At the beginning of this year, during the brainstorming process of capstones, I thought a lot about what kind of project I wanted to submit — one that I would be able to enjoy creating, and that I valued personally. After having spent lots of time on the terrace, I noticed how it lacked color and warmth. To combat this, I decided I wanted to create a vibrant and intricate piece on one of the walls that would make the space more inviting for the SLA community. The project is inspired mainly by Claude Monet’s depictions of the earth, as well as the fine line works of Japanese botanical art. By combining the two, I was able to create a design that reflected my artistic style and goals. In addition to this, I collaborated with Aviva Boix to create a cohesive design of a Philadelphia skyline mosaic, blended with a naturalistic mural.

This project involved a lot of moving parts, including research for how to complete an artwork at this scale, pitching at Braskem to receive funding, purchasing materials, communicating with various building staff to discuss how to go about the project, and of course, painting the physical design. There were many setbacks in this project, mainly including communication issues and inconvenient weather. However, through this, we learned how important explicit communication is, and to define time constraints before beginning a complicated project such as this one. At this time, our project is not completed, however the evidence below shows our continued efforts of finishing the piece and being able to present a polished capstone.

For my capstone, I aimed to create a device that automatically adjusted the volume of a speaker or headphones based on sounds detected by the device. I did this using an Arduino, a digital potentiometer, and, of course, code. My guiding question going into this project was “How can I use technology to simplify classroom management or increase classroom safety?” So through some surveying, I found that automation was most wanted for simplicity and for safety hearing announcements, and with that, I came up with my project, AutoEQ.

Through this project, I ran into a lot of obstacles, such as scheduling and time constraints due to order or funding times, hardware issues, and, worst of all, problems in the code. The process was not the most fun, and obstacles always hurt, but I am happy I faced them. Although the outcome is not what I was hoping for the overall experience of the project and what was gained from it was worth it, learning about myself and how I best work as well as getting some project experience having obstacles that occur so much more in the real world I am leaving this capstone feeling more prepared for the things I may have to take on in the future. Here is a website with the products of my capstone —> https://sites.google.com/scienceleadership.org/gabecapstone2025?usp=sharing

For my capstone, I designed and prototyped a specialized gym pin intended for cable machines. This device solves a problem in bodybuilding and resistance training: the inability to perform smooth drop sets without interrupting muscle tension. Traditional pins require you to manually adjust weights between sets, which not only breaks the flow of a workout but also limits muscle engagement. My solution was to create a pin that uses a spring-loaded mechanism, triggered by an impact or button press, to instantly drop the weight and allow for better transitions. Along with it I designed a weight collar that holds weighted plates on a barbell. I made sure my designs were 3D-printer compatible so I can spread my work to the world rather than just make the devices. These devices are aimed at improving training efficiency and promoting better results, especially for beginners who may find equipment adjustments intimidating.