As students enter their junior and senior year, they gain the ability to take a year-long capstone course. As part of the program, students will be asked to create a final project (including a presentation) as well as a midyear presentation.

Capstone is an outlet for students to demonstrate their cumulative learning in a hands on interactive fashion. Students who are taking Capstone have the option to choose from 12 individual courses, each placing a focus on skills in various job fields. Students will also have to participate in field work in order to complete the project.

Capstone provides the opportunity for students to explore a potential career path based on the students’ interests. Additionally, the capstone program allows students to connect to the community through collaboration with a local business or program. The week of January 8, students gave their midyear presentations, communicating the progress on projects and new learning. Students defined their area of inquiry and goals for the final product.

Senior Sofia Podgorski recently participated in the midyear presentations, used the experience to reflect on her progress and development within her custom capstone. Podgorski is researching how fashion and social media intersect, in order to develop a social media account to develop to communicate with future employers.

“My mid year presentation was essentially a check in to reflect on my research thus far. I used the presentation to collect my thoughts and have a more concrete understanding moving forward,” Podgorski said.

Juniors Albi Simeone and Jonathon Fojtik are enrolled in the engineering capstone. This capstone requires the use of the engineering and design process in order to develop a source of alternative energy. Although still in the development phase, the pair has created a model and has begun testing. While only halfway through the capstone process, Fojtik relishes the experience and learning he has been exposed to through the process.

“Working in the engineering capstone has allowed me to develop and learn as an engineer and a thinker, I will definitely be using these experiences when looking to enter the engineering field,” Fojtik said.

Moving forward, capstone students will look to finish their products by the beginning of April. To create their final presentations, students will use their product and findings which have been documented in a digital portfolio. The final presentation will be a complete demonstration of learning and development of skill sets achieved throughout the capstone process.