My Capstone
- Dec 30, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 28, 2025
The Capstone project is a BC requirement to graduate. The goal is to create a project that demonstrates the seven BC core competencies, such as communication and collaboration. I am very passionate about mental health advocacy and music so this is what I chose to base my project on. For my Capstone project, a peer and I hosted a Valentine's Day Luncheon.
I am very musical and write songs, play two instruments, and enjoy listening to music as well. Music is one of the ways I maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle. I write songs to cope with how I am feeling. Not only is it an emotional outlet, but a passion of mine. I don't know what I would do without music in my life as it is how I express myself. Music is one of the most important things in the world to me. It has helped me through the most difficult moments of my life and has been there to hype me up for the best moments. I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to share my love of music with my town - especially as we had no music program at my high school, and I was unable to do live performances in the community during COVID.
I became interested in mental health advocacy after the pandemic. Being stuck at home during quarantine made me anxious, and I began to experience symptoms of depression. After having issues with friends in school, my mental health continued to decline. I was very unhappy with my life; I was lonely and sad most of the time. I found that talking to teachers and a counselor helped; I felt seen. I began to feel better bit by bit. It was then that I decided to be more involved in volunteer opportunities that supported the well-being of others. By the end of high school, I had over 1,000 volunteer hours between school and community service. Relating my Capstone project to mental health advocacy and how music supports well-being has benefitted me by allowing me to demonstrate my interest in psychology, which I am now pursuing at the University of Calgary.
On February 14th, 2023, I hosted a Valentine’s Day-themed luncheon with another student as my Capstone project. The luncheon took place at our local senior center, Lilac Terrace. We had live performances, lunch, desserts, and raffle baskets. All the elders from Lilac Terrace and the senior villa were invited. Community members were also welcome to attend. The Luncheon was 3 hours long.
Planning the Luncheon wasn’t without its challenges. We formerly planned to host the luncheon at Christmas but faced an unexpected scheduling conflict at the senior center. My peer and I decided to postpone the event until Valentine’s Day. This ended up benefiting us as it gave us more time to plan. Another challenge was the lack of performers. Originally, I planned to be the only performer for the event but decided that 2 hours would be too long to perform. My project partner and I agreed that it would be difficult for me to host at the same time as well. So, I contacted my music teacher to have her other students perform, but Valentine’s Day fell on a Tuesday that year, and she didn’t think students would want to miss school. Then I contacted some students from my high school about singing at the event. We had two singers interested. After brainstorming, I decided to ask students from my school’s drama program to perform skits. One group agreed. I also contacted two elementary school classes about performing, and they performed for us.
Thankfully, our Luncheon was a huge success! We had over 50 attendees from the senior center and the community. We had entertainment, including six youth performers (I was one of them!). We had soup and refreshments available for our guests, as well as desserts. We raised a total of over $600 and donated half to the senior center and half to our grad class. Our leftover food was donated to the senior center and our school’s Lunch Program to provide food to teens who don’t have lunch available to them.
We received many generous donations from our community. Our local grocery store donated $100 worth of desserts. Our high school’s art class and a grade one class from the local elementary school donated Valentine’s Day cards they made for the seniors. Two elementary school classes donated artwork to decorate with. A senior from Lilac Terrace donated decorations. Lilac Terrace donated soup and buns for lunch. And many of my and my peer’s friends volunteered their time to help us run the event.
My main goal was to bring joy to the seniors in our community. Being from a small town, there weren’t a lot of events dedicated to the elders. My great-grandfather lived at Lilac Terrace, and I remember his face lighting up with joy whenever he had visitors. Often, he talked about how dull it was living at the senior center, but how visiting with family made his day. Sometimes I would visit with the other elders who lived with him. They always talked about their families, but I realized that not everyone’s family would come to visit very often. Most seniors seemed sad. It is estimated in Canada that 10-15% of adults aged 65 or older and living in the community suffer from depression or display symptoms, for seniors living in residential care, this number jumps to 44%.[1] And when COVID hit, I read many articles about how quarantine negatively affected seniors’ mental health. I could relate to having quarantine affect your emotional well-being. Social isolation was one of the main concerns with quarantine. Social isolation and loneliness can affect older adults in many ways, including mood disorders, cardiovascular disease, and an increased risk of mortality. “In an Angus Reid Institute survey from 2019, among a representative randomized sample of 2,055 Canadian adults, 35 per cent of respondents reported being alone often or always, while 62 per cent reported wishing family and friends would spend more time visiting or socializing with them.”[2] (National Institute on Ageing, 2022). Even though my great-grandfather is no longer with us, he inspired me to make a difference in the seniors’ lives. This motivated me to host the luncheon.
With our luncheon, I achieved my goal of bringing the different generations in our community together, improving seniors’ mental health, providing a stage for talented teenagers, and raising money for my grad class and the senior center. I brought joy and fun to my elders. I helped improve their mental health and strengthened relationships between seniors and teenagers. My project has inspired me to continue to volunteer, pursue my passions, and use my creativity to improve the lives of others.
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