Name of student: Sofia Mazzon

Date: Februrary 27th, 2023

Teacher: Ms. Lacroix
Capstone strand I have chosen is Entrepreneur Strand
Proposed title for my project:

What is your inquiry question that interests you for further research? It should be a question that
connects with a purpose, passion or personalized area of interest for you. This is a question that
you cannot just google an answer for. Please see examples from your Capstone booklet.
My inquiry question is:

How can I sustainably start my own small business?

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?

I chose this inquiry question because to start my own pottery business, I need to first
understand the work that goes into starting your own business. This connects to my passions
because by further understanding how to run a business, I could potentially make it a long
term hobby. Ceramics helps me release stress and is very therapeutic for me, so if I was able
to make a living or a bit of income from doing this it would be my ideal future. This has been
an interest to me for a year or so, when I started getting more attention on the work I was
doing, so I’m really grateful that I’m getting the opportunity to share and sell my work, while
also learning things along the way.

Background: What background knowledge/connections/prior learning do you have in this

area of inquiry?

I don’t have any prior knowledge about businesses or anything about running them. I do have
prior knowledge about ceramics and what I’m planning on building. I have done ceramics
since grade nine so it’s definitely helpful that I already know what techniques and building
procedures I will need to use.

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?

I don’t have a specific interest for anything post secondary. I would love to use this as an
opportunity to really put time and effort into building and creating projects to sell. By doing this
it gives me an idea of who will buy my products, and what I can do to further promote myself
and the pottery that I sell. I would love to be able to make a living off of this, but I don’t think
that’s very realistic. After this project, depending on how it goes, I can continue selling post
secondary as a side hobby.

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Interdisciplinary and core competencies connections: What subject areas and core
competencies will be connected with your project? Outline and explain the connections.

Personal Awareness & Responsibility

Strengths:

1. “I understand my decisions and actions can affect me.”

The other day, I got into an argument with my mom about how she doesn’t seem to have and care
for my personal time. I am usually late to school and this is pretty frustrating to me when I’m
continuously late. I understand that it’s my decision to get rides instead of bussing, which
sometimes means I have to wait on other people. Instead of blowing up on my mom, which
would’ve started a big fight, I’ve started to wake her up earlier in the morning so she has more time
to get ready. This way I’m not getting in trouble for complaining, and I’m starting to make it out the
door earlier.

2. “I can set goals, regulate my emotion, and persevere in difficult situations.”

Last year in FOM11 I was doing pretty well for the most part, and understood most of the material.
This year has already been a lot harder. At the beginning of semester I told myself I would ask for help
when needed and try to stay on top of my homework. A lot of the time I’m struggling in math, which
stresses me out and makes me want to cry. Although all I wanted was to leave the class, I stayed and
asked for help anyway because it’s the right thing to do. Even though I may still not understand what’s
going on, I still try and learn as much as I can.

Area of Improvement:

1. “I can express my needs and seek help when needed”

Asking for help with anything has always been a really hard thing for me to do. Especially in math it’s
harder to learn when I’m always scared to ask for help.Everyone else usually picked up on the lesson
relatively quickly, which was intimidating to me. As a result of not wanting to ask for help in math
class, I would fall behind because I was unsure of what was going on. In the future I recognize that
asking for help is something I shouldn’t be afraid of, and that someone else is probably wondering the
same thing as I am.

Social Responsibility

Strengths

1. “I value diversity, defend human rights, advocate for others, and act ethically in all my
interactions, including online.”
Everyone should be treated equally and with kindness. I cant remember a specific example, but I know
that there have been times in school, and outside of school where other people have said mean things
about my friends. I’m a pretty confrontational person and I’m not scared to call someone out if they’re
acting out of line, no matter who it is. Of course it happens in the most respectful way possible, but I
can’t stand seeing people get bullied or left out. Everyone deserves to have friends and be happy with
where they are.

2. “I have positive peer and intergenerational relationships.”

I value my family a lot. Getting the chance to hear my grandparents stories and how life was when
they were younger feels like such a privilege to have. Not everyone gets the chance to experience
their grandparents stories and how they lived their life. When my Nonna was still here I could spend
hours listening to the stories from her lifetime. Knowing that they have gone through such challenging

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events and despite everything were still successful, and made there lives stable and good. Most
importantly they found happiness in what they had and their family, they weren’t longing for more. I
hope that in the future I can find happiness in what I have, and not always be comparing myself and
my situation to others.

Area of Improvement

1. “I am aware of my community and environment and work independently and collaboratively

for the benefits of others.”
I have never really done much volunteer work, other than for things like girl guides and softball when I
was younger. I’ve never really had the time or opportunities to do volunteer work, and I’m not even
sure on where to look to volunteer. I understand and agree with the importance of volunteering but
personally, as bad as it sounds, I would rather work for money than for free. That being said, if there
was an opportunity to volunteer somewhere that I would enjoy it, I would most likely do it.

Critical Thinking

Strengths

1. “I can analyze and made defensible judgements, draw conclusions and consider a variety of
perspectives.”
It has always been pretty easy for me to put myself in other peoples shoes, and try to look at life from
their perspective. In a class like Genocides, it’s important to be able to see both sides of the story to
fully understand everything that’s happening. Because it’s easier for my to sympathize with others and
situations, it makes learning a lot easier for me.

2. “I can analyze and critique my work and my learning.”

Last semester in Psychology, I had to proof read a lot, mostly in any class, but last semester I really
learned to properly proof read my assignments. There’s been many times where I’ve left out
information or accidentally repeated information, so I always make sure to double and triple check my
assignments before handing them in. I also find value in asking others to proof read my work or ask
their opinion on the assignments. After reading the same assignment so many times, it’s easier to miss
little things like spelling, so having someone else finalize it, is always reassuring.

Area of Improvement

1. “I understand the purpose for my work and consider my audience.”

Often times in any of my classes, I get easily frustrated by little assignments because they seem silly or
pointless. When teachers explain why we’re doing the assignment, or what the whole point of it is it
makes it a lot easier to do the assignment. Although it shouldn’t really bother me, and I should do
what work I’m given, it gets hard to persevere through assignments that seem like they have no
purpose. It can feel like a waste of time. In the future I need to learn to become more flexible, and try
to see the bigger picture in all the little things I get assigned.

Creative Thinking

Strengths

1. “I can take my ideas evaluate, develop, and refine them and make something productive
out of them.”
Ceramics is one of the classes that I thrive in the most. Last year I saw an ashtray on Pinterest that was
Squidward themed, from SpongeBob Squarepants. The original photo I saw on Pinterest look
absolutely nothing like the outcome of my ashtray, but in a good way. The original photo was

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Squidwards house with a path leading up to it; my ashtray was Squidward in a boat in tiki land. It is my
favourite project i’ve done to this day, it took me around two months to complete the whole thing.

2. “I can use the environment around me, including others, and my unconscious mind to
generate new ideas.”
I work pretty strongly independently, and in groups with projects. In Psychology class last semester,
me and a couple of my friends put together a powerpoint about mental health, and the outcome looks
so good because we all communicated what we wanted it to look like and did the best we could to
help each other. Seeing some examples of power points can help to start generate ideas.

Area of Improvement

1. “I can preserve, and understand that failure can be productive.”

It has always been a weakness of mine to try and see the positive in failures. It tends to bring me down
more than up. In math it probably frustrates me the most, this year I’m in FOM12 and my teacher said
the first unit was supposed to be easy. It is indeed not. The course goes super fast, and he also teaches
really fast, so when I don’t understand things as quickly as others it discourages me. It can also be
frustrating when most people are aware of what to do on tests and I sit there very confused, even
after asking for help. I would like to start working on looking at failure more positively.

Communication

Strengths

1. “I can listen, learn to contribute meaningfully to discussion and debate, consider different
perspectives, and build consensus.”
Debates usually get pretty heated, and I love them. In Psychology we had a debate about whether
steroids are cheating in a sport or not. One of the guys in the class said it was the equivalent to
women wearing makeup for beauty pageants. I like to think of debates as a learning opportunity for
everyone, we of course went back and forth debating about it, and came to the conclusion that they
are not the same or really even comparable. I like getting to hear other peoples opinions and
perspectives and I think it’s fun to debate with people as long as it’s civil.

2. “I can reflect on the processes of learning and share what I have learned.”
When doing self reflections in school, they’re usually not super challenging. I think it’s really important
to be honest with yourself so you can fully understand what you need to improve on. I also think
there’s value in looking back at what you have learned. Classes can go by so quickly and you can forget
about a lot of information.

Area of Improvement

1. “I can engage in deep meaningful inquiry for a variety of purposes an audiences.”

I’m good at having deep and meaningful conversations with others, and asking them about their life
and going deeper with them. But when it comes to talking and opening up, it’s harder for me. There is
power in vulnerability, it would be nice to start learning how to be more vulnerable with people close
to me.

Personal and cultural identity

Strengths

1. “ I understand that culture is a broad concept that includes things like my geographic Religion,
nationality, sex/gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality, language, and religion.”
My dad used to tell me about his parents life in Italy, but also how he grew up and the things they

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 taught him. These conversations were so valuable to me because it’s something that could only really
be passed down from him. Some of the things like recipes he got taught, have been passed down to
me and my family. Those recipes are things we make frequently and I value that a lot.

2. “ I understand how what I value has and will shape my choices.”

It’s difficult to think of a specific example, but things like the people I’ve met and the places I have
been have shaped my choices. One thing I can think of would be when one of my close friends gets a
boyfriend. This always tends to come in between friendships for the first little while while they’re still
in the honeymoon stage. Although it usually starts like this a lot of my friends get caught up with
them, and end up barely talking to me. I have never felt the need to do something like that while
being in a relationship or talking to someone.

Area of Improvement

1. “ I understand what is important to me.”

I understand how lucky I am with the things that I have and the home that I live in, but sometimes I
think I take some things for granted. Things like having a job and going to school are still opportunities
that some women don’t have and some people in general. I don’t always think that I recognize things
as important to me, I understand the basics of what’s important to me like food, water, shelter, but I
don’t think I always understand how lucky I am for the people in my life.

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: Prezi or PPT
o Physical portfolio
o Website
o imovie presentation
o YouTube channel

I will be making a website and an instagram page to promote the artwork I will be selling. I will
do this by posting previous artwork so people know what I can build while also posting newer
work and the things that I will be selling. Powerpoint will be to present any information that
needs to be presented.

Description of my Capstone project. Specific Project Details of the Capstone Project: what
will you research, create, study, produce, solve, investigate? What product will be produced
at the end of this project for evaluation. Write a one-page description outlining your
proposal.

For my capstone project I will be creating and selling pottery, as a part of the entrepreneur
strand. My products will consist of incense holders, and cups. The designs on the incense
holders will be made based off of what customers want. I determined this by posting on my
story asking what people wanted to see on them. Most popular request was mushrooms, and
more complicated designs like Hello Kitty. Mushrooms and simple designs will be more
realistic and achievable considering the amount of time and how many products I need to
produce. I spend my ceramic classes usually making things for this already, and I also have
supplies at home accessible for me to create and build at home as well. Ceramics is really

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 therapeutic for me, so working on the project on my own time shouldn’t be dreadful. I have
already done some research regarding my inquiry question. “How sustainable is making your
own small business?” The information I collected was already a major help, I don’t have any
prior knowledge with business, how to start one, or anything near that. When reading the
information, it mentioned a lot about promoting and advertising your work to the right
audiences. For my advertisement I will be making an additional website to showcase my work
that has already been done, and the new products I’m going to be putting up for sale. I will
also create a secondary instagram account to showcase more of my work. I think Instagram
will end up being a better way of promoting just because so many people are on the app,
along with my friends. When presenting my information that will be done on powerpoint,
along with my website and instagram page. I still need to do more research regarding how to
price my products. When figuring out how to price my products, I will talk to my mentor, and
also look on other websites to see how other potters sell their work. Prices will of course be
different from them and on the cheaper side. When people are purchasing products, I think
the easiest paying option would be through e-transfer or cash. As far as where i’m going to
be selling my products, Ms Leopkey has been kind enough to offer her ceramics studio as a
place for me to sell my work. She would also be selling work at the same time as me, but I
think this would be good for attracting new and different customers. If I happen to not want
to sell my work at her ceramics studio, selling from my garage on a set day, and advertising
about that date that I would be selling is also an option. Things like delivery could also work, I
don’t have a license but my Mom does, and I don’t think she would mind taking me out to
deliver some of the work. If doing delivery, depending on how far, I could think about
applying and up charge for gas and time. For the building process, the cups will be faster and
more efficient to make, as I can make them on the wheel. I haven’t quite decided if I’m going
to put designs on the cups or just sell them with a cool coat of paint overtop. Putting designs
on them would definitely make them more visually appealing and would attract more
attention to the product, but I have to determine how much time to spend on everything. For
the incense holders, those are made fully by hand, so they are much more time consuming
due to having to connect all the pieces together. I love the process of building, and it is so fun.
The only designs I have done so far are mushrooms, and there are three different designs for
them. One is a bunch of mini mushrooms all over the holder, the other is a big mushroom in
the middle, and the third being a few little 3D mushrooms added onto the base of the holder.
I haven’t come up with many other designs, but once I get an Instagram page up, it will be
easier to see what people want. I will first promote the ceramics account on my main
account, so I can have a bit of a following. After people have started to follow it and I’ve got it
set up, I can begin to put up polls to determine what people want to see on them. This way
it’ll be easier for me to see exactly what people want, and I can also do this to determine
some paint colours people want to see on both cups and the holders. I’m super excited to be
able to do this for my project, nothing is perfectly decided yet, but I’m excited to build new
things for people.

Resources/ Technology/Skills: Make an assessment of the resources, technology and

skills you will need to be able to complete this project. What is your plan to be able to
access/learn all of the resources necessary to achieve completion of this project? Detail
your plans.

The skills I will need for this project is to be able to multitask, perseverance, a phone or laptop,

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 and spending lots of time building what I will be selling. I can access my phone to do work at
any time, computers I can usually only use at school, but if necessary can use my moms at
home. Materials like clay and tools for building I can buy or get from the ceramics room. I
already have half a bag of clay and building tools. I will need to go more in depth on how to
maintain my own small business and what I can do to attract more customers. To learn
everything about running a business I will need to do more research and maybe talk to
someone who has made and started their own business. When the time comes that I need
more clay, I can buy more.

Mentors/Community Connections: What types of mentor(s)/community connections will

you need to help you complete your capstone project? How will your mentor(s) help you?
What is your plan to access the mentorship/community connections necessary for this
project?

I will need a mentor that knows about pottery and selling ceramics. Ms Leopky already has
experience with both of those things which makes her my prime mentor. If needing additional
advice or information, Mr Dykman also has experience with starting a business and building
pottery. It would definitely be helpful to talk to someone who has made their own business and
has had it for awhile, but I don’t feel that it’s absolutely necessary considering both teachers
have experience in that field. My mentors can help me when needing advice about what to
build or faster ways I can build, and also try to provide information if I need any about
businesses.

Project limitations: What are some project limitations and potential obstacles that you foresee
that might affect progress with your Capstone Project?

Some potential obstacles would be not being able to make products fast enough. If I end up
getting a lot of people that want what I’m making it could get difficult to keep up with producing
products. I could also make things too fast and not be painting them fast enough. With some
of the things I make there will be specific details that need to be hand painted, which will of
course take longer than just dipping the piece in paint. Limitations could also be that I don’t
have enough home time to create more pieces, or if I make too many, there may not be space
for all of it in the kiln, which would require me to wait longer to paint and get things fired.

Other considerations: List and detail any other related information/ considerations about
your project that you feel should be included in your project proposal.

References:

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