Inside Capstone

A deep dive into a long-time graduation requirement at UAHS.

BY IRIS MARK ’23, MATTHEW DORON ’23 AND JAMES UNDERWOOD ’23

The Senior Capstone project has been a part of the UAHS curriculum for more than 25 years. To some students, it is an opportunity to explore their interests before applying them in the world of academia, but to most, it is merely one more hurdle to get over before they reach graduation.

Formerly called “Senior Thesis” and a component of senior English classes, Capstone was designed to serve as a student’s first introduction to scholarly writing.

“Probably about fifteen years ago we had some teachers interested in expanding [Senior Thesis] into what we currently call the Capstone project,” Sean Martin, an English and Capstone teacher at UAHS, said. “Partly because the students had already pushed us in that direction. A lot of students were doing their research paper, but they were also doing these community service projects or personal explorations in the arts,”

At this point, the new version of senior thesis was still a part of senior English classes, but as it developed into a larger project, it became harder to actually teach English curriculum content.

“Several years ago [...] the senior English teachers went to Mr. Theado, and asked ‘Can we kick this out of senior English?’” Martin said.

“At that time I was a senior English teacher and I didn’t want to see the project go away, so I agreed to take it on as another [course], and [for a] couple years I was the only one teaching Capstone.”

Each year, the Capstone project changes slightly in response to student feedback, but the goal remains the same: to provide an opportunity for students to explore their interests before college and introduce them to the kind of writing they will do in a college setting.

A large component of this is research.

“Capstone is sort of a research training course: learning how to use research to complement personal interest,” Capstone Coordinator Greg Varner said.

The Capstone contains three major steps for students. First, they complete a literature review, finding existing research on their topic. They do this based on an essential question and six subquestions they devise during and prior to research.

Next, students complete their own research on their topic. This culminates in the devised research report, wherein students report what they researched and what they found.

Finally, students prepare and deliver a TED-style speech before Capstone teachers and sometimes student spectators.

Only when all three of these steps are completed has a student completed their Capstone. Additionally, the extent to which they follow this process itself is included in whether they pass Capstone.

The structure of Capstone has raised concerns that it no longer provides adequate support or relevance to all students, as not all students are interested in pursuing the higher education that Capstone is meant to prepare them for.

“The current iteration is really research-heavy and diminishes the focus on the exploration piece a little bit, which is not something I’m all that comfortable with because some kids are much more interested in the applied research than the research paper,” Martin said. “I think our current iteration of Capstone is very challenging for [some] students and I think we’re asking them to do something that doesn’t apply to the life skills they’re going to need. So I would say that maybe there’s a mismatch between the current program and what we need for every student.”