How are tools made? How were they made in the past? How could one make their own tools? These were some of the guiding questions that had shaped my Capstone. I set out to make some of the common tools that we take for granted from scratch. These tools being a flat head screwdriver, a Philips head screwdriver, and a claw hammer. I made these tools through a combination of blacksmithing and woodworking. While these seemed to be very simple tools, they still took hard work and plenty of sweat to make. Rather than the easy practice of making a model in cad and having some machine make it for you, these tools had to be forged from the ground up. The process started with identifying which tool I was going to make and what it had to do. Then I had to research designs for that tool and start work on my own design. After finishing a design, I would prototype and modify the design and finally make a finished product. However, while I was used to the practice of blacksmithing, there was still much I had to learn in order to make these tools. For example, to make the hammer I had to learn how to weld because I didn’t have tongs that could hold the large piece of steel. The purpose of making these tools was to inspire thought on where tools come from, and thus the tools I made will be donated back to the school.

Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F-OMBacHPXgmXZGHgseAX5k5KyShAZY0fBOekSneXhU/edit?usp=sharing

For my capstone, I wanted to get a community more involved in the environment. My goal was to use the skills I had learned from CTE- engineering, and design a system that creates opportunities for the community to learn more about the green around them. The community I hoped to impact was a community garden residing in University City. My plan was to design a self-sustaining self-watering system for plots in the garden. But after being denied the space at the community garden, I turned to a different community. I decided to implement my design into my own school’s outside terrace. Because I moved the space, I also decided to simplify my design so that any student or faculty member could use it. The garden would be able to both collect its own rain water and disperse the water automatically throughout the day, or as much as needed. Through the project research; I learned how to collect rainwater safely, how water flows and moves through piping, how to code a timing system, and how different plants grow and what they need. Though the design went through some major changes, the final product works and fits with the outside space perfectly. With the plan of going further with the project, I hope to get the word out about the design by using a website I have created. There is so much that this project could do for the SLA community. The possibilities of this project are endless, but it just needs that final push.

Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nYWSpTwQNxzfRLUVL9Fef3DVMPSid5CzbLHuwV837zU/edit?usp=sharing

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

For my Engineering Capstone, I wanted to explore the intersection between art and engineering - how engineering influences, and is built into art, and the artists that utilize engineering as a tool to further their creation. Researching the processes these artists use to create their various works - paintings, movies, mobiles, and sculptures made from all different materials - is such a tangible way to see how engineering skills can be applied in the everyday world, and used to make that everyday world extraordinary. Specifically, in my capstone, I decided to put together a book full of countless pictures, and visuals of these art pieces created by my favorite artists and even filmmakers, to display how the influence of engineering can be easily seen in various art fields throughout the world, spanning continents and decades.

Sections from my book (to be turned in physically)

My Capstone is a 50 page book documenting my 4 years at SLA through a mental health lens. I collected artwork, writing, and pictures that I felt best represented my experiences, and created new work to help tell the story. My goals in mind were:

1. Create a piece of work that helps people who are struggling find hope.
2. Create a resource for people to better understand how depressed people view the world.
3. Create a body of work that allows me to view the progress I’ve made over 4 years.

In the end, I created a project I’m not even comfortable with people reading, which I hope encourages people like me to open up about their experiences too.

Solar panels on SLA? Yea I said that correctly! My capstone explores the idea of having Solar Panels on SLA. With this brilliant idea, I created a rough and not-so-accurate digital model on tinkercad to help the audience visualize where solar panels could be placed. Again this isn’t an accurate model but it is supposed to be something close to it. Throughout my eighty beautiful hours of research and modeling my digital artifact I learned many things. Throughout my presentation, I will be explaining the positives and negatives of solar panels and why they should be on SLA. But still keeping in mind the cost and if it really makes a difference.

bib- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZsAudKIIc7ZT0zn5Nw0dZICkF70nhQnfPPSkKWhd3CU/edit?usp=sharing

The form of my capstone has significantly varied, but all versions have been centralized around combining music and engineering. I love making any form. Synthesizing an idea into a tangible product is one of the most joyful interactions imaginable, and music is where I most often find this joy. Because of that, the fundamental goal of my capstone is to “spread music.” At first, I believed the best way to accomplish that was through a digital program that would allow anyone to start writing original music quickly. However, when I tried to put this idea into practice, I swiftly realized its infeasibility as it would take no less than 10,000 lines of code to begin to make a semi-final product, and I could barely write 10. After seeing the impossibility of completing my audio program, I switched my capstone to something I have more experience with and is more intuitive to me, building a bass guitar. Making a bass was attractive to me not just because I would get a new bass out of it but also because it allowed me to understand an aspect of music that I previously had no insight into. My first step in this process was designing the bass using fusion 360 to create a profile. Once the design was finalized, I cut the wood, glued it together, messed it up, and had to cut it back apart, then glued it once more. I am continuing to make my bass and should be done soon.

Website with pictures: website

Annotated bibliography: bibliography

After creating Into The Basement, a short documentary about the Philly underground music scene in digital video class (with Leo Cohen, Nick Werner, Ellis Measley, and El Newburger), Nick and I were inspired to continue the project. The original plan was to basically make a longer documentary, interview more artists, and go more in depth about the scene and everything surrounding it; the good, the bad, and the ugly. That plan did not work out. So, now working alone, I resolved to take the documentary idea, and instead turn it into a magazine. With the help of a lot of people, including Nick, I was able to interview many more individuals involved in the underground music scene, not limited to artists/musicians, archivists, and sound engineers. After the hair-pulling process of fundraising, transcribing interview after interview, coming up with article topics, writing the articles, pulling quotes, doing more research, gathering photos, designing a layout, and making graphics, the magazine was finally here. Covering what the underground and the concept of ‘DIY’ actually means, the analysis of punk rock as a genre, the differences between the past and the current state of the scene, and more, as well as full interviews with artists who are able to give two different perspectives, I sincerely hope I’ve represented everything accurately and fairly(and also remained just the right amount of self-insertive). This is the digital version, and I’m in the process of getting the final product printed professionally. If you are curious, and would like to know more, I invite you all into the basement.

Here is a small excerpt from my interview with Cheshire Agusta of Stinking Lizaveta:

And here are some pages of my final magazine:

Here is the link to the full magazine

Here is the link to my annotated bibliography

For my capstone, my goal for my final product was to create a 3D printed model of one of my characters. I briefly worked with people to create a character. I did this by interviewing and collecting data about characters people want to see. I learned styles of art to draw this character. I learned manga style art because that’s where my style developed from and was my inspiration for this capstone. I communicated with people in order to create some backstory for the character. Over the course of a year, I spent time learning tools and techniques used for fusion360( a 3D modeling platform I created my 3D model on) and modeled my character using the techniques I’d learned. I also learned how to use two types of 3D printers in order to make my final product.

These are my models from fusion 360

This is my model being uploaded to the 3D printer i used

These are the final products

annotated bibliography:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ivkqXwU8-vNo64Kt99EUjnuYueprdYqj7MDDwUQ81Pc/edit

SLA’s Inquiry Capstone Project is a senior project worked on throughout the year to consolidate the project management skills we have learned during benchmark seasons and SLA’s core values of Inquiry, Research, Collaboration, Presentation, and Reflection.

I wanted SLA to be at the heart of my capstone, either by giving back to the school or creating something based on my experience at SLA. This school has provided me with a caring community and unique education, and I feel incredibly grateful for my four years here. I was also curious to learn more about others’ experiences at SLA. My guiding questions were ‘how has SLA’s uniqueness as a school impacted individuals in the SLA community?’ and ‘how can I represent those experiences theatrically?’ Based on those inquiries, I chose to create a one-act play based on a series of interviews with various members of the SLA community that combined my curiosity with my love for theatre and acting. The project challenged me to explore a new aspect of theatre, push myself as a writer, and discover new experiences within SLA. Overall, I hope to have created a play/collection of monologues and scenes that capture a piece of the heart of SLA and teach people more about what SLA is truly like as a school.

Linked here is my annotated bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1goRgkD89rVSNXxcbco2YbTA3PXfAPU6rCskTX4rAQ7w/edit?usp=sharing

And below is the pdf of my final one-act play.