As the school year comes to a close, many seniors have finalized a Senior Capstone Project for the last three weeks of their high school career. Ranging from volunteer work to job shadowing, capstone is a wonderful opportunity for students to gain experience in areas of interest and prepare for the future that lies ahead.
Students will be excused from their classes after May 16 to complete either a civics engagement or career exploration project. Though, for the program, students will leave school early, Capstone is more than a simple opportunity to get out of school; it is an opportunity to build connections with people in the professional world within the community and to establish a clearer view of the future.
This resourceful program has been a part of the Stone Bridge community for well over a decade. This year, however, the school will have 254 students participating in Capstone, a number that is nearly double what it’s been in years past.
“Our goal was to get as many seniors involved in it as possible,” Student Activities Coordinator Jennifer Steeprow said.
From an administrative perspective, Mrs. Steeprow began reaching out with Capstone information around January of this year. Seniors were given an advisory presentation about steps to take to find and set up a project, as well as showing some past projects to give students inspiration.
When choosing a Capstone project, students make sure to take life after college into consideration and practice real world skills such as meeting requirements for job applications and increasing interpersonal relations among adults.
Senior Millie Smith will be working with The Nature Generation to help put together a summer reading program of award winning books that focus on environmental issues and sustainability. The opportunity allows Smith to combine her college major, marketing, with one of her biggest passions, advocating for the environment. The program will be pushed out to schools, libraries, and students through social media and other marketing strategies in order to encourage reading over the summer.
“I reached out to a couple different places to keep my options open,” Smith said. “But I decided to go with the Nature Generation because it’s the most similar to what I want to pursue and will give me the most helpful experience.”
Each student has a community sponsor that guides them through the Capstone program and shows them how the program will work for their chosen career. Working with a sponsor allows students to gain a better understanding of their new work environment and jobsite expectations.
“I feel like for all of senior year, we’ve just been planning [for] colleges, and we’ve been looking towards our future, so much we haven’t actually started it,” senior Alexandra Ganey said. “[Capstone] feels a lot less scary when you kind of already know the person you’re shadowing, so look for someone in the community that you already know.”
Another useful aspect of Capstone is the ability to shadow higher level positions of the field you wish to go into. Hannah Skemp will be spending her time at the “Loudoun Times-Mirror,” a local newspaper located in Leesburg. During her project, Skemp will shadow an editor to get an idea of what it looks like behind the scenes of running a news outlet such as the “Loudoun Times.”
“I know what it’s like to be in a school newspaper, but it will be great to see how things are in a professional environment,” Skemp said. “I’m going to school for marketing and journalism, so being able to see how an editor does their job will be a really beneficial work experience for me.”
Alternatively to career experience, Capstone can also provide an opportunity to simply explore interests and give back to the community. Emory Pittman will be taking a detour from her projected career path to volunteer with the Wolf Trap Animal Rescue, working events such as puppy therapy, adoption, intake, and fostering.
“[My project] not being connected to what I’m doing in college was kind of the point for me,” Pittman said. “I love animals, I’ve always worked with them in different ways throughout my life. I don’t know if I’m going to get this chance again when I’m in college so the opportunity to delve deeper into it means a lot.”
Rising seniors should absolutely consider looking into a Capstone project, as it can not only prepare them for their collegiate or career path, but give them a chance to expand on casual interests and foster an amusing end to senior year. To learn more about the program, a Capstone Project Fair will take place in the cafeteria on June 4th from 6:30-7:30 PM, where graduating seniors will share important details from their experience.
