What is a Capstone Project? What is the purpose?
"The Capstone is a culminating project that provides a way for students to demonstrate the knowledge and skills they acquired during their secondary school years of education. High school students are asked to demonstrate their ability to apply key knowledge and skills by planning, completing and presenting a culminating project linked to one or more areas of personal interest." (SWHS Capstone Experience)
Why This Project?
I chose this project because I noticed first hand there is a gap in how information about high school is shared. Most students hear advice from teachers and parents, or older siblings, but not directly from their peers. Since I don’t have older siblings, I wished there was a place for me to look to learn about high school. So I had the idea to create a platform where seniors could share their real experiences and advice to help incoming freshmen navigate high school more confidently.
In middle school, our world is small and structured in a way that we are divided into cohorts, see the same students in classes, and walk the same sections of the hallway every day, away from other grades and even other kids in our grade. Our schedules are mapped out for us, and our teachers and parents watch over us closely, making sure we stay on track. High school, however, is a completely different experience. Our world expands as we move between classes, across three floors in two different buildings, exploring our interests, and making choices about our schedules and after-school activities. We are no longer being guided every step of the way. It's expected that we that we guide ourselves. Teachers and coaches don’t reach out to parents on our behalf, and it’s now our responsibility to advocate and manage our own successes. We choose our courses, pursue our interests in academics and the arts, and navigate social and extracurricular activities and their challenges. These decisions are being made while learning to take ownership of our own growth and development. This shift from a structured environment to one of greater independence, where we are in charge of our own path, is a defining part of the high school experience. This is the heart of what I wanted my project to capture.
My goal by the end of the Capstone experience is to create a guide for students entering high school. This guide shares the experiences and advice of current seniors, covering not only academics but also social situations and challenges that teachers or adults don’t always address. There isn’t a “book” that explains how to handle those day-to-day moments unique to high school life, so I wanted this project to fill that gap. I hope that by reading or watching this guide, incoming middle schoolers will feel better prepared to handle new situations and make the most of their high school experience. If I had this resource before going into high school, I believe some of the challenges I faced would've been minimized because of the guidance shared. And it would've been comforting knowing that others faced similar obstacles and experiences.
To bring this project to life, I reached out to Danny LeGare, Executive Producer, owner of Burden Media, for guidance on recording equipment since I intended to host focus groups in my home. Our conversation quickly grew my original concept of a Q&A pamphlet into a documentary-style video. Danny and Jack Gonzalez, Producer, offered their space at Burden Media for the interviews, recording equipment, and additional resources to make the video portion of this project possible.
I selected a diverse group of students to participate, considering differences in race, gender, academic focus, and extracurricular activities. I contacted about 25 students and ended up with 14 interviewees -- plus myself as number 15. We completed all the interviews in a single day, which was long but incredibly rewarding. One of the participants expressed interest in video production during his interview. With Danny’s help, the student has become a producer for my project and even secured a job with Burden Media, helping with promotional videos outside of my project!
Throughout the project, my role has been Writer, Director and Website Creator. Each participant contributed their own biography, headshot, list of classes and activities, and their best advice for future high schoolers; not only advice they had received themselves, but also advice they wanted to pass along to the younger generation. Together, these stories and experiences form a comprehensive peer-to-peer guide that helps middle schoolers feel prepared, supported, and confident as they begin their high school journey.