Hello, I'm Hayley Soames, and my project revolves around a podcast with a primary emphasis
on interview-style discussions centered on interpersonal relationships. The guiding question for
my exploration is, "To what extent can one individual influence another?" This exploration will
be shared through a dedicated Spotify podcast channel. Through my capstone project, I will
engage in conversations with friends and family. Using a blend of storytelling and thoughtful
interview questions, I aim to delve into the profound ways people impact one another, as well as
exploring how these interactions can be uplifting and vice versa. The objective is to encourage
participants to reflect on their memories and experiences, unraveling the intricate web of human
connections. My motivation for selecting this theme stems from a personal revelation:
recognizing that the entirety of my life has been shaped by the individuals who surround me.
Every experience has contributed to molding my present self. Fueled by this realization, I am
driven to create a podcast that delves into the broader theme of how individuals shape and
influence one another. This will also connect me to one of my passions which is why people do
the things they do; this could also be categorized under psychology. Although I don't possess
extensive prior knowledge, my interest in exploring human behavior has been fueled by an
interest in documentaries and videos. I find great fascination in unraveling people's thoughts,
patterns, and the underlying motivations that drive their actions. My curiosity is particularly
focused on true crime information. Watching documentaries and delving into true crime content
has provided me with a unique lens through which to observe the ways individuals navigate
their lives, make choices, and impact those around them. This interest has significantly
influenced my capstone project, as I aim to channel this curiosity into the realm of relationships
and interpersonal dynamics. By combining the analytical approach I've developed through my
exploration of true crime with the personal narratives shared by friends and family, I hope to
shed light on the profound ways in which individuals shape each other's lives. In the future I
want to go into the psychology field, more specifically I want to become a criminal psychologist.
The main focus of this career is merely based on the study of why people do the things they do,
so my capstone closely relates to my career path since in a way, I am figuring out why people do
the things they do due to their interpersonal relationships and connections. It is also important in
this particular career that I do background research on people's lives and the friendships they
have had to see if that played any role in the crimes they have committed or the way they think.
In university I will be studying psychology and criminology so this will also be something I can
take with me for future knowledge when I move onto the next step of my schooling. Within the
entirety of my capstone I have used the core competencies to navigate my next steps and help
with any problems that have risen, such as personal awareness and responsibility, I used a
variety of strategies to manage my well-being, instead of being behind on work and being
anxious constantly, I tried to spread out all my work and put away chunks of times to get my
work done, I also made times for my interviews and spoke with the interviewees to make sure we
were all on the same page so that I won’t be as stressed. For social responsibility I value
diversity, defend human rights, advocate for others, and act ethically in all my interactions,
including online. I did this by talking to people of all ages with all different perspectives to see
how they all varied. I was respectful in my approach and was able to withhold meaningful
conversations to answer my inquiry question, I posted these interviews online with consent and
made sure that everything was appropriate for viewing and not a breach of privacy. I used critical
thinking to analyze and critique my work so I can show my thoughts to the best of my ability. I
often restarted my podcast, cut things out or edited it so that it would be perfect. I went in
multiple times to add more questions that would open people up to having broader answers but
also create a deeper sense of thinking. On another hand, I used my creative thinking to persevere
and understand that failure can be productive. I had to delete 2 podcasts fully due to messing up
on the publishing and realizing I posted both in one episode instead of separately. In this mess up
I learned how to properly use the app and took it as a learning opportunity instead of a failure.
With communication I was able to listen, learn to contribute meaningfully to discussion and
debate, consider different perspectives and build consensus. Throughout my podcasts I tried to
interact with the speakers instead of having a robot like conversation. I struggled a bit but I was
able to listen to others and include my own thoughts and opinions to expand on the topics we
talked about which overall helped the podcast run smoother. Lastly I used personal and cultural
identity to understand what is important to me. I showed this with my choice of capstone. I chose
something that was important to me and decided to see if my thoughts and feelings matched with
other people. To present my project it will be uploaded through teams with a link of my podcast
profile and for my exit interview I will present with a slideshow project filled with information
and images to express myself as well as notes on paper to navigate my speaking. I will research
my inquiry question through a series of broader topics that slowly zoom in on one topic, and in
the end the interviewee will be able to answer the question themselves. At the end of the podcast
the listener should be able to get a bunch of different opinions on my big question and be able to
answer it for their own self, but I will also create my own podcast episode to answer it for
myself. For this capstone I used my phone as well as 2 wireless microphones and an adapter to
connect it to the speakers of my phone. Lastly, I used Ms.Babalos as my mentor. I struggle with
speaking to others and she often presents in front of big groups and is able to hold one on one
conversations with many different people, for this reason I chose her to help me through what to
say and how to keep a conversation flowing smoothly, her words helped me tremendously and I
was able to use her advice to create my podcast. Throughout this project I have been able to learn
more about the people around me and what they look for in friendships/relationships as well as
dive deeper into their values and beliefs, it was like a whole new outlook on these people and I
am glad I got the opportunity to learn more about my loved ones and I am excited for my
capstone to be presented.
