Blog Post #6 – Working On My Final Project

When I got home I immediately started working on my Capstone script. First I wanted to throw in as many facts as I could but took most of them out over time to have more time to engage the audience. When I was done with the script I wanted to add slides that were the same as the script, this means that the slides are so clear that even if you couldn’t hear me talking you would still understand the meaning. I wanted the viewer to walk off with the idea that there is a huge problem going on in Syria that we, as people, need to solve and the fact that we, as a nation, last year only took in 62 Syrian refugees and we, as people, need to increase those numbers because a lot of people are already getting hurt. Finally I wanted people to know how to help because most people want to help but don’t know how so we need to spell it out for them. To perfect my script I rehearsed in front of the mirror multiple time in till it was up the set standards I had in mind.

Blog Post #1 – Choosing the Topic

At Heathcote school in Mrs. Edwards’ fifth grade class, Mrs. Edwards is having her students do the ultimate information research project of elementary school: Capstone. Capstone is a project were the student chooses a topic that they enjoy and learns more about that topic. Her students have two months to do this project. The project includes: three web-based sources, one database source, one print source, one interview and one site visit. At the end of the project the student’s knowledge and hard work get put to use, and each student has to put together a whole Ted Talk or an Ignite Presentation with the theme of the topic that the student has studied. 

Personally, I’m doing the topic of “Refugees & Homelessness” because I thankfully have had the opportunity to be in the presence of both a refugee and a homeless person, and I had very much enjoyed talking to them about their past and what they want to do with their life in the future.

Azmara was a refugee from Eritrea who lived with us for nine months while we were in London. Even though Azmara had had a difficult life, Azmara was always the happiest person in the room and always had a smile on her face for proof.

Ali was a homeless person that I met at an event Hitchcock church where we made food and delivered it to the homeless in Manhattan. Ali had a lot of opinions about the world that he wanted to change but was not able to. He told me to fight for my beliefs, and he told the boy standing next to me to become an all star basketball player. I was struck by how self-less Ali was.