Capstone Draft Proposal Worksheet

Name: Anna
Website: https://annacairney.weebly.com/
Topic: Writing a poetry book
Focus Area: Product Creation
Inquiry Question: Can poetry written through the lens of someone who struggles with mental
health, enlighten and help others through their own personal mental health
struggles?

1) Capstone Project Summary:

In the box below, please type out 200 – 300 words explanation of what you are planning to do with
your Capstone Project. It should be as specific as possible, detailing what you hope to accomplish.

My capstone is designed to be a poetry book made from a compilation of my work. The title of my book is
“Painfully Pink”. This work will be split into 3 chapters: “The Pain”, “The Aftermath” and “The Healing”. I’ll
explore these themes through the vehicle of poetry. For example, in every chapter, I’ll make 6-12 poems. These
poems will range from Haiku, Long and Short form, Free-verse, Lyrics, Sonnet, Ode and Elegy.
The first chapter, “The Pain”, discusses experiences I had in the first part of the current school year. This is
mostly covering anxiety and social challenges I’ve encountered. The second chapter, “The Aftermath” covers
the emotional turmoil that came after these challenges. The subject matter for this this chapter will consist
heavily of dark and confusing emotions as I try to pull myself out of the pain. The Third chapter, “The Healing”
talks about the growth and acceptance that I had to find this year and how I pulled myself out of that dark
place. The subject matter of this chapter will be heavily influed by self love and positive self-ideals showing the
end to the pain I had to endure. For the creation of my book, I will create my own front and back covers. The
front of the cover will be a mix of pink and gold with a white silhouette of a couple with white birds in the
background. I am hoping this will symbolize the pain and freedom that comes with loving someone. The back
cover will consist of a mix of pink and gold with a silhouette of a house and birds flying away from it. I am
hoping this will symbolize letting go of heart break and being able to move on with my life. Finally, I am
hoping to publish and sell my book on amazon so others can learn how poetry can heal their life’s. In the end I
am hoping this book is able to help me work through my stress and anxiety as well as help others do the same.

2) Core Competencies:
 In the boxes below, explain how your project will demonstrate your abilities and skills from each
section of the Core Competencies. (You must choose at least two points from each skill area of the
core competencies. All the core competencies are attached in the assignment.)

Core Competency (skill area):
Personal Awareness &
Responsibility
Social Responsibility
Critical Thinking
Creative Thinking
Communication
Personal & Cultural Identity
How you demonstrate it in your Capstone Project:
-I am learning to take care of myself- This project is really about
strategies and outputs to relieve stress.
-I have a variety of strategies to manage my personal well-being- This
project is also a large-scale attempt to manage my emotions. This would
also be a potential template for others to explore and manage their own
stress and emotions.
-I am aware of my community/environment, work independently and
collaboratively with others. We have a mental health epidemic, and we
are in need of INDEPENDENT strategies to pull us out which is what I
hope my poetry book can do for others.
I have positive peer and intergenerational relationships- I am able to
connect with people of all ages and backgrounds with this book.
-I understand the purpose for my work and consider my audience- The
purpose of my work is to help reduce stress for myself, but I am
modeling a strategy for others to use.
-I can explore and create new ways to represent my learning around a
variety of problems, events, issues, and needs. Each chapter is a theme
related to different parts of my life and challenges.
-I can create new and unique ideas that may provide new perspectives
that influence how people think about topics. I can put together the
book, it will be based on my perspective, hopefully demonstrating a path
for people struggling with mental health.
-I can persevere and understand that failure can be productive. I know
what failure feels like and that it is an opportunity to grow.
-I can engage in deep and meaningful inquiry for a variety of purposes
and audiences. This book is to be for anyone (of all ages) who suffer from
mental health challenges.
-I can reflect on the processes of learning and share what I’ve learned.
The purpose of this book is to share my experiences and what I’ve
learned from them.
-I understand that what I value has and will shape my choices. My book
shows what I believe and value from my experiences with mental health
challenges.
-I understand what is important to me. Helping people is really
important and fulfilling to me and it is the purpose of my book.

3) Rationale/context: Detail your reasons for choosing this inquiry question.

Explain WHY you are choosing to investigate this topic as a major area of focus. How does this area of inquiry
connect to your passion(s), purpose? Why is it of personal interest to you?
Mental health is at the forefront of my experience in school. It has been a barrier but also a healing experience.
It’s a healing experience because I can find strategies to better myself and get a headstart on learning my
personal identity. For many, this takes years, sometimes it isn’t until after high-school where people get the
opportunity to learn who they are and what they need to function in solitute, socially and in the workplace. If
students have a better grasp on who they are by using strategies such as a written output, they can be the best
version of themselves. Knowing yourself and understanding your values can help you make wise descisions
without the need to hit rock bottom to learn life’s lessons.

4 ) Background: What background knowledge / connections / prior learning do you have that can help
you to be successful with your project?
I enjoy reading and writing a lot in my past time so this project comes from a place of passion that is easliy
accessible to me. Over the years in highschool I have learned lots of stragtegies that I can use to write poetry
as well as the ways it should be formate. This will help with my capstone because I can reach out to my past
english teachers for guidnace and support in the creation asspect of this project. In my freetime, I also analyze
poetry and learn the stories of the authors who wrote them. This will help with my project because it has taught
me lots of different forms of poetry and that it can be used to make a positve differnce in peoples lifes. I have
also had a lot of teaching in this art form because of how often I use it to relive stress. For example, I had a lot
of gudince from my art teacher last year who really taught me to be more free and expressive with my writing.
This is also a good connection to have for this project because I know it is someone I have a good realtionship
with and is willing to give me the feedback I need to be succesful. In result I have a lot of experince and
sources of knowledge that I can rely on and use to be successful in this project.

5) Career connections: What is your intended career area at this point in time? What connections does
this inquiry question have to your life, academic and/ or career goals? What are you hoping to gain from
completing this project (other than graduating or passing CLC 12)?

My indended career area at this time is a role in the community support worker field. This carrer conncects
to my capstone well because it is centred around helping others through the tough times. For my inquiry
question I wanted it to be centred around mental heath support because of how big of a connection that
has to my life now and future carrer goals. For example, in the job I have now I work a lot on finding
strategies to help the kids I support feel less stressed in their lives, just like this poetry book is doing for
me. This question also shows my passion for helping others in their lives and the joy I get when they
succeed. I am hoping to gain relief from the stress in my life as well as to teach others how to do the same
thing. By the time this project is completed I hoping to have done this as well as having others see my
work so they can be inspried to do the same. When this project is finshed I can use it for my application to
school because it shows others a positive support strategie to use in their lifes, which my carrer filed of
interst is all about. In the end I know even after I graduated this project will be a tool I can use for my post
secondary and future jobs, as it shows the initiative I have to positively support myself and others.

6) Capstone presentation medium: select one or more project mediums you wish to use to present your
project. Outline and give details about how you will present your project once completed. You may use a
combination of mediums.

o Electronic portfolio: Power Point, Canva or Prezi

o Physical portfolio
o Website
o Video presentation
o YouTube channel
o Prototype
o Product
o Other
For the presentation of my capstone I am hoping to have my book avaible to read and show as well as a
power point presentation explaining my proesse of going through this project. In my power point I am
going to have 7 slides detailing each step of my prosses. The first slide will show my start up and some of
the challnges that came along with it. Then the second slide will detail the creation of the book and the
steps it took to design and write it. The third slide will show the prosses it took for me to publish and put
the book for sale on Amazon. Then the fourth slide will detail the profit made from the book sales and
what that prosses entailed. The fifth slide details how the book helped me with stress and the impact it
had on others. I will showcase the impact it had on others with a collection of videos and written reviews
that will be sent to me after the book is published and available to read. Then the sixth slide will showcase
what the finshed product looks like and have photos of me with the people who guided me in the prosses
of making it to show their impact on the project. Finally the seventh slide will counclude my time on the
project and showcase the positive impact the end result had on other, aswell as how the project helped
me get through the year with less stress. Overall I am hoping to show my physical product and a detailed
explation of what it took to get me to the finsh line.