For my internship last year I volunteered at HIAS PA which is a local refugee resettlement agency. I was a mentor for refugee high school students and helped with their homework and and just simply being there when they have a question or support. We also would go on educational trips such as cooking at the library, cleaning up trash at the Tacony Frankford Watershed, and learning about EMS workers and their job. I felt like I was making a difference in these students' lives and leaving a positive impact. I wanted to make my capstone about something I'm passionate about because I feel that the point of this project is to do something that is important to you. For my senior capstone I decided that my main goal was to give refugee students the opportunity to tell their story of coming to the United States and clarify any misconceptions assumed about their transition and reasons for coming to the United States. I wanted to create a video that would feature refugee students sharing their personal stories about their journey to the U.S. and the process taken to be accepted for resettlement. I also included multiple misconceptions people develop about refugees. I am super proud of my project because I gave refugee students the opportunity to share their stories. This video also shows what I'm passionate about and who I am as a person. Here is the link to the video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tscWP4dlXnuNhsEE9kYDdMscpIItjKU7/view?usp=sharing

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the term “streetwear”? Do you think of one of your favorite influencers? Do you think of your favorites places to shop? Personally, I think of the youth. The youth are always adding aspects of flavor to improve almost everything in the world. This capstone was solely based around streetwear which is once again making a huge impact on the youth, but what does that mean for them? Unfortunately, the original agenda I had planned for this project to come to life could not be executed. The alternative I thought of was to have an over the phone interview, with the two participants and then to them create a montage of them putting together different fits for each season of the year. Fashion is the one thing in life that I am sincerely passionate about. Becoming a clothes designer was never my intention, but knowing what pieces to put together and how to accessorize could be a start to introduce myself into the fashion world. Choosing to apply this to my capstone was just a way for me to really start getting in tune with what I want to move forward with for the rest of my life. The Core Values are: Inquiry, Research, Collaboration, Presentation, & Reflection. For Inquiry my question is, “what does streetwear mean to you?”. Research was just me focusing on different Complex segments, and other fashion documentaries to look into how it could relate. Collaboration falls into me working with one other person outside of SLA to help the final product come to life. Reflection comes after everything is completed and I look into how this really contributes to what I want to do for my career later in the future. In order to complete this capstone, I had to switch it around. The original concept was to recreate a Complex segment video. There were two individuals I chose, boy and girl, that I would both interview about their take on streetwear. Then they would take me to the store of their choosing and walk me through the way they put together a fit for the day. I also had a friend who would record both events to bring it to life as an imitation of a Complex segment. Unfortunately for me as well as most of my senior class, due to this epidemic I couldn’t proceed with that idea. Luckily, I figured out an alternative to substitute itself. Instead, I continued on with conducting an interview to still incorporate the voice of the youth for streetwear. Afterward, both participants will be in a montage that has them put together fits using the clothes they both have at home. Each outfit will be for each season of the year, winter, spring, summer, and fall. This helps both the boy and girl take notice into how they illustrate and differentiate their individual style throughout the year. In the events where my original concept could not work, I was only able to conduct one interview but still get both individuals to produce a vidoe of them styling themselves. The interview consisted of these questions: What does streetwear mean to you? When you hear the word “fashion”, what os the first thing that comes to mind? Who are some fashion influencers that inspire you? Are you interested in high fashion designers? If so,what are you top 5? What era do you think had the best display of fashion? What are your thoughts on Philly fashion? Do you think people from philly have tried to hop on the “streetwear” bandwagon? All seven of these questions helped the one individual, Monae really dig deep into her thought on fashion. Even shined a brighter light on our home, Philadelphia to focus on what we notice around ourselves on a day to day basis. Overall this capstone didn’t turnout at all how I expected at the slight beginning of the school year. However, I can say that what I am most proud of is that I chose a topic that I am passionate for which is fashion. Even with collaborating with people from outside of school was a major accomplishment because in the fashion world that will soon be very common. Be able to network with the biggest names in fashion and find a way to connect with hem but also get to meet your own objective. In addition to be able to already know how to somewhat use this strategy, is just helping me prepare for my career. From this whole process I have learned that relying on people is not always the best choice. Along with always preparing for the worst because the pandemic took a huge unexpected turn for me. For me to re-do this whole capstone over, I would basically do everything exactly the same. I always trust my instincts so there would be a big change. Though I would have started brainstorming an alternative earlier into the quarantine, just so everything could go perfectly as planned and I would not be stressing on relying on other people for my senior project. Coming into SLA I did not think I would fit in. So enough I found my clique and people who are just like me and who I can now call some my closest friends. The way I think SLA has become a better place since I was student there because it really take a village for things to work out. Being part of the class of 2020 at SLA was not easy for senior year. However, we did manage to turn all the negatives into positives and for that I am grateful for this being my highschool experience. SLA has teach more on how to fully and truly express myself through all aspects of life. For that, SLA did an absolute astounding job. GO ROCKETS!