With the first year of capstone in the books, many seniors look for opportunities to participate in it this year.

Last year, capstone started in late May and went all the way to the last day if school. Capstone stands in place of going to schools for seniors who prove to be academically ready to volunteer in the community instead of attending class.
“Students must maintain a certain GPA, pass all their SOLs, and teacher reports have to say they are academically ready to participate,” Principal Matthew Wilburn said.

Last year, over 130 seniors participated in a range of capstone projects from shadowing teachers to volunteer work at the hospital.

“Last year I helped out at a local farm and helped with the horses, it was a super good use of my time and I loved volunteering at the farm and the shelters it was connected to,” former Stone Bridge student Kayla Morgan said.

Capstone was a huge success last year and the feedback was all positive coming from teachers and Principal Wilburn.

“Very much a success, student and staff feedback very positive throughout the whole thing. The teachers seemed very happy,” Principal Wilburn said.

Capstone is made for seniors to go out into the community and get involved with real world activities. Volunteer opportunities can be in the school community, yet many seniors chose projects that reflect what they will be studying in the next year.

“I chose to volunteer at a local pharmacy because I am going into pre-nursing. It was an awesome way to figure out if I really wanted to be a pharmacist,” former Stone Bridge student Katie Rhoads said.

As the year progresses, seniors should start to consider different volunteer opportunities to use as their “capstone project”.

Capstone starts towards the end of June and goes on throughout graduation date. It requires 65 hours of volunteer which is tracked by the school to make sure you are fulfilling the hour requirements.

“I hope to volunteer under an elementary school teacher because I want to go into teaching. Right now, I’m in teacher cadet so I am looking forward to helping in a real-world classroom,” senior Taylor Petrakis said.

Capstone is a project that is being adapted by more and more schools each year, next year 4 more schools including Rock Ridge, Riverside, Freedom, and Woodgrove are considering adopting it.