My capstone is about the misrepresentation of Black Women/girls in media. Throughout my capstone, I kept asking myself “How to take back my narrative?”. In a mini case study, I asked multiple Black girls from different backgrounds how they wanted to be represented and this is their response. I wanted to do something that I knew that I was going to be proud of and in the making of my capstone, I succeeded.

My capstone called “Early Recording Philadelphia” is a project developed with a digital and physical element to engage and emphasize the importance Philadelphia has served in the recording industry. My project aims to emphasize and inform people of this history, thus fueling the inquiry of local historians and students. I decided on a small physical display to occupy shelf space in SLA to allow for a somewhat self guided pace for learning. A large portion of my capstone was dedicated research and consolidating information regarding the history of the recording industry. My sources were gathered mostly from book publications on the early history of it. I made use of my membership with the Antique Phonograph Society to gather information and discuss ideas with my mentor. My mentor is a fellow collector/historian, named Sean Miller. Sean has helped me throughout the capstone process by giving me routine advice, leads to look into, and various original pieces. A large portion of my 80 hours has been spent during phone calls and research sessions with Sean, including a week-long visit to his house in Delmar, NY, during spring break of 2024. The digital aspect of my capstone is a website that will continue to be developed and added to even after I leave SLA, a sort of personal history education page that will grow and change as time passes. It serves as the public front for my work, it’s the aspect that non-SLA students will see and perceive. That is my capstone.

https://sites.google.com/scienceleadership.org/early-recording-philly/home

Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h_JLcY4QnhUSGiYjMUxaFaflBSp2SMw489ZwKZPF5Iw/edit?usp=sharing

For my capstone, I collected clothes from the SLA community, and turned them into new clothes and accessories by upcycling them. I gave away the items I made through a pop-up shop at school. Throughout this process, I have become more confident when I sew, and am now more eager to make bold choices and try new sewing projects. I hope that by using clothes donated by the community, I inspired students to make more ethical fashion choices, and consider more sustainable alternatives in their day-to-day lives.

For my Capstone, I worked with my grandfather to help write his memoir. When I was born, my parents invited my grandparents to write a page or two about their life and family history, or whatever else they wanted me to know. My grandfather, Harvey, who I call Zayda (Yiddish for grandfather) ended up writing over 80 handwritten pages starting at his grandparents coming to the United States, up until when I was born. We worked together every Wednesday transcribing the pages onto a document, adding photos, and doing research. Through this process, I learned more about my family history, which I would not have ever been able to do without him. I also learned more about formatting a book and professional writing.

Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13vpYwmtr2GGgpkem7hBizBi2-4PQdMKKBYBy72YgCNQ/edit?usp=sharing

For my Capstone, I decided that I wanted to make a photo mosaic. It took me a bit to figure out what I wanted to do but I decided that I wanted to make the mosaic a photo of myself made up of my friends. I used a website to upload all of my photos that I stored in a google drive folder. Once I uploaded all of my photos, I messed around with the mosaic to add more photos, change the colorization, and get it ready to print. I got It printed and framed. I hung it up on the fifth floor where all of my friends hang out. I felt like I learned how time consuming creating something like this is and that I need to manage my time better. It was overall a fun experience and I am proud of how it came out.