For my Capstone I collaborated with Jave Kelman to host RocketFest, a film festival dedicated to putting a spotlight on films made by Philadelphia high schoolers. The goal of this Capstone was to create a platform that gives these films and the youth the recognition that they deserve.

The Stigma on Mental Health is a documentary I made for my capstone that questions how a person’s sociocultural background affects their view on mental health and access to care. This documentary follows three subjects: Samira Pope, John Henkel, and Lorraine Ustaris. I questioned them on their experiences with therapy, their thoughts on generational lines of trauma and bias, as well as what they believe the stigma on mental health is, why it’s there, and how as a society we can work to reduce it. My documentary idea came to me after working on a unit in science and society with Mr. Henkel that was about our sociocultural perspectives. That is when I realized I wanted to create something similar to that for my capstone project. I wanted to raise awareness of how limited the knowledge on mental health care and access is and find out what the contributing factors were to that disproportion of knowledge. This documentary is a safe space for people to learn and connect with. Not everyone is taught that mental health is health care or that it should be. And with this film I think the stigma surrounding the so-called ‘requirements’ for normal mental health care can be questioned, challenged, and possibly changed little by little if people continue to spread awareness to this tainted view on what it is to have a healthy mind and how to get there.

Link to my documentary-> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H5r95V-hic9-nWcTbhFcl44A_HrMHyPl/view?usp=sharing

Rocketfest is a youth film festival for public high school students across Philadelphia organized by SLA Center City students. Rocketfest was created to showcase Philadelphia Public Highschool film talent, all in one place, together.

Through working on this capstone we got to see how SLA’s core values of inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, and reflection work in the real world. This capstone was not only challenging but also rewarding.

Copy and paste this link to view a slide deck explaining Rocketfest 2023 with some behind-the-scenes: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DaU5e_cws_QH856kl0b0H8PX-UJx0JYoKH5N2Gp64Co/edit?usp=sharing

I wanted to show people how beautiful soccer is and how much it means to me because it plays a significant role in my life. In the beginning, growing up as a female and playing soccer was really challenging for me. I had people tell me soccer wasn’t for girls and that I should try something different or that I shouldn’t play sports at all, but I didn’t let any of it get to me. I kept on working hard throughout the years. Soccer has brought me so much happiness and has opened up a lot of opportunities for me. I kept getting better, which makes me incredibly proud. I want other people to feel the same way about pursuing their dreams or anything else in life. By completing this capstone, I hoped to show that women can play sports, sometimes even better than men. Everyone should be able to play soccer because it is known as the most beautiful sport. There shouldn’t be any favoritism in sports at all; everyone should receive the same treatment and compensation. Although I know that many people won’t agree with me, I hope that my initiative will show that just because we are women, that doesn’t mean that we can’t participate in sports.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g-sou8lYHqIcNjgAGHen6Hly8f41xku0/view?usp=sharing

How are stop motion movies made? How do you effectively tell a story with stop motion animation? What materials do you need to do it? Guillermo del Toro once said that stop motion was probably the, “purest art form,” due to the artist’s ability to control every aspect of the film. In order to create an immersive experience, the animator has to perfect imperfections; such as a child forgetting to shut a door, or an old man trying to grab a cup but missing it on his first try. A full feature film, with teams of dozens of animators can take months just to film a single scene. It’s no wonder that del Toro also remarks that, “stop motion is an artform kept alive by madmen.”

For my capstone project I created a stop motion short film. This art form isn’t entirely new to me, I’ve made stop motion films before. What made this film different was that I wanted to move beyond what I had done before. My goal was to design and build puppets from scratch, build and decorate a set for them, and use them to tell a short story. I wasn’t as focussed on telling a story with this film, so I could focus more time on the puppets, so I used a dream I had last year where Mr. Kamal made an army of evil robots to take over the school. Overall I am satisfied with what I created, and through this capstone found a new appreciation for stop motion animation that I didn’t have before.

Video Link: https://youtu.be/iYt2Jzn62EE

Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mK3SAK3pwn-f9BEXQoL1Hsf9PM9Y2MUfUo6wMVwEc4c/edit?usp=sharing

Hard work always pays off, one way or another. Putting the time and effort into doing something, and seeing that be rewarded is a feeling everyone deserves to have. My capstone is a combination of the time I spent in Digital Video perfecting my camera skills, and learning how to use Premiere, along with the subtleties of interviewing people, and mixing it with the love for a sport that I never thought I’d be playing. Frisbee was the first sport at SLA that convinced kids to wake up at 5 AM to grind and work harder than anyone else. This is something that I sense is becoming lost amongst the next generation of SLA students, as more people are complaining about the early practices, or opting out because of them. I created this project to shed some more light on a community that is a core piece of SLA. I made the Ultimate Frisbee Reel to encourage others to give Frisbee a try, regardless of any initial judgments passed upon it. Because if everyone can apply a hard-working mindset to something like Frisbee, SLA will become a better place. There will be challenges and setbacks. There were challenges and setbacks in my capstone, as I struggled with the interviewing process, and finding Braskem funding. However, it will all be worth it in the end. Everything at SLA always is.