Belle’s mission is to enlighten young black girls on the potential that lies right inside them through practicing the love of self, character development, and emotional intelligence: self-awareness and social management. For many years, black women have been victimized by society by being projected as over-sexualized, aggressive, bitter, and angry. Still, little does everyone know, we are Belle’s. We are made with nothing but pure beauty, elegance, leadership, love, and empowerment. Sadly, nothing is understood about the effect of derogatory stereotypes on black girls and women. In the lens of the media, communities, and ethnic classes, a black woman is held to a high standard of staying strong, displaying little vulnerability, and still being pushed to the sidelines of everyone's issues. There is little known information on the impact of negative assumptions on black girls and women. How can we transform our communities’ opinions by sharing and acknowledging a black girl’s experiences and demand attention to our mental and emotional health? Throughout the Belle Program, there have been major gains and setbacks due to the delays revolving around the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the three girls I've worked with have shown significant improvement in their self-awareness and emotional intelligence despite the pandemic. The initial idea for Belle was for weekly Zoom meetings and a final in-person meeting to create vision boards and participate in other fun activities. Regrettably, it did not go as intended, and as a result, I created my own vision board showing the representation of what Belle is.

For my capstone, I have created a podcast called "Let's talk about it SLA''. These segments have been discussed by both Teachers and students alike. Furthermore, in these episodes, you will listen to stories and experiences about burnout, adapting to change, finding motivation, and more. I wanted to make my capstone to be inclusive to the community around me, which is SLA. I thought about how teachers and students aren't having conversations regarding mental health without it too being taboo. What better way of bringing SLA together than to be vulnerable in some aspects. On the other hand, this process of putting it all together was a hassle. From research upon research of finding the right domain for recording to actually editing, took some trial and error. But after some time I was able to record my podcasts on Ancor and edit it easily on Garageband. All my episodes are now up and running for free on Spotify! Furthermore, I learned that making a podcast requires much patience and flexibility, especially when you have people featured on it. Also, I didn't expect to have as much fun as I did making it. Lastly, I hope my podcast brings comfort to those who are struggling and realizing that they are not alone.

As a graduating senior, I plan to pursue a teaching career in Early Childhood Education. This action research project allowed me to gain the experience of working with younger children. How does early learning of Spanish impact the Pre- K students' early Spanish knowledge and classroom culture?. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, all instruction occurred remotely. I continued to adapt my teaching style and lesson plans based on my collaboration with the classroom teacher and my SLABeeber mentor teachers. My lessons focus on students learning the color, animals, fruits, vegetables, months, and days in Spanish. My purpose in designing these lessons, intentionally focusing on basic language concepts for 3-year-olds was to offer these students the opportunity to have some exposure to a new language; Spanish. As a future educator, this project allows offered the opportunity to have real-world experience teaching younger students that I could apply when I become a Spanish teacher.