For my senior project which is also called a Capstone, my partner and I decided to throw a SLA @ Beeber's first fashion show! As you can imagine it was both exciting and stressing being as though we are both 18 years old with outside of school responsibility we had to tend to but overall we got the job done. We did a "blast from the past" fashion show covering different ears such as 80's , 90's Afrocentric and Present day. Both the Afrocentric and Present day clothes were designed by SLA students.The first three months were strictly fundraising , we did bake sales , waterice sale , hot dog, chip and soda combo's . All to raise the money to fund the clothes the model would be wearing in the show and to fund other things for this production , The next month around February we began our tryouts and starting practices for the show. We did photo shoots to create flyers to advertise the show and me being the present day designer, I began to work on my pieces that would be in the show. We partnered with another student Jason Prez and got him to record the show so we could have not only pictures but a video of what we put together. We had to do research on what the clothes looked like at the time, we to create a estimated price range etc. This fashion show was far from easy, it took so much hard work but it all paid off in the end.

For my capstone I wrote five original short stories. I thought that this would be the best way for me to express myself. This also allowed me to express my creativity. Throughout the process of writing these short stories I learned a few things. I learned the true meaning of what it means to be a good writer. I learned a lot of ways that can boost my confidence. This helps to make my writing better and more raw so the reader can be hooked.

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

During our capstone project, Jason Perez and I realized that we have the same interests in a field of work that was very special to us. That field of work was Film and Video, digital media in broader terms. This field of work was special to us because it allowed us to connect to many different types of people not just locally but nationally as well. The field rooted from hard work, collaboration, execution, and passion qualities that developed during our four years at Science Leadership Academy @ Beeber. With those qualities in mind, we developed the idea of creating a Film Production studio on a small scale, similar to what we have today at SLA's rough cut studios and SLA@B's media lab. We crafted a name, a logo, a mission statement, almost anything and everything you could think of when establishing something as big as a studio. But life hit us very hard, it was difficult to get funding as teachers didn't support after-school jobs, teachers and students didn't support monetary donations or spreading for awareness, many doubted us, many didn't see what we envisioned for our capstone. It would have been studio that would have taught students that learning is more than textbooks and being at a desk in the classroom. Learning is getting out into the field and expressing and embracing your creative vision, a quality that is suppressed by current practices. This was developed on the fact that there is a handful of schools that find the funding to create these programs, both SLA's as an example. Imagine. Create. Entertain. Productions (I.C.E) would have been a program for any and all students within the Philadelphia school district to learn new skills and develop new media to be seen by millions of people in the world. Today, I.C.E Productions stands as a long term goal between Jason Perez and I as we work towards building a credible portfolio to be seen by thousands of people. We hope to inspire, entertain, and more importantly teach through the videos we've created utilizing the programs provided by WHYY, SLA@B media lab, and the on-the-fly skills we've developed through experience. Video Links: Sugar my Balls - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w1PdWlETk8 The Pen and Prejudice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppw69wJFYfA Storm 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVXdLKH_e90 Infidelity - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms_EFJ3CIuc It's alwways sunny in Philadelphia - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yTQx7HAby0 It's bigger than TX - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IItnfx_Am68 Film Reel attached Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/a/slabeeber.org/document/d/1YkWoROgmAJVAITPF5Ox2mUOaDkfSPP8LpVO_VOfqZwA/edit?usp=sharing