PGHS Capstone Project

The PGHS Capstone Project (previously known as the High School Portfolio), is a project dedicated to ensuring our students are prepared for the college/career they wish to embark upon. The PGHS Capstone Project will have students reflect on growth and mastery of key skills desired by employers, and to present evidence of those successes.

Freshman-Juniors

Google Drive Folders - In your freshman year, you will create a folder for each of the six EGUSD Graduate Profile skills:

• Creative problem solving

• Technical literacy

• Community engagement

• Self-awareness, self-reliance, and self-discipline

• Integrity

• Community and collaboration

These folders will be checked in the Fall Semester of each year to determine your Advocacy grade. Details can be found in the "Is this graded?" section below.

Summative Letters - At the end of each year (except your senior year), you will create a letter addressed to the principal in which you discuss your growth in two out of the six Graduate Profile skills. It is up to you which areas of the Graduate Profile you choose to discuss, but you will be expected to explain in detail the events that helped you grow in those areas.  The assignments and artifacts you put in your Google Drive folders throughout the year will help with this task.

Community Service - At Pleasant Grove High School we want all of our students to participate in the bettering of their communities. For this reason, you will do community service, for a number of hours that varies depending on your current year of high school. Between your freshman and sophomore years you must complete a total of ten hours of community service. In your junior year you are expected to complete twenty hours, and in your senior year you are expected to complete twenty-five. 

Seniors

Reflective Research Essay -In your senior year at Pleasant Grove High School you will produce the Reflective Research Paper. This paper will explore your academic growth, your community service experiences, and your emerging future plans. In keeping with PGHS English department standards, the paper must achieve a 1500 word minimum length.  This essay is worth 10% of your second semester English 12 grade. 

Capstone Presentation - The culminating activity will be your Capstone Presentation.  During the last week in April, you will make a formal presentation about your high school journey (similar in content to the Reflective Research Essay) to a panel of PGHS faculty members.  

Google Drive Folder Check - These will be checked by teachers on December 1st, 2025. 

Summative Letters - These will be submitted via a Google Form by Monday, April 6th, 2026.

Community Service -  Exact days for submitting Community Service hours for the 25-26 school year are still to come. For 9th-11th grade students, community service hours will be due in mid-May, while senior community service hours will be due in early April.

Reflective Research Essay - Seniors will submit the Reflective Research Essay to their English classes in the second semester.

Capstone Presentation - Seniors will be presenting Capstone Presentations April 21st through April 23rd. However, seniors must submit a link to their presentation (via Google Forms) by the announced deadline (see your English teacher for specific details).

Yes. The PGHS Capstone Project will appear on your transcript in multiple ways.

Advocacy is a pass/no pass class. In order to receive a passing grade for Advocacy, you will be expected to do two things. 

Fall Semester Artifact Check - In your Fall Semester you will be asked by your Advocacy teacher to show artifacts for a given Graduate Profile Skill. The Graduate Profile Skill will be chosen at random, and you will be expected to be able to show the appropriate number of artifacts determined by your grade level:

• Freshmen Year: You are expected to have at least one artifact in the Communication and Collaboration Graduate Profile Skill. This is the only year of the Capstone Project that does not have the skill chosen at random.

• Sophomore Year - You are expected to have two artifacts in the randomly chosen folder.

• Junior Year - You are expected to have three artifacts in the randomly chosen folder.

• Senior Year - You are expected to have four artifacts in the randomly chosen folder.

It is recommended, as you move through the school year, that you put artifacts into these folders regularly so that you have the required amount in each folder each year, no matter which skill is chosen at random. 

Important Note: Your artifacts DO NOT have to be school assignments. It is heavily encouraged that you put items in the folders that match the skill and that are important to you. Are you a musician that regularly practices to excel? Record yourself and put that in the Self-Discipline category.  In sports, did you show up to practice on time, every time, and give it your all? Take a picture of you from one of your games and put it into the Integrity folder. The Capstone project is made for reflection; it won't be useful if you randomly pick something from your Drive to fill your folder. You want these folders to accurately represent your year and the growth you made within it.

Spring Semester Summative Letter Grade - In our Spring Semester, you will earn a pass for Advocacy if you earn at least a 7/10 on your summative letter. 

Community Service - This also appears on your transcript as a pass/no pass class, separate from Advocacy. If you meet your required hours for community service each year, you will earn a passing grade. If you are any amount of hours short of the requirement, the grade will be a no pass. Note: due to freshman and sophomore year sharing the ten required hours, there is no community service grade for freshman year.