For my capstone, I decided to design and organize a girls’ group that would not only benefit me but also empower the females in the group. Creating this project was a challenge, like coming up with a group name, choosing different females, keeping the students engaged in the group, and selecting topics. Over the weeks, I had to organize many different topics, questions, rules, and boundaries, and choose females who would like to join. Choosing the females was a little difficult, but to do so, I made a flyer that represented and showed all of the details for the group, which included the name, the place, and time, a description, and how many females were needed for this group. Overall, the group was a major success, and everyone benefited in any way possible. The girls gained a lot of self-esteem, and I developed and grew in many different skills, such as communication, motivation, and confidence.

For my capstone, I decided to put on a fashion show with two other classmates. Over a couple of months, we decide the theme for the show would be springtime and the flowers that bloom. Thinking of a theme took us some time because we had to keep in mind our time, budget, and skills, but we were up for the challenge either way. While still planning our theme, we wanted to stay on schedule by selecting other students who wanted to participate in our show by putting up “models wanted” posters all around the school. After 2 weeks, we collected our posters and held auditions, choosing 10 models. The following week, we took all the models’ measurements to prepare for making their outfits. As a team we discussed that the best way to balance the workload was by assigning three outfits to create among the three of us. This was very helpful so that I could get their outfits done while still working on other things for school. This process of planning and creating has led us to the fashion show to be held on May 23rd, 2025.

For my Capstone, I co-led a video game mini-course for 7th and 8th graders over two years. The mini-course, a student-led elective on Wednesday afternoons, introduced younger students to the world of video games through weekly lessons and hands-on activities. My team and I taught topics like game development, gaming history, hardware, virtual reality, and motion controls. We started each session with a presentation and discussion, followed by gameplay related to the lesson. Classroom management was a major challenge, but we developed systems—such as behavior rules, structured consequences, and attention strategies—to keep students engaged and respectful. I also contributed behind the scenes by troubleshooting tech issues and supporting students during projects. One highlight was the final assignment where students created their own game companies, complete with posters, game concepts, and console designs. It was rewarding to see them take ownership of their ideas and work collaboratively. Personally, this experience helped me break out of my comfort zone, improve my leadership skills, and gain confidence speaking in front of a group. I also deepened my interest in educational technology and discovered the value of patience and adaptability. This Capstone not only helped middle schoolers explore gaming in a meaningful way, but it also helped me grow into a more capable, supportive, and reflective individual.

Are video games bad, and do they make you dumber?

For this capstone, I decided to take insight from people from my past and use their ideas or give out information to tackle a question that has been proposed for many years about video games. In this project, I give points and arguments that favor education through video games. Of course, this question has been tackled many times in other ways; thus, why I believed I had been right in this argument up until now, I’ve been able to publicly fight for my side and prove that my ideas and opinions were right. I decided to cover 3 distantly different games and explained each of their parts in the questions and the various types of teachings passed on within the world.

For my capstone project, I worked with six of my peers to teach children in the 6th grade on strategic thinking when it comes to gaming. We figured that bringing critical thinking into board games would be a great interactive experience between us and the kids. I learned about the children’s passion and interests, being born in so many years apart, learning these was much easier, summarizing and breaking down concepts to be easier to grasp. The process had rough points in the beginning, with teaching the kids being more strategy-based instead of just going all in, but by the end, all the children got the hang of it.