Blog Feed
Cycles of Matter - Oxygen Cycle (Trey, Santana, Tania)
The WarmHearted Room
in FreshmenArt
Billy is moving out of his house he lived in for most of his childhood. He wanted to stay but his new home is closer to his school and his parents workplace. While packing up his stuff, he starts shedding tears. He reminisces to his nice room. The table he had on the carpet that he would make sure is clean everyday, the big window he had in his room, his picture frame he had on the wall that said swag surfer. Even his book bag near his room door . All of this mattered to him, but he had to leave.
Phosphorus Cycle
Phosphorous Cycle
Phosphorus
Nitrogen Cycle
Beginning as nitrogen gas in the atmosphere, it is then trapped by bacteria and certain species of plant. The nitrogen in these organisms along with the nitrogen released by decomposers combine to form Ammonium. Ammonium is a component of soil that is absorbed by plants and nitrifying bacteria. Consumers intake the nitrogen in plants/other animals they consume and the bacteria’s nitrogen combines to create nitrites. Nitrites exposed to another oxygen become nitrates which eventually become nitrogen gas again. It is important because it is a component of amino acid and nucleic acid, no organism could live without these. It is converted from nitrates/nitrites to acids by our bodies.
Nitrogen is cycled by the domestic animals and plants we raise. The process is tampered with by humans in the form of fertilizers which withdraw, but also place, nitrogen in the ecosystem and meat consumption which resets nitrogen before it completes its own cycle. The ecosystem always replaces the nitrogen when organisms decompose and will continue to cycle it from there.
Nitrogen is naturally found in certain species of plants (legumes, etc.), bacteria, and the Earth's atmosphere. There are two main sinks of nitrogen, the atmosphere and the many kinds of bacteria that reside all around us.
Protein is important to us humans and it is essential for our survival. However, consuming certain protein rich foods (specifically meat) can be hazardous so eating it about once or twice a month. Healthier alternatives to meat which are very efficient at giving the same amount of protein are nuts and seeds.
David Baker Capstone
in Capstone
For our capstone we created an indoor pitching mound. Nick and I have been playing baseball together for as long as I can remember, it was great to continue throughout high school. Our capstone to relate to baseball, because we wanted to give back to the team we play for throughout our high school career.
Constructing the pitcher's mound was harder than we anticipated. We knew the overall dimensions of the mound before we started building, and we had most of the building supplies in school. Moving all of the wood was hard work. Once we finished moving all of the supplies we had to sketch our design. The dimension of our mound is 4’x8’x10”. We spent a lot of our time in the makerspace, becoming certified on almost all of the equipment was very rewarding because it allows me to use the tools for other projects in the future.
The hardest part of creating our mound was creating the ramp. We made this process easier by creating the mound in two parts. There was top box you would stand on and that was 4’x3’. The ramp was the hard part and had to cut at a 20° angle. We originally tried to cut this with a circular saw but the blade did not cut all the through the wood. So we resorted to cutting it on the table saw and this was difficult because we had to create a sled to cut the wood on an angle.
Assembling the two pieces was a piece of cake. If we had to do something for this project. I would probably. Use grip tape instead of the turf. The turf really does make it look nice but if you are wearing normal sneakers you will slide, I think this could have been prevented by just using grip tape.
Devin Styles Capstone
in Capstone
For my capstone, I decided to write a few short horror stories. I used the sources in my bibliography with caution, while I wanted to find inspiration I also wanted to balance that with my own ideas. One of my stories titled, "An Old Friend" (which I started in 9th grade) has been rewritten, read over many times, and now even retitled. However, I was never satisfied with the story until I completed it for my senior capstone. My mentor pointed me in the right direction and that feedback carried over to the other stories I wrote. It was hard for me to balance my time for writing these stories that required full attention and creativity while also keeping up with projects, assignments, etc., as well as taking time out to collaborate with my mentor. However, I found it more convenient to go to my peers for revisions than to set up meetings with my mentor. To maintain a creative mindset while writing these stories I took breaks in between writing them. This was a way of making sure I didn't replicate the same feelings or characters in each story. The process of coming up with characters wasn't something that required me to use external sources, they came to me as I went, and then I read over my story and added small details in that would give the reader more of a background to look at for the characters. I appreciate the feedback from my mentor, as well as my peers on my short stories, it helped me out a lot.
Leo remembered when he first met Ronald in the Better Life Orphanage that wasn’t too far from the house he and his mother used to live in. Ronald’s parents had left him in front of the orphanage as a kid, his parents left a note in the small cardboard box with blankets he was in saying that they couldn’t afford to take care of him, and that he’d have a better life this way. The people who worked at the orphanage read it to him once he could fully understand what had happened. Ronald ripped the note up and trashed it, crying and throwing a tantrum. Leo sat a table over from him watching him lose control, then woman he always saw talking to him came over, after she calmed him down she went to talk to other kids. Leo got up and asked him what was wrong, Ronald explained his situation to him and the boys connected on not having parents in their lives. A family came in to the orphanage, Leo recognized them and went over to Ronald, “Look Ronald, that’s the family that wants to adopt me.” Ronald’s eyes lit up, then he turned his back to Leo. “What’s wrong Ronald?” asked Leo, “You’re going to leave me here alone, just like my parents did.” Ronald said. “No, I’m not leaving you alone, you have plenty of people here to talk to.” said Leo. “It’s fine just go man”, Ronald said as he flagged Leo off. The family came back monthly to check on Leo but suddenly they stopped coming, he later found out that the man’s wife had died and he was no longer interested in adopting a child. “Mr. Theodore’s wife has passed away Leo, I think you’re going to be here with us for a bit longer than expected. Leo remembered the words hitting his heart, the man and his wife were so kind to him, they made him feel loved again. He was waiting for months to get out of the orphanage, it was filled with troubled children, bedbugs, some of the kids he shared a room with were constantly itching with head lice and the strange men that worked there often made him feel uncomfortable.
Robert Lemley Capstone
in Capstone
Bullying is becoming an extremely big problem that many individuals endure. Bullies torment others because they want to feel powerful, they have been bullied themselves, or have a mental illness that makes them do things they dont think is wrong. Bullying can emotionally and physically destroy a victim, whether it is by cyber bullying, verbal abuse, or physical abuse. Physical bullying is becoming a very serious and detrimental problem. I chose to do this topic because bullying is killing 40,000 people yearly and i want to start to raise awareness. So for this project i did a google slide presentation on The Definition of Bullying, The Different Types of Bullying,The effects of bullying and how We Can Stop Bullying. I learned a lot more about bullying then i even thought i would. There some things i didn't even know that happened and i didn't mind the research because i got to get a quick touch up on what we can do to stop bullying. its a huge problem that has a simple solution.
One Point Perspective Room Drawing
in FreshmenArt
Gigi’s bedroom is full with her decorative things. She has a bed with couples of pillows (3) stack neatly and a heart flowered blanket on top. She has a big painting of Paris on the wall above the bed (personal item). She has a lamp table with a lamp on top. She has vanity table with some makeup on there and has a famous perfume (personal item). She has a bunch of flowers in a long vase that one of her best friend gave it to her (personal item). She has a working table with her macbook (personal item) and a coffee mug that says the words “family” (personal item) sitting there. And she has a comfortable small couch. The couch has two pillows one is a emoji pillow and another normal square pillow (personal item).
Art
Written Reflection, Q4
In quarter 1, we were assigned to make our own personal website to advertise ourselves to job offers, or schools. People choose different websites to use such as wix.com, weebly.com, etc. I choose Weebly. It was fairly easy to use, and I was able to make my website. It was a bit hard for me to make my website unique, and visually appealing. The project was successful for me. I was able to include all of the main points. Although, I wished I had spent more time into making it look more intriguing and putting more pictures up on it.
The project I choose in quarter 2 was to photoshop an image. I photoshopped my principal’s face onto the Mona Lisa. I used the program Adobe photoshop. My overall vision was to make it look like Mr. Johnson was the Mona Lisa. It was difficult trying to blend their skin colors together. Overall, the project was mostly successful.
In quarter 3, I did 3d modeling. I choose to make a piggy bank. It was a little difficult to find the right pieces and shapes. Then, I had to make them all stick together the same, with the same exact angles, and measurements. My vision for the project was to have a piggy bank that didn’t roll around and you could stick coins into. At first, I had trouble trying to put legs onto the piggy bank. It was difficult having the two front legs align at the exact same measurement, same for the back legs. The project was successful for the most part, except I was never able to 3D print out the piggy bank.
My high point of learning this course was when I used Adobe Photoshop. I learned how to blend two pictures together and make them look like one image. I also learned how to change the temperature or color of the picture. An area of growth that I had was being a bit more creative. In the beginning, when I first created my website, it was a mess. Now, with everything I’ve learned I believe I could make some tweaks to it and have it look more aesthetically pleasing.
Outside of class, I can use use what I’ve learned about making a website to make my own blog or website. I can also use photoshop to make a logo or design something for a business. Next year, we should learn more about html and coding. I believe it would help any kids that would like to go into computer programming.
My first tip that I have would be to always submit your checkpoints on time. My second tip would be to use what you learned in class outside of it. My third tip would be to choose a project that you would like to do.
Zhi Zhang Capstone
in Capstone
You know how it’s useful for companies to collect your information and record your web browsing habits so they can hit you with ads you would actually watch? It actually works, because Youtube’s recently been playing movie ads whenever I would watch videos instead of doing work, and I would actually watch the whole ad, because it catches my attention.
For my Capstone, I worked for the Tiny WPA & Public Workshop (whom I’ve been with for like 3 years now) alongside Mr. Pilla and Gabe Ladd to help code, design enclosures, and install photo sensors (light sensors), and vibration sensors onto benches and eventually in a park that’s going to be built soon.
The sensors would gather use data on finished projects from the Tiny WPA and Public Workshop and show us how people use the things we’ve built, so that we can improve the design later, and we can also use the data to show that the projects are actually being used and that the money the funders have given us weren’t wasted.
During the project, I would meet with either Mr. Pilla or another guy Gabe who’s an engineer, and they would mentor us on the basic concepts of coding and electronics, the principles of data collection and analysis, plus sensor design and manufacturing techniques. The product of this project was a sensor that records if something's being used at whatever time through detecting disturbances in the amount of light it’s receiving, and we’re probably gonna use it in our future projects like benches on the sidewalk, as well as making it public with instructions so others can replicate use it.
Konstantina Angelis Capstone
in Capstone
Q4 Project Tech
Q1 Overview
I wasn’t here first quarter, I went to lower merion. At lower merion, there was a lot white people and they would always follow me around and say ‘yup Leon’. Throughout my journey at lower merion I did not enjoy. The people there were very awkward and the school day was very boring. I wasn’t challenged much so I didn’t much work. In short Lower Merion sucked.
Q2 Overview
So Coming into sla during quarter 2 I had decided to work on a video. In this video I would make a combo video of me and friends playing super smash brothers melee!!!! In the combo video my aim was to make everyone look sick and good(we aren’t). Unfortunately recording clips on your phone makes the footage look like it was made in 2006. Get a capture card if you can. The video was a pretty good success, I liked the way it panned out.
Q3 Overview
In quarter 3 I did a image editing project. In this project I wanted to highlight the time period in which Leffen was just winning all the tournaments. I decided to take inspiration from Nega Scott’s ending in Scott Pilgrim vs the World the Game.I put Leffen’s face over Nega Scott who was what the picture was about and it was perfect since Leffen is the “Villain” of the community. I put the Gods of melee over the main characters face since they were pretty much unstoppable until Leffen showed up and beat them all.
Revised Project
I decided to go back to my quarter 2 project since I liked it a lot and really enjoyed making it. I couldn’t really salvage footage due to unfortunate circumstances of my memory card with all the footage being stolen. Knowing this I decided to add special effects to some portions of the project and try my best to make it more aesthetically appealing. This proved difficult and I think that at a later
Highpoint
A high point for me was definitely gathering the footage for my combo video. It was an increasingly fun experience and playing my friends was great as well. Overall it was a good way to play and play with a purpose.
Area of Growth
An area of growth would be completing my work in a timely fashion and getting better quality footage. This needs to get better because frankly, the class is easy and fun so there shouldn’t be a reason to not have an A. I also don’t want my footage to look like it was filmed on a potato so a capture card or something that will get footage better would be great
Idea for next year
I wanna build a computer.
Tips
Turn things in on time
Have fun
Be creativeKimberly Caraballo: Capstone
in Capstone
When I think about my future the first thought that comes to mind is how much I want to be a veterinarian. The feeling you get when you help an animal is so priceless and beautiful. In the United States alone there is an estimate of 70 million stray animals. Let me repeat that… 70 MILLION. This opportunity that my capstone has given me was directed towards my future. For my capstone, I decided that I wanted to help these animals in any way that I could. In Philadelphia, there are stray cats found everywhere… especially where I live. I decided that throughout the school year I would document how I helped them through journal entries, pictures, and video footage. In my neighborhood alone there's about 11 cats that I feed daily and the story to how I acquired all these is amazing. The time, money and effort that I have put into taking care of these animals are evident throughout these journals. Every two weeks I buy a $15 24 pound bag of cat food, and throughout the school year, I've bought blankets, houses, boxes and food trays for them. I spend time with the cats and treat them like my own honestly. If my father weren’t deadly allergic to cats I would probably adopt two of them. I hope that through these journals and pictures you can see how the cats I take care of impacted me. Especially my last journal. Down below you’ll find journal entries scattered throughout the months.
Cycles Of Matter In The Food System (Nitrogen)
Cycle of Sulfur
Nzinga Hutchinson Capstone
in Capstone
For my project, I made a book of short stories and poetry. The reason I chose this specific way to do my project is because writing is definitely one of my stronger points and one of my passions other than music. Poetry is a creative way for me to express myself using words when I can’t adequately verbalize my feelings to others and the world. When I met up with my mentor Ms. Fanning, I had told her that I wanted to make a book of short stories and poetry. She helped and guided me through making it. At first, she had suggested that I make a Chicken Soup for the Soul kind of book and I agreed with her on that suggestion but I just figured to make a chapbook. A chapbook is a small book ranging from 20-40 pages consisting of poems and short stories. I chose this simply for the fact that it aligns with my strengths and it was fun. This has made me learn how to expressively and creatively use words and structure them the way I want to help express my emotions and experiences to others.
Annotated Bib.:
https://docs.google.com/a/slabeeber.org/document/d/1mRzaZ8NNmnfKQRh0LspUpZtWnmQ3fpO-Gs1kXXA_of8/edit?usp=sharing
Cycles of Matter in the Food System: Nitrogen
The Sulfur Cycle in the Food System
Marcus Villacorta Capstone: 360 Blog
in Capstone
During the early years of high school I was a lonely child. Although I was very friendly at the time and had no trouble finding friends, I found trouble confiding in them and I felt unable to speak my mind. This had led me to begin writing as a way to express these emotions. I had continued to write, but slowed down in my sophomore year of high school, due to learning the skill of woodworking/carpentry. For the first time in my life I was able to create something tangible from absolutely nothing but an image in my mind. That was something I had never experienced before this point. It was liberating in so many ways, and it led me to other practices such as electronics, drawing, painting, and so much more. However in my junior year I had begun to deal with some very personal problems, and my family life became very chaotic. It was once again difficult for me to express myself and I had lost focus on what I wanted in life. That changed, but only after I had found my old writings, because I had begun to understand what writing used to do for me mentally. Eventually I had pulled myself from a very dark place through writing, and that collection of writings was meant to be my capstone in the form of a book. This vision had to change, since the writings were all more or less separate they have to be organized and tweaked so that they flow as a cohesive book. I do want to complete this project, even if it takes me thirty years to do so. The collection of writings are just very personal and have to be edited very delicately before I can comfortably release them for everyone to see. But since this is my senior project I knew I had to have something completed, so I decided to create a blog. So that I may post as I complete the pieces and so I can organize them as I release them. The first blog post will be posted, and read as part of my capstone presentation. Feel free to add your input on any posts, and welcome to my first attempt at a blog. Any updates will be noted in future posts.
Errion's Capstone #WarmOurWorld
in Capstone
This year for my final SLA capstone, I decided to crochet a few hats and a scarf to donate to CHOP. This was a really cool thing to do because not only was I able to learn how to crochet and teach some of my peers, it sort of felt like a social experiment. In a day and age where everything is changing so rapidly, it’s hard to assume who’s going to be doing what. Many people are going out of their ways as activists to break down social constructs in order for people to freely express themselves and be comfortable while doing so. I’ve been knitting basic rectangular scarves on and off again since the 4th grade. Ever since then and even now, people would jokingly call me a grandma or old lady for knitting and crocheting. I’ll usually laugh along with them without a care in my mind. I personally appreciate those women older than me who were patient and willingly to teach me these creative stitching methods. I think that this could be an important skill to have if you wanted to stretch your entrepreneurial skills and sell your products or just to make winter hats yourself and save money. I personally enjoyed crocheting because it relaxed me and was so easy to do and easy to travel with.
https://www.loveknitting.com/us/tegan-baby-hat-with-top-knot-knitting-pattern-by-julie-taylor
Knot, Tegan, and Tegan Knot. "Tegan Baby Hat With Top Knot Knitting Pattern By Julie Taylor". LoveKnitting. N.p., 2017. Web. Apr. 2017.
This article is from Loveknitting.com. This website gives out knitting ideas from random people who are willing to share their own techniques. This article is particularly about instructions on knitting a baby’s hat. There is a 4 page instruction page. It was donated to the website by Julie Taylor for beginners. This is great for my capstone since I will be both knitting and crocheting hats for babies at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
"Head Huggers: Crochet Pattern: Double Crochet Hat Pattern". Headhuggers.org. N.p., 2017. Web. Apr. 2017.
The article is from the website headhuggers.org. There is a list of instructions for me to learn how to crochet this specific hat pattern. Ms. Leaness is going to teach me how to read those stitches. This stitch will give my hats a unique look to show my effort into creating these hats.
"Make An Easy Crochet Hat". YouTube. N.p., 2017. Web. Apr. 2017.
This is a Youtube video instructing me an easy way to crochet a hat. Youtube is filled with videos of all forms. There is a wide range of instructional videos, especially for beginners of crocheting. It’s free and anyone with a camera and a computer can submit a video.
http://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/care-baby-delivery-room
"Care Of The Baby In The Delivery Room | Children's Hospital Of Philadelphia". Chop.edu. N.p., 2017. Web. Apr. 2017.
This is the website for The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, CHOP. This is the place where I will be donating my hats to.
Alicia Nelson, Kashia Bumpess Capstone
in Capstone
For our Capstone project, I thought it would only be right if I focus on animals because I am going to college to be a veterinary nurse and Kashia believes animals should have an equal opportunity to a good life just like us. For our project, we decided to challenge the concept that zoos aren’t good for animals by making a video to help people really look at how zoos make animals feel. We assume that since animals cannot talk we know what’s best for them and can make decisions for them. That is incorrect. Animals come from a different world than we do and have their own lives to live.
We cannot put them in any environment to help accommodate for what we want all the time. That is why Kashia and I went to our local zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo, to observe the animal's behavior when put into a room to be observed by the public. When observing certain animals like primates, I noticed that most of them looked rather sad and bored living in there. While others like lions and tigers, who live in an open space outside were a little aggressive. Watching the animals lay in the little habitats made me feel really dead inside. Especially, seeing the polar bear outside on a partially cool day, living alone. He wasn’t happy just like most of the animals there. That is why we say no to the created creation and preservation of zoos.
