For my capstone, I am creating a mural in the gymnasium not only for the student athletes, but for the audience and supporters of SLA. When I thought about this, I realized that there isn’t really anything on our side of the gym that makes us stand out as a school. The colors on the wall don’t even match our school. I have a passion for art but I could never really partake in this in high school because I was always active in the sports community. To me, this capstone meant that I could do something I love, which is art, and somehow incorporate sports and SLA life in a mural. The main goal of this capstone is supposed to lift school spirit and acknowledge the sports at SLA. As a student athlete myself, especially when I used to play basketball I noticed that we do have a mascot however, it was never used at one of our games. For the four years I have attended SLA I noticed that I have only seen someone in that mascot under a dozen times. I wanted my mural to also have aspects in it that differentiate SLA from other schools. I wanted a basic design that has a meaning and will last for a long time. We call home games in our gym, and I wanted to make it distinct that this is SLA’s home. We are a very creative unique school and I thought that it would be a very SLA thing to create while representing our school.

My Progress: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Cu2wABEYCRFjWVbBkf6Dx4R3QjTtJPpd251wm2_nYY/edit?usp=sharing

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EIYaYZKovcMnfa2-gtnfHI0wdMSAGagZ8-arHfXvRoA/edit?usp=sharing

Utilizing the power of social justice art, I have worked in conjunction with my mentors and teammates at the Remedy Project to continue creating art for incarceration justice and reform. I have formed the Remedy Project’s art group, where a group of young people get together to create art for our many campaigns. I have continued to improve my personal art skills, as well as expand my knowledge of teamwork and social justice art through this outlet of expression.

CAPSTONE PRESENTATION LINKED HERE! https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1IS6FkOWr8F8hZ8_Z4KJxdRuTeky_RKYckIp6MqqJSYk/edit?usp=drivesdk

BIBLIOGRAPHY LINKED HERE! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gj3BufupILF-D4WY3hwVDS8SnsXpcOZKqDvXoXUQYZY/edit?usp=drivesdk

For my capstone project, I focused on spreading awareness about Sickle Cell Disease and Sickle Cell Trait to the students at Science Leadership Academy. This topic is meaningful to me because my cousin, Isaiah Turner, passed away from a rare Sickle Cell crisis, even though he only had the trait. His story motivated me to make sure others understand the seriousness of both the disease and the trait. I started by designing pamphlets with key information and eventually organized short presentations during advisory periods to reach more students directly. The process involved a lot of research, interviews, and collaboration with my mentor to make sure everything was accurate and engaging. I faced some setbacks, like delays in getting my pamphlets printed and scheduling issues with advisory sessions, but I didn’t let those stop me. Presenting to different advisories and seeing students engage with my project made all the effort worth it. This experience pushed me out of my comfort zone and taught me how to adapt, communicate, and stay focused on my goals. I’m proud of the work I did and the impact I made. Even though everything didn’t go exactly as planned, I learned that flexibility and determination will lead to something powerful and lasting.

Click Image to see full pamphlet!! This is a digital copy of my personalized tri-fold pamphlet that I created!

Annotated Bib: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q1UjiyEgKNacO4XsGRgtmyVtb0x2-E9g-oU12GLGmYE/edit?usp=sharing

For my capstone I created a document to give students some basic knowledge on any new classes that they may want to know more about before actually having to attend that class, including when they are moving up a grade. The school guidebook document I designed would be for all students to have so that they can have a background of all of the classes beforehand. I created this for it to be a way for students to be more confident and comfortable with the classes they have and choose. I wrote down each class for all grade levels and more, then gave it a class background and some include highlighted projects for that class. I had challenges collecting all the various types of data I needed for complete my capstone and there are some selections where it is blank, but I got all the important parts I wanted students to know about.

Guidebook: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W968lerq6OurTCrdtbtGfBzmOaaMLFhtUbbHecCjanw/edit?usp=sharing

Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HC3RfR9NlCF-NA97XfbjfPq5mOtlc_b_m6Q_nL7lYMY/edit?usp=sharing