Let's talk: Creating change through our outrage

A Capstone Project by eva vanterpool

about me

Hello everyone! My name is Eva Vanterpool, and I am a high school senior at Moorestown Friends School. I have developed a very strong passion for social justice work, so I spend a lot of time outside of school working with different organizations that focus on advocacy work. I wanted my Capstone project to be true to my activism nature, Thank you for checking out my Capstone webpage! Make sure you also give the main website (linked below) a visit!

What & why?

General Project Information & Purpose

In the time of excessive social media and virtual presence, people have turned to unconventional ways to seek entertainment and information. Recently, I've heard people say that "the world doesn't need any more podcasts" when referring to the abundance of podcasts found on a variety of different streaming platforms. Though I can agree to some extent, I do believe that is important and absolutely necessary to educate people using all available tools, so that is exactly what I decided to do. My project, entitled "Let's Talk: Creating Change Through Our Outrage," includes a written report and a recorded podcast. The written report is based on a survey I conducted about MFS students' receptiveness of the school's Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Belonging (DEIB) principles that are present within the school community. The podcast features both outside-of-school guests and students from MFS as we cover a variety of diversity-based topics. 

As a young Black girl who is very passionate and vocal about social justice work, I am constantly reminded about the "Angry Black Woman" stereotype that has plagued the Black community for generations. I am constantly told that I shouldn't appear as too upset or angry, and have even found myself passing this on to other passionate Black girls. However, I believe there is so much in our world that deserves outrage! I think it is okay and completely reasonable for us to be unapologetically upset and enraged about the injustices that we constantly have to battle. The most important thing is how we use that rage, and I believe it should be used to fuel a passion for change. This belief became the foundation of Capstone project, hence the name!


how?

project details of the good and difficult times

Planning

For the podcast, I began with laying out plans for different episodes that I wanted to host. My planning documents included possible hosts, discussion questions, and expected duration of each episode. After I had a plan, I would contact the possible guests and set up a day and time to record with them. Throughout the process of planning, I also had to adjust my had to fit around the schedule of the recording. For the survey, I spent a lot of time working with my advisor to formulate the perfect questions to ask my peers. after planning the questions and design of the survey, I finally sent it out to the whole Upper School community. For both aspects of my project, I had to conduct a lot of research, which can be found here.

Recording

After purchasing all of the required equipment and setting up recording dates, I was very eager to finally record episodes. I had to teach myself how to use all of the equipment and actually record the audio. After learning, I was ready to begin!

After recording my first podcast episode, I was able to learn even more about how to  record podcasts. I struggled a lot with finding a good space to record, however, as you never really notice how noisy a room is until you need it to be silent. 

Editing/Formatting

Though planning and recording were challenging stages for both the podcast and the survey, editing the podcast and formatting the survey answers were by far the most difficult tasks of the project. 

Editing the podcast episodes took a lot of time, as I had to teach myself how to navigate the Garage Band platform. Also, most of the recordings were over an hour long, so they needed to but cut down to fit in the time constraint that I allowed for each episode. 

Formatting the survey responses was not as time-consuming, but I had to pay a lot of attention to detail, as I didn't want to misinterpret anyone's responses when writing the report. I had to make sure that I was totally clear of what each response meant before translating that into a cohesive report because I strive for authenticity in all of my work. 

Access my official capstone website

Though this webpage features many details about the behind-the-scenes of my Capstone project, the final product can be found by visiting my Capstone's website (linked below). There you will find all of the podcast episodes, the survey questions, and the survey's report. Thank you in advance for checking out my website!

Impact

Though this project was challenging, it was one of the best learning opportunities I have experienced during my academic career thus far. I have learned so much about myself and my work ethic. I now understand that my passion for social justice can take on many forms, not just what is expected of your typical activist. Overall, I really enjoyed working on this project because the impact makes all of the effort completely worth it. 

I hope that everyone who participated in the podcast and survey have been able to effectively communicate their ideas after their participation. My main goal was to give people a platform to express themselves. My hope is that they learned how to use all of the platforms that will be given to them to speak their truth from now on. For the people who listen to the podcast and read the survey's report, I hope that you are able to truly absorb all that this project is offering. 

For future capstoners

Capstone projects are a lot of work, so be sure to choose a topic that you are passionate about and invested in. There isn't just one way to achieve your goals, so always be willing to think outside of the box and adapt to your circumstances. Your project should be fueled by your curiosity and passion, not anyone else's. 

The best advice I got before I decided to do a project: "If you don't already have an idea of what you want to do for a Capstone project, then you shouldn't be doing one" (Anonymous). 

sources

Photos: 

Paananen, Teemu. “Photo by Teemu Paananen on Unsplash.” Beautiful Free Images & Pictures, 4 June 2020, https://unsplash.com/photos/rd5uNIUJCF0.  

Schneider, Ian. “Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash.” Beautiful Free Images & Pictures, 19 Feb. 2016, https://unsplash.com/photos/TamMbr4okv4. 

Chan, Austin. “Photo by Austin Chan on Unsplash.” Beautiful Free Images & Pictures, 3 June 2017, https://unsplash.com/photos/ukzHlkoz1IE. 

Final remark

I want to thank everyone who participated in my Capstone project! I would also like to thank my Capstone advisor, Ms. Dorothy Lopez, for aiding me along the way. And last but not least, I would like to thank you for your interest in my project!

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me at eva.vanterpool@gmail.com!