team to victories in the past years. This short film is going to contain some funny and serious clips about what the SLA rockets are truly about. It's going to show our performance good or bad. Not only that but it is going to have some inside thoughts on what the team thinks. By conducting live interviews we will be able to see how this team has grown through the season and how we are on our way to the chip. Annotated Bibliography : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rUiF2J5fOIhG8sBpB5LAP2dQXr4mnOQ2Rp9W9nu0LUA/edit

This year is our year and every one in philly should know this. Since this is our first year in A division after working so hard to get here we need to show our worth. Before moving forward I must give some back ground. Before this year we were in B division and my sophomore year we were in C division same my freshman year. It wasn’t until the class of 2017 started helping the team with amazing defense and offense that lead this team to victories in the past years.

This short film is going to contain some funny and serious clips about what the SLA rockets are truly about. It's going to show our performance good or bad. Not only that but it is going to have some inside thoughts on what the team thinks. By conducting live interviews we will be able to see how this team has grown through the season and how we are on our way to the chip.

Annotated Bibliography :

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rUiF2J5fOIhG8sBpB5LAP2dQXr4mnOQ2Rp9W9nu0LUA/edit

Youtube Video Trailer Of The Documentary:

https://youtu.be/KpY-evBPqiA

Zoe Andersson Capstone

Posted by Zoe Andersson in Capstone · Sessa · Wed on Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 11:42 pm

For my capstone I’ve created a website to host my work made in Digital Video, as well as a space for my own artwork made in and outside of SLA. The site showcases over 2 films I have made throughout my career at SLA and provides both a backstory on the process of each film and a commentary on my thoughts today. Much of the work was spent gathering all of the videos I’ve made, and going back into the details of each production. The organization of each film and finding out the dates, people involved, and the roles of each member of the team ate away at a lot of my time. After gathering the required information, I began constructing my website with the website builder Wix.com. The site is tedious and provides a complicated interface that doesn’t allow for complete customization, but after a few weeks, I began to get a hold of the program and figure out my overall design. Once I had the basic design of my website, I went back and wrote a brief description for each of my movies, discussing what it was like making the film and my opinions on the movie today. I also included a Creator’s Note page to house my many acknowledgements for the people that helped make the website, and my artwork possible. I am really proud of how the design of the website and the writing turned out.

Below is a sample of one of my descriptions for my movies.

Oct 9th- Media Darling (All American High School Film Festival)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFmsDA52cA4&list=PL0mVYXoXCAN2BodQ5Q0MhSsIoTihRoXrk

Media Darling was one of the most difficult, but rewarding films I’ve made. In October of my senior year, our school’s production company, Rough Cut Productions, was invited to the All American High School Film Festival Invitational to compete with over 50 other schools in a three day filmmaking competition in New York City. Only twenty kids from our program (including myself) were able to attend and make a film in three days in New York City. The competition was hosted by AT&T and our films had to be about cyberbullying subsequently. For this project, my group put almost all of our efforts into pre-production so that we could film everything we needed to quickly once we got to New York. The train ride and sleepless nights left us exhausted, and of course, nothing about shooting went according to plan. From location debacles to group arguments, this movie made our group become rivals at times and closest friends at others. By the end, our team persevered and managed to make one of the best looking movies the program has ever produced in a very short amount of time. Media Darling made it into the top 8 and won $1000 for Rough Cut. The invitational was an experience I’ll never forget and I’m so happy to have shared it with my production team.

Actors: Cacy Thomas, Declan Zisser, Nat Hilton

Director: Mark Kriegh

Assistant Director: Kate Kopf

Director of Photography: Felix Shafroth Doty

Producers: Felix Shafroth Doty, Zoe Andersson, Lyle Seitz

Writers: Cacy Thomas, Declan Zisser, Mark Kriegh, Nat Hilton, Lyle Seitz, Zoe Andersson

Sound Designer: Juliana Concepcion

Costuming, Makeup, Set Design: Wes Midgett

The link to my final website can be found here: https://zandersson.wixsite.com/website

The link to my bibliography can be found here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XsAKHfXDrxnMs6pIR1CuPS3rkAyeOHpf19HpMoJeaCQ

Xavier Carroll Capstone

Posted by Xavier Carroll in Capstone · Sessa · Wed on Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 3:32 pm

Capstones are our senior projects at Science Leadership Academy. The capstone is meant to reflect the interest of the student and make a meaningful impact to a community that matters to said student. I’ve always been very interested in the health of marine ecology. For my capstone I collaborated with Drexel Student Fellows to write and publish a short research paper and presentation about urban involvement in marine pollution. I drew from many scholarly sources and came to the conclusion that urban contribution to aquatic pollution is significant and becoming more important as marine environments become more unstable.

Plastic Beaches- Urban Communities and Marine Pollution

CAP-035

Term: 2016-17

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