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

Ariana Flores Capstone

Posted by Ariana Flores in Capstone · Kaur · Wed on Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at 7:56 am

I have reflected heavily on my high school experience as my graduation approaches. There were valuable lessons I have learned and skills I have attained throughout my time at SLA, such as learning how to partake in a productive conversation, understanding the nuances of group projects, and meeting demanding deadlines in short time frames can prepare students for the working world. However, I could not deny the fact that some elements could be added or modified to SLA’s schooling and support structure in order to better aid the student population in finding what they want to pursue after high school. Therefore, I decided to focus my capstone around how SLA prepares its students for life after graduation, and how certain areas of its preparation can be improved.

I constructed three surveys that I sent out to juniors, seniors, and alumni, asking them question about SLA’s curriculum, capstones, SLA’s college assistance, internships, etc. From there, I formulated charts and conducted research around life after high school on a national scale as well as information about the current and future job market in order to compare and contrast that information with the data I extracted from the responses of current and former SLA students. I synthesized all of this information into the form of a report that provides reasonable suggestions for changes in SLA from not just me, but other members of the student body.

Link to Full Report: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zQ9uCVch87l8ReF1-P00TyhlvVDKgEvN14g9mIgxhm4/edit?usp=sharing

Link to Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13HsNeTTuJWlYkCvcM-NTWbZULfi4RBasn67Mz5HHCw8/edit?usp=sharing

Eric Valenti Capstone

Posted by Eric Valenti in Capstone · Kaur · Wed on Tuesday, April 9, 2019 at 8:05 pm

For my capstone, I wrote and directed my own play. I wanted to perform my own play because I wanted to demonstrate my own vision and ideas, rather than take another play and attempt to replicate someone else’s idea in my own style.

Over the winter break, I just let myself write. Before I knew it, what started as one scene about a boy getting dressed turned into a story about events that took place in my life with jokes brought in that highlighted this story of a boy wanting to tell his mother the truth. After a hefty amount of edits from close friends and mentors, I was finally ready to get people to audition.

With just enough people coming to auditions and enough stage crew members, I had put together a team. Every Monday and Thursday after advisory, we would practice simple acting techniques and scenes from the play for about two hours. This would go on for two months. It was more challenging than I expected to get people to simply walk and talk on stage. It wasn’t until the final practice, the day before the play, that I had realized how far we had come as a group and how much work we had put in.

On March 22, we performed “A Year to Remember” during X-band lunch only expecting twenty audience members and actually had triple the expected amount. I left the drama studio with a handful of flowers and this warm feeling that took over my entire body. My capstone allowed me to display a story that I believe SLA will never forget and that I can be proud of.

Link to bibliography:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bDNL68hIhcunZMIIHU-z9vFFQIS7bk2Nczs73mrViUY/edit

Link to play script:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/171ftIDgPSWdKywg2XGoH0bGfBWfdmyGqf6Suq05lZEM/edit?usp=sharing