Ever since I was a child, I loved animals, which is why I want my capstone to be animal related. So for my capstone, I decided to make a website for those around Philadelphia and surrounding areas who want to get involved with animal care but need help figuring out how or where. More specifically, I wanted to make a website to provide others with a way to find places to volunteer without having to do all the research. This idea came to me because I wanted to volunteer at any animal-related organization. While looking for places, I found it frustrating having to research and then having to find out that they don’t take volunteers or that volunteers have to be 18+. So, having a website where a volunteer application is just one click away will make it easier for more people to volunteer and will hopefully help with that shortage of animal care workers.

Website: https://sites.google.com/scienceleadership.org/animalcarelovers/home

Photos I took while volunteering: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16aGf0yI-nBlYgC6lLZZsx5zRShCt9t2D?usp=sharing

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16agV41hoE-3q0byc99d0Dg4P-kNSs2sOkvBdwYKspp8/edit?usp=sharing

My capstone is a documentary on the history of Philadelphia. There are fun facts, some shocking facts, and things you didn’t know about. I talk about colleges, sports teams, and a few neighborhoods (North South, West) and I go over historical buildings and landmarks. The goal of this project is to inform whoever watches my documentary about things they pass by on a daily basis.

So the process in making my capstone was a steady flow since we had every wednesday to work on it. But coming up with the idea and making this end product a reality was a little bit complicated because I had so many ideas I wanted to do and I came up with something that would help out the next upcoming 12th graders. So my idea was brought through my personal experience and feeling clueless throughout the whole process. I felt like I was hopeless and had no clue what I was doing. My assumption that the guidance counselor was always busy with other students and never had time with me grew as I was afraid to reach out. I started talking with my teachers on potential ideas for my capstone and that’s when they suggested making a resource page because I had previously mentioned that I struggled with help when it came down to the college process. This is when I got inspiration to make this website a possibility, I started researching resources that could help others when making their decision on the college process. I wanted to make sure that I could provide the best resources possible in order to make sure the next upcoming seniors didn’t have an issue with the lack of information. But there were some hiccups when picking these resources. Some you had to pay for in order to access them but I wanted them to be free for anyone to use. After gathering a long list of resources that would benefit any type of student trying to learn more, I implemented it into my website. Most of the resources that are provided on my final product are a majority of websites and youtube videos that guide them in the right direction. Although the information might not give them a “correct” path, it provides them with a bit more information. But what I’m proud of is knowing that I left something useful and helpful to these upcoming seniors.

Final Capstone: https://sites.google.com/scienceleadership.org/guideme/home?authuser=0 and presentation https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Ch4nRrOE_6JYqJGGzxzS8ytspX9AAIuHg0Q4OJhIuKU/edit?usp=sharing

For my Capstone, I created a clothing donation drive inside the school building and also had a similar setup outside of the school in my own neighborhood. For the in school one, it lasted around a month and had many students and teachers donate all kinds of clothes during February-March. Some of the acceptable clothes were T-shirts, Hoodies, Jackets, Pants, etc. While the one I had created in my neighborhood was a little bit of fundraising where I went door to door asking people for possible donations to the Klein Life organization to help all the families who have fled Ukraine. I hoped to show the importance of donations through these tasks and wanted people to see what good can come out of them.

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18wOwNb3I9wWUrD_NPNqfW4Y3mO8j7md-kcIXk2MjhWw/edit?usp=sharing

My capstone was a teacher vs students basketball game. I was inspired by my friend, Jaden, to create my own version of his idea. I chose to do this project because I wanted to involve the school community outside the classroom. After seeing the environment of my basketball senior day I saw how much the school liked watching basketball games and it felt perfect. I wanted to also have a positive impact on the community that everyone will remember later down the road and see how a positive school with events can benefit the education purpose. In addition, teachers and students don’t do too much bonding outside the classroom and I wanted to change that with my capstone I was able to do that.

For my capstone, I captured the “Big Day” for a couple in four minutes. A video that allows the couple to relive the day of their wedding. This idea came about when I heard that the couple was getting married. I introduced the idea to them and they approved of it. I didn’t know how to compose a wedding video so I started by researching different sources. I gained insight into what I needed, what to capture, the editing process, etc. Then came the time to record the wedding. I then went through the editing process then lastly, exported the video. There are many things I learned such as being more prepared. You only get one shot in each moment and can’t do it over. I should have taken the time to practice with the camera I was using and have an overview of the location where the wedding was held. I have gained new experiences and challenges through this project. I believe in the importance of capturing memories for us to look back upon. I hope to make a wedding video again and improve on this project.

Wedding Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qT_u1ts6j42Ndtq4WoxR91hz5Wy1NVOf/view?usp=sharing

For my capstone I created an open space for people to talk about about their mental health and for them to talk to and uplift people not having the best time this was done via two ways one way was a instagram page and another is by a google form which was practically a mental health check up which included the question of including words of affirmation which were put on mini tv’s and put around the school. On top of that I raised money from a bake sale that I ran to donate money to a mental health organization called mental health America. I learned to think outside the box when coming to reaching out to people that deal with people with mental illness or people that suffer from mental illness itself. I have seen a very repetitive take when it comes to connecting people like this and when researching pages that work the best for me I took a more creative approach that glorified unity and art to spread the message.

For my capstone, I taught a coding mini course here at SLA for the third quarter every Wednesday from 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM, with a total of ten classes ranging from February 15,2023 to April 19,2023. In this mini course,students learned how to code in the programming language C sharp, by learning the process of coding, as well as the importance of technology, and programming in our everyday lives. As students progressed through this course, we focused on the question of what role does technology play in our everyday lives? By teaching this mini course, I hoped to introduce students to the field of Computer Science. I also hope to teach this course as a source of Career Exploration.

Andre Doyle ~ Capstone Finished Product Link

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S3-48aJpODge-rfhHkjsq4PRA5819JnwIB4PGX4Qmj8/edit?usp=sharing