For my capstone, I decided to work with holograms, as a hologram is something that interests me, and holograms involve different kinds of engineering that I am not very familiar with, electrical engineering and coding.

In my final product, there is a port which takes the input from a laptop, process it through an Arduino Nano, then display it on a TFT LCD screen. Then the information displayed on the LCD screen reflect onto a mirror, then to a piece of translucent acrylic glass. The whole thing is connected to a pair of glasses frame, and the wearer can read information from the acrylic glass through their right eyes.

My capstone did not end up exactly where I wanted it to be, I was imagining something better, but I did not have the skills to do that yet. I do plan to continue working on it throughout college. Since it did not turn out to be as good or as small as I wanted it to be, I decided to have some fun in the end, and I made the case very spiky, and I named my final product “Spiky”.

In the end, not only did I learned electrical engineering and coding, I also had a lot of fun and learned things about myself.

My capstone project was to travel to Costa Rica on a field study to research water supply, security, and interactions. Before my trip, I did a lot of research to gather as much information on the topic as possible. I did not want to travel to a new country completely ignorant and blinded. Going into the project and trip, I knew that all of my research would not be feasible. Because most of the research I did were from secondary sources, I knew that I was not collecting the desired information, which made my trip more important. On the trip I was able to collect and gather as much primary sources as I possibly could; just being there and seeing everything for myself was also a primary source. The process was a little challenging since only a few natives spoke english. With the help from guides and a few of my classmates, I was able to understand and gather useful information. A lot of my information also came from observation. Any observation I would make, I asked questions pertaining to it to clarify my understanding. Arriving to Costa Rica, I was stunned by my ignorance and I wasn’t the only one. If a group of people were ignorant of the country’s lifestyle, then it’s for certain that a lot more people are too. Once I returned from the trip, I wanted to not only create a project surrounding water in Costa Rica, but on the small details of the country as well.

Annotated Bibliography

Bower, Kathleen M. “Water Supply and Sanitation of Costa Rica.” SpringerLink, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2 Apr. 2013, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12665-013-2416-x.

When I first opened this source, I thought it would have all the information I would need. It was titled “Water supply and Sanitation of Costa Rica”. This made me think that I would gather, if not all, majority of my information here. Although this source did not hold all of the information I needed, it did help with my process. This source is an article on water supply and sanitation in Costa Rica. It holds informations about environmental care and the sustainability of water resources. I found it by simply researching water systems in Costa Rica. This source supports my capstone by giving me thorough information about my topic. This article provided stats on population and supply of domestic water resources, which helps me get an understanding of how things happen in Costa Rica.

Porras, Nazareth. (2016).The Sixaola River Basin: Costa Rica and Panama. San José, Costa Rica: UICN, 12 pp. https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/content/documents/bridge_sixaola_english.pdf.

When I first found this source I was very impressed with the amount of information it provided. This source is a textbook article on the Sixaola River Basin. The basin is located between Costa Rica and Panama, right by the Yorkín community, which is relatively close to the Bribri community. The Sixaola River extends over 2,848.3 km2 (1099.73 mi2). 19% of the river is located in Panama and 81% in Costa Rica. The river plays a huge role as a watershed for several communities including the Bribri community. I found this information very useful since I will be studying the interactions between the people of the community and the river. Learning the aspects of the river gives me an idea of how it may be used by the community. This also makes me question Costa Rica’s interaction with Panama.

Blanco, Adrián Martinez, and Diana Ubico Durán. “Water Security in the Sixaola River Basin.” Peace and Conflict, Monitor, 30 Apr. 2014, www.monitor.upeace.org/innerpg.cfm?id_article=1043.

I found this source by researching the security of the Sixaola River in Costa Rica. I searched this topic because the security of the river is something to keep track of since the river is shared by many communities and multiple countries. When I found this source, I thought it was pretty useful because it identified challenges within the basin and communities and how security impacted different communities.  This source is an analytical article on the security of the basin, as a whole. Parts of the article focuses on Costa Rica and other parts focuses on Panama. Overall, this article gives me information on how the two countries are dependent on each other.

“The Binational Commission of the Sixaola River Basin Draws Municipalities Together for the Environment.” IUCN, 19 May 2016, www.iucn.org/content/binational-commission-sixaola-river-basin-draws-municipalities-together-environment.

When I found this source I thought that it was a perfect representation of how Costa Rica and Panama works together. I found this source by researching collaborations of Costa Rica and Panama with respect to the Sixaola River. It basically explained what companies and associations are involved and what roles they play in taking care of the basin. It also elaborates on why it is important for the two to do so. This source is very helpful because it allows me to see how certain associations take stances on specific human resources. It also helps me because it answers many of my questions of how the two countries come together.

“POV Call for Entries Broadcast Season 2018.” POV, PBS, 2017, http://cfe.pov.org/POVcfeSubmissionGuidelines.pdf.

When I found this source, I thought it was very helpful for my final product. Initially, I wanted to make a documentary and post it on the SLA homepage. This source is an article and flyer for a documentary competition. I found this source very helpful because for part of my final project I will be creating a documentary. Since this documentary will be on water supply, security, and interactions with the Sixaola River in Costa Rica I want to share my findings with more than just the SLA community. I feel as though more people in the world would be interested in my projects and its findings. This source also benefits me because it helps advertise my project. But overall, I want my documentary to be a learning experience to many.

Stinson, Jim. “Shooting the Journey: A Guide to Vacation Video.” Videomaker, 1 Mar. 1995, www.videomaker.com/article/f2/1404-shooting-the-journey-a-guide-to-vacation-video.

When I found this source, I thought it was very beneficial. Because the basics of this documentary is the journey that I will be on, I wanted to learn how to properly record my trip. Since I have never recorded any type of experience or journey before, I thought it would only be right to research how. This source is very helpful because it teaches me how to keep track of what I record and what things I should record. Rather than just explaining what to put in a documentary, it explains how to acquire certain aspects.

Fisher, Sky. “How to Visit The Largest Indigenous Community in Costa Rica.” Epicure & Culture, 7 June 2017, https://epicureandculture.com/bribri-travel/.

This source is basically someone’s personal experience in the  community themselves. It gives a perspective of the things that happened or that’s going to happen. It’s basically a “what to expect” guide. This guide explains things that someone usually wouldn’t wonder; like, how do you get to the actual community? Well, the community is only accessible by boat. This is very useful information, especially since, I will be journeying their myself. This source gives me an idea of what everything will be like. It also allows me to prepare for the tri and the many encounters within it. This source also provides ways to get involved with community; whether it’s for vacation, touring, or service work.

Fariña, Ana Lucía. “Bribri Women Lead the Way in Community-Based Tourism in Costa Rica.” Cultural Survival, Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine, Mar. 2012, www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/bribri-women-lead-way-community-based-tourism-costa-rica.

This source is an article story written by a Costa Rican tour guide. In this article they reflect on the indigenous people of the Yorkín and Bribri communities. Since we will be invading a community, I wanted to study the people that’ll be there. I wanted to know their background and history so that I was not completely oblivious and ignorant of their growth. I found this source very helpful because not only did it elaborate on the people, it explained the culture and history behind it. It made me aware of some of their struggles and how they may overcome them. It also points out the diversity in the community; gender, age, and color diversity are uniquely important within Costa Rican communities. This source also points out some future goals that the native people has made.

“Making Documentaries: A Step By Step Guide.” Desktop-Documentaries, www.desktop-documentaries.com/making-documentaries.html.

I found this source by looking up ways to prepare for a documentary. Because I am planning on filming and creating my own documentary, I searched the proper steps in order to do so. I’ve made a documentary before, in the past, so I’m not completely in the dark of how to create one. But since it has been a while since I’ve done so, I didn’t want to miss any components when creating one. When I was looking for this source I thought it was the best one. It basically has the whole thought process and timeline laid out for the planning, filming, and editing process. Not only does it have the process broken down, it also has instructions and examples on how to do it.

Sophomore year during health class Ms. Martin said; “Stress is the biggest problem S.L.A students face.” Two years later when tasked with making a capstone these words would once again come into my mind, and lead to the creation of a Stress Clinic. The purpose of the clinic was to be a place students could come to meditate, relax, and essentially ease their minds. The main principle that fueled the clinic was positive education, the belief that schools should not only focus on the academic success of their students, but also their mental health and well being. The clinic itself taught me that working with people is not easy. Getting people to attend the clinic was difficult. This tied in with the fact that my fellow classmates where also holding their capstone events during the the same time period, added another hurdle for me. All these hardships led to a myriad of meetings where no students attended. The capstone process was one that has taught me numerous things ranging from what stress is on a psychological level to how to teach and hold a group of people’s attention. Even with all the difficulties and frustrations that occured I cannot lie I enjoyed my capstone. Having an opportunity to work on something that interests me was a big and enjoyable change from normal schooling.

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cCQFnNrJdE28mF-KTOukRSkyTXlwa9sJHdT7ibUtLjo/edit?usp=sharing