VIRTUAL Capstone Showcase
Winter 2023

Awarded in honor of former Head of School Dr. Priscilla Sands, this honor is given to the student or student team whose project embodies all four entrepreneurial pillars: Resiliency, Opportunity Seeking, Resourcefulness, and Creativity. In addition, this prize considers commitment and execution. It is awarded to a student or student team that truly went above and beyond expectations. Like the resiliency prize, this would ideally be awarded to a student team that plans to continue their work beyond the Capstone program.

The Power Through It team, Lida and Hope, had a clear mission in mind, “to provide unsheltered people with a sense of stability and community, where they have the opportunity to start to build their lives and families again”. Lida and Hope wanted to design tiny homes as a low cost and efficient solution to homelessness. When they discovered that the nonprofit, Sanctuary Village, had the same vision and were set to build the first tiny home community in Philadelphia, Lida and Hope reached out and partnered with them. Throughout the semester, Lida and Hope embodied all the traits of the entrepreneurial mindset— opportunity seeking creative problem solving, resilience, and resourcefulness. They brought their project home to work on over the weekends and breaks, and came in during non-class hours to receive additional support. Their passion and dedication was evident throughout, and the digital model and architectural scale model they produced for Sanctuary Village will be used for fundraising as well as designing and articulating the interior furnishings which is currently in progress. It is exciting to see their work come into fruition and utilized to help in this very important endeavor!

Mrs. Fajardo & Mrs. Maidenbaum | Power Through It by Hope Kelly '25 and Lida Goloveyko '25

Awarded to the student or student team that demonstrated the most resiliency throughout their Capstone project, and in certain cases, prior to the semester. This student or student team embraced challenges and exhibited a relentless commitment to their goals. This prize is awarded to a student or student team that plans to continue their work beyond the Capstone program.

Dalton had a grand idea for a gaming experience that would help people connect with each other online: Allow for people of different experience levels to play together without requiring people to spend money in order to be competitive. In working to bring his vision to life, Dalton was faced with certain realities that forced him to adjust his plan. These challenges appeared early, starting when he realized that learning the software Unity to build and code a game would be too large a lift for one semester. His goal was to actually have a playable game. Without batting an eye he switched platforms shifting focus to how he could get parts of a game that could serve as proof of concept to work towards the ideal game. Dalton took incredible initiative with how he approached his coding and worked diligently both in and out of class. Coding a game means that many different sections reference each other, and there was a lot of troubleshooting that Dalton encountered. The way that Dalton stuck with the project, determined to get things working correctly, not giving up when parts didn’t work as intended, and making adjustments on his own when faced with setbacks is why he clearly exemplified the Resilience Award.

Mrs. Fajardo & Mrs. Maidenbaum | BattleCraft by Dalton DeAngelis '25

Awarded to the student or student team that went “beyond the classroom” in pursuit of their Capstone project. These students sought resources and knowledge that weren’t readily available. They worked with external mentors, and utilized tools and technologies in a unique and inventive fashion. This prize is awarded to a student team that made great use of their resources and took full advantage of the Capstone program.

Nick is an experienced sailing instructor who needed a tool to help instruct student sailors about sailing on days when the weather prevented them from venturing out on the water.  He wanted a model sailboat with simple design that featured the key elements of the boats they used in real life.  While Nick had a clear  vision of what he wanted, he had to explore a myriad of options for production of his model.  He looked at 3-D printing, milling, stick built and more, before he settled on Vacuum forming as the most cost effective way of manufacturing his model.  His transparent prototype allowed kids to see all the inner workings of his model while increasing the speed of production and reducing the cost.  Nick’s resourcefulness made him an excellent candidate for the MacGyver Resourcefulness award.

Mr. Randall & Mr. Ervin | GOATBoat by Nick Donato '25

From Day one of the semester, Dylan has far exceeded expectations. Beyond organizational skills and overall studentship, Dylan completed every assignment before it was due with the understanding that the sooner he completed the required up front work, the more time he would have to bring his vision to reality. In the Travelr app, Dylan took it upon himself to go beyond what he learned through course material to understand how to integrate advanced component concepts into his app including GPS along with an internal chat feature, each of which are well beyond the scope of a student in their second coding class. Furthermore, I was impressed by the fact that Dylan did not want to simply create an app, he wanted to surpass what currently exists on the market. With that, I encourage Dylan to continue with this app next year in Venture Accelerator because I truly believe that his idea will in fact represent an improvement over Travelr's competitors.

Dr. Day | Travelr by Dylan Kaplan '25

Awarded to the student or student team that identified the most interesting opportunity of all Capstone projects. This prize is intended for a student or student team that seeks to both solve problems and to make a broad, real-world impact with their solution. This prize is awarded to a student or student team that identified an opportunity independently, rather than from a list of project prompts.

At the beginning of the term, Sam Harris identified a clear problem: the Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan resulted in the withdrawal of critical foreign aid. As an Afghani American, he consulted with his cousin—senior Hirmand Azimi—to develop ways to support relief organizations that continue to operate within the country. The pair proposed an art exhibition to raise funds for Shamsa Village, a partner organization that provides housing and education to displaced women and children. Sam and Hirmand worked with Shamsa to secure photographs—many of which were taken by residents as part of a trauma-informed art therapy program—and are planning to display these images at the Barbara Crawford Art Gallery on SCH’s campus in Spring 2023. 

Mrs. Knutson | Elm Foundation by Sam Harris '25

There are challenges and issues in the world that others face which can be completely hidden from our own view. As society advances to become more aware and accepting of people who do no conform to a particular gender, businesses that sell traditionally gendered products have lagged behind. Paige recognized this issue as being particularly egregious amongst menstrual products, recognizing that not every person who menustrates identifies as a woman nor wishes to purchase a hygiene product enshrouded in a pink and purple color scheme. To address the issue, Paige created a beautiful but more androgenous brand under which to sell these necessary items. Her thoughtful work simultaneously recognizes gender-nonconforming people’s human needs while also developing a previously underserved market. For finding a way to recognize others through a business venture, Paige has earned the Opportunity Seeking Award.

Mr. Kreher | For All by Paige Murray '25

Awarded to the student or student team that approached their Capstone project with the most creativity. This prize has two interpretations, either of which can be applied according to student merit. The first is a student or student team who took a creative approach to solving a difficult problem. They looked at the problem with a unique perspective, and developed an elegant solution. The second would be a student or student team whose Capstone project demonstrates outstanding artistic accomplishment.

Josh dreamed up such a fun, innovative, and unique idea for his project, Golf-a-Lot. He merged his passion for golf and his desire to design together in this innovative venture of identifying vacant infill lots in Philadelphia, and building multi-level outdoor/indoor miniature golf centers with up to 18 holes on them. Each course is a module so that the floor plans can change and the experience can be varied and evolve over time. He learned SketchUp and became very proficient with the 3D Modeling Program and designed a digital prototype of Golf-a-Lot, fit out with a glass lobby and stairs and all 18 holes. Josh worked diligently and efficiently, and made a lot of progress on his project in the duration of one semester. With his creative design idea and wonderful execution, Golf-a-Lot was a clear winner for the Creativity Award!

Mrs. Fajardo & Mrs. Maidenbaum | Golf-a-Lot by Josh Miller '25

Nadia Stockman’s collection of sixteen poems, Poetry for the World, tackles thorny and complex social issues with intelligence and sensitivity. Each poem in the volume is complimented by contextualizing data and statistics, introducing a sense of logos to this pathos-driven project. Throughout the semester, Nadia was laser-focused, setting concrete goals and deadlines for creative production. Her work provides an exemplar of how art can help us process—and question—the world in which we live.

Mrs. Knutson | Poetry for the World by Nadia Stockman

Awarded to the student team that expertly delegated tasks, effectively communicated as a group, and treated one another with respect. This prize is intended for a team that was able to clearly express their mission and roles in a way that demonstrated personal and professional alignment.

It was difficult to choose which award the Ease team should receive. Noa and Priya are the epitome of what I am talking about when I mention to all of my groups that I want them to emulate a real world development shop. The best apps in the app store are the result of teamwork...a combined effort between designers, developers, and others. Priya learned how to use Adobe XD to design what is easily one of the best designed apps I've seen in any Capstone class over the years. From a dynamic button to alert authorities to a sophisticated, yet intuitive user experience, I couldn't be happier with the overall design of the Ease App. Simultaneously, Noa, with very little coding experience implemented a TabBarController, used NSUserDefaults, as well as a number of other rather advanced programming techniques toward the development of an intricate, yet user friendly app to help people feel safe during their most vulnerable times. I highly encourage the Ease group to continue with this venture next year to further develop the gaming component that they envision as the next step.

Dr. Day | Ease by Noa Leifer '25 & Priya Jonas '25

Charlie and Alex work seamlessly together. They have been collaborating on business ventures since first grade when they sold goods at the Harry Potter festival and continued their business relationship with a pop-up shop on Germantown Avenue and numerous other ventures of varying sizes. The latest enterprise to come from this dynamic duo is Elucidated, a service that promises to eliminate your customer service headaches by acting as your personal assistant. No more hold time, no more emails back and forth with a representative. Just log in to the Elucidated app, choose the company you would like to contact, select which issue you need to be resolved and the Elucidated team will handle the rest. For this incredible business idea and the years of teamwork represented in its development, Charlie and Alex have earned our Teamwork Award.

Mr. Kreher | Elucidated by Charlie Greenberg '25 & Alex Topping '25

A terrific complement of design and development. Zarin crafted an elegant U/X design while Layla learned how to implement a variety of advanced coding techniques toward the creation of a time management app to help students learn how to balance academics, extracurricular activities, personal time and more. Aside from the design and technical components involved in the app, the Pace group collected real world data from classmates to learn about their peers struggles rather than relying on struggles specific to themselves—a true testament to the CEL values we hold dear including creativity, resourcefulness, perseverance, resiliency, and more! I hope this group decides to take this project to the next level in some capacity because clearly it's a need for today's students.

Dr. Day | Pace by Zarin DeVeaux '25 & Layla Shands '25

NOTE: Pace was also the winner of the People's Choice Award (voting took place online, January 30-January 31, 2023). 

Gracyn is an avid sportswomen. She plays hard in all weather conditions and know well how water and sweat can take a toll on expensive soccer cleats and other boots. She needed a way to not only dry her cleats but also disinfect them to eliminate the odor problems associated with bacterial and mold growth.  Her solution of creating a self propelled rotating wand that delivers both warm air and germ killing UV light to the deepest corners of her cleats was both a marvel of simplicity and effectiveness. Gracyn was able to demonstrate her prototype in action. Congratulations to Gracyn for winning the Invention Studio Award.

Mr. Randall & Mr. Ervin | Click Dry by Gracyn Lee-Torchiana '25

Leah’s company, Laurel Leaf Designs, developed from the desire to design and create beautiful jewelry inspired by nature, and to support Friends of the Wissahickon. Leah is incredibly hard working, organized, and willing to take on new things she’s never done before. She was able to make over 25 unique earrings during the semester using dried foliage and flowers in resin. Leah went the extra mile and her designs sold at the Stag-and-Doe Pop Up SCHop where she created a beautiful table display and was able to turn a healthy profit. She spent additional hours at home in order to make all this happen. Check out @LaurelLeafDesigns_ on Instagram!

Mrs. Fajardo & Mrs. Maidenbaum | Laurel Leaf Designs by Leah Laudenbach '25

Food insecurity is a major point of discussion at this moment, both in and beyond Philadelphia. With Feeding Our Friends, Georgia O’Connor offers potential beneficiaries a degree of agency often absent from hunger-related charitable endeavors. The proposal pairs nonprofits and local markets with individuals and families, allowing patrons to submit personalized grocery lists. For people with specific dietary needs— whether medical or cultural—this would be a major benefit. Cheers to Georgia for her research into hunger in our community, outreach to experts in the field, and identification of potential partner organizations!

Mrs. Knutson | Feeding Our Friends by Georgia O'Connor '25

Although this venture is not one of our typical for-profit businesses, ScamShield is one of the most refined products to come out of the Startup Studio to date. Andrew’s goal was to create something to help people avoid being financially scammed by increasing education and awareness of this persistent problem. In particular he focused on protecting the elderly and other vulnerable groups whom scammers generally target due to their unfamiliarity with technology. Andrew built a thoughtful education curriculum around spotting and avoiding scams, then created a website where people can learn from his work with a user-friendly layout. Over the course of the semester he has researched types of scams, human psychology, and learned to use professional level web development tools. His self-sufficiency in acquiring and using this knowledge, along with his mission to help make the world a better place are why he has earned our Studio Award.

Mr. Kreher | ScamShield by Andy Saunders '25