For my senior Capstone project, I chose to create a visual novel type game. I wanted to create something that anyone could interact with online, that would have some kind of impact on the person. The biggest struggle I ran into is my own ambition. I wanted to create the best thing that I possibly could, and be really proud of my work, so I ended up spending way more time than I had planned on finalizing the story. I went through many different ideas, before arriving at the one that I currently have, and this was a large setback for me. This has also caused this project to become an ongoing project instead of a finished one, which isn’t what I originally planned. However, this gives me a lot more time and freedom to do what I want with the project, and removes the stress of deadlines from me. Throughout the process, I’ve learned how good it can feel to create something that is relevant to myself as a person, and my experiences. I’ve also learned how hard this is, and how easy it is to get caught up questioning if every little thing is perfect.

The link below goes to the current version of my game, which will keep updating automatically as I continue working on it. If you feel like it, please check back every so often to see what I’ve done. Thanks!

https://cloudnovel.net/seaotter/novel/into-the-abyss-and-through-the-mirror

With my capstone I aimed to find a middle ground between the artist behind a piece of media and the audience that receives it. Specifically, I looked to find the answer to the question, “How can I entertain a wide group of people while also focusing on my own creative input?”. This inquiry question is relevant to me as an aspiring film student going into Temple University’s Film and Media Arts program next year. I felt that having a deeper understanding of artistic philosophy might better help guide my learning and career. Linked here is the video clip that I produced that responds to my inquiry question as well as the writing piece that accompanies it.

Hello, My name is Damien DiGiacomo, and I, along with Kasim Divers have done something amazing. We started project plants in classrooms. This project allows us to Help put plants in various classrooms throughout the school. We committed to doing extensive research on how plants can affect the classroom and how it operates in different ways. One study we found suggests that students actually pay attention better when plants are present in classrooms. A year-long study at The Royal College of Agriculture in Cirencester, England, found that students demonstrate 70% greater attentiveness when they’re taught in rooms containing plants. The focused and more attentive students showed to perform better on tests and even retain information slightly better. The way we went about this project was first we consulted a teacher from school and then we proceeded to go out and buy all the necessary materials to complete the process. We intended to grow the plants ourselves at first but this would have taken quite a while. So instead we decided to buy some partially grown plants and then grow them a bit ourselves before handing them out. All the teachers who received plants seemed to be very happy to have them. This whole project has been a fun experience for us, we hope that project plants in classrooms will help all the students to come after us.

For my final project at SLA, I chose to expand upon an activity that I have been doing for the past four years, which is playing the piano. However, this year I wanted to do something more than just “playing the piano”. I wanted to truly capture the essence of utilizing music to augment our school’s atmosphere. I foresaw this through playing instruments throughout the school during transitional timeframes, such as lunch. I would play the grand piano at the entrance of the school and have students gather around and chill. Additionally, I would play my guitar or ukulele and fill the school hallways with music as students would walk by and listen. I also used my music to fulfill the creative aspects of class projects. Furthermore, I participated in the school play by being the music scorer. In the process of executing my capstone project, I feel as though I learned that music is one of the most essential methods for creating a sense of harmony within a community.

https://youtube.com/shorts/GUeJJuTVQrc?feature=share

For my capstone, I wrote this year’s SLA Beeber theater production!! It was a play entitled A How-to Guide for the Haunting and the Haunted, written by me and directed by the lovely Ms. Hare. I was involved in many aspects of it, from (of course) writing the script to casting to designing the set. I even acted in it!! It was an absolutely glorious experience and I am so very glad I got to have the opportunity.

For my capstone project, I worked with Jownira to research the issues that children face, especially the ones who need to carry oxygen cylinders on daily basis. We planned to make a flexible oxygen cylinder holder that can sense children’s movement so that they don’t always need to be assisted by an adult. However, the process wasn’t very easy as we started working on it, due to not having enough resources. Considering the research and also the accessibility to resources, we had to change our initial plan. We ended up making a car seat belt for the oxygen cylinder that can be used while traveling; it will secure the cylinder well, preventing it from possible accidental drips. After making our product, we presented our project as a proposal to the organization that funded us. Our main goal was to spread awareness on this issue which barely gets spoken about in our community so that people who are in power can take a step toward changing the issue. It was a different and unique experience for both of us. We have learned to think critically about the people and give back to the community that we are in. We noticed how difficult a task could be even though it may seem an easy task to do at first. Lastly, we have to acknowledge not to be afraid to change our plan if things don’t work out the way we wanted to be.

For me and Justyce project we decided to do a Talent Show. We were advocating for this talent show to happen because these past couple of years of living in a pandemic have been challenging for many of us all. I’m sure many are still trying to process everything that has occurred along with dealing with grief & loss. We believe that having this talent show will be refreshing, promote positive school spirit, uplift & support one another, and bring many together socially again. We can’t erase the past as we know but we can do our best to move forward and begin to enjoy life again. This is also our last year at SLA so we thought why not leave on a fun positive note and doing something that would benefit the school in a positive way. In doing this capstone we ran into some challenges because although covid has gotten better we are still enduring some complications hence having the talent show. Throughout this processed one of our complications was trying to find a date to have our talent show. After the many complications of finding a date because of covid we decided that doing this talent show we had to change some things around making this talent show an unusual one. So, we turned our show into a virtual talent show allowing students to turn in videos of their talent and we turned those videos into one big video.

For my capstone, I decided to create a podcast composed of film reviews. This project aimed to answer the question “How can I learn to give a meaningful critique of movies, that would challenge people to think more critically about the media they engage with?” I started working on it in February. I did one episode every week. First I would watch a film, usually on the weekends, then I would write out some bullet points of things I wanted to talk about. On Wednesday, I would record audio and start editing. I would finish editing and publish the episode on the weekends. I managed to create a total of 16 episodes. They range in length from 6 to 20 minutes. From this project, I learned a bit about audio editing, thought not as much as I would have liked. I also learned a lot about how to think about and critique films. This project also helped me hone my verbal communication skills and taught me to better express my thoughts and feelings.

Here is a link to the podcast:

Picking the right topic for me for my capstone was difficult. I ended up not coming to a final decision until March which was pretty late considering how much time I’ve had. By that time I had decided to do my capstone on the paid internship, I participated in. The internship was called LincABLE. This internship taught me about financial literacy and networking. In terms of financial literacy, an example would be putting 10% away in a retirement fund when you can every paycheck. My process to complete this capstone was not as hard as I initially intended. The biggest part of this was me being able to apply myself and really give my all for this experience. You get out what you put in they always say. I want to voice that any rising seniors that have nothing to do from February to May should participate in this program. I completely recommend and will tell you that you will most definitely get something out of it. Linked is a podcast done by my team during the program.