About Capstone

A unique aspect of the capstone course is that each student is paired with a mentor in a field related to the student’s interests. Students are expected to communicate with their mentors to seek feedback and advice as they journey through the research process. 

2021-2022 Mentors:

• Emily White, Director, Early Intervention Division, Bureau of Family Health & Nutrition, Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Conor Beswick)

• Parker Steele and Craig Broady, Formlabs (Joseph Giardella)

• Brendan Lombardi, and Jim Georges, 'P24 Markforged (Joseph Giardella)

• Thierry Krick, Dan Bourgeois, and Ed Kinnaly, Bauer Hockey (Joseph Giardella)

2020-2021 Mentors:

• Lily Ricci, Associate, Anderson & Kreiger; Member, Boston Police Reform Task Force  (Will Boemer)

• Andrew Lear, Professor, NYU, Harvard, and Columbia; Founder of Oscar Wilde Tours (Jules Bourbeau)

• Rich Alton, Director of Emerging Research at the Clayton Christensen Institute (Henry Fuller) 

• Heidi Smith Hyde, Director of Education, Temple Sinai (Jake Katz)

• Herman Saksono, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Research on Computation and Society, Harvard University (Jack Kiely)

• Merve Lapus, Vice President of Outreach & National Partnerships, Common Sense Education (Thomas Ligh)

• Omar Muneeruddin ‘04, Lead Coordinator, New England Electric Operations, National Grid (Alex Litchfield)

• Morgan Laner, Program Specialist, Center for EcoTechnology (Steve Rosario)

• Thomas Wessels, Faculty Emeritus, Environmental Studies & Sustainability, Antioch University New England (Aaron Saporito)

• Garret Sidmore ‘98, Patient Services Coordinator, McLean Hospital  (Sammy Hamza)

• Jeremy Maunus ‘01, Product Development Lead at Shell for Hydrogen (Dingchen Jerry Kang)

We are grateful to the following people for providing their guidance and wisdom as guest speakers for the Capstone course. 

• Steve Brown, Director of Wellness, St. John's Prep

• Julie Cremin, Digital Support Specialist & Instructional Coach, St. John's Prep

• Joey Durham, Ph.D., Director of Research at Amazon Robotics

• Sarah Faude, Ph.D., Director of Research and Evaluation, YW Boston

• Sarah Fuller, Research Vessel Science Coordinator, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

• Alicia Greenwood, Department Chair, Fine Arts, St. John's Prep

• Stefanie Howlett, Assistant Director of Digital Marketing, St. John's Prep

• Chad Konecky, Communication Specialist, St. John's Prep

• Michael Kelley '09, Assistant Director of Admission, St. John's Prep

• Evan Korol, Faculty, Mathematics Department, St. John's Prep

• Jason Larocque, Associate Principal for Grades 6, 7 and 8, St. John's Prep 

• Thomas Mitchell, Writing Coach, St. John's Prep

• James Niesuchouski, Counselor for Social/Emotional Wellness, St. John's Prep

• Paul F. Niehaus, Ph.D. '00, Associate Professor of Economics, UC San Diego

• Melissa Noel, Multimedia Journalist, Content Creator, Caribbean Correspondent, Pulitzer Center Journalist 

• Meghan Perry, Writing Center Coordinator, St. John's Prep

• Dana Shepard, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, St. John's Prep

• Thomas Stopka, Ph.D., M.H.S., Associate Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts School of Medicine

Below are some of the research tools and resources we use in the Capstone course. 

Seeking Interdisciplinary Understanding & Why it Matters

Question Formulation Technique Template 

The Question Formulation Technique (QFT), created by the Right Question Institute, helps all people create, work with, and use their own questions — building skills for lifelong learning, self-advocacy, and democratic action. Create a copy of this template. 

Developing a Good Research Question 

Can you Solve This?

This video from Facing History and Ourselves is a way to introduce the concept of Confirmation Bias. It examines why it’s so easy for us to interpret information that only confirms our prior conclusions and why breaking this cycle is so important in the research process. Another resource related to this puzzle from the NYTimes. 

Annotation Exercise Slides

Meant to be used at the beginning of the research process, these slides are intended to provide an organizational method to the annotation process, get students thinking about evaluating source credibility, citation chasing, and brainstorming the future direction of their research. Here is an example of completed annotation slides. 

Literature Review Feedback

Class of 2022 Reflections:

100% of students would recommend capstone to a friend. 

What skill, developed in capstone or built upon in capstone, do you think will be most useful to you in college?

• "The research skills I have developed through capstone will carry me far in life. This is super helpful because it applies to all aspects in my life and I can use this school to enhance all areas of my life. Im so happy I learned this skill and it will help me improve my scholastic abilities for the rest of my life."

• "The skill to gather and organize data will be extremely useful in the future, and in collage. When I have large writing assignments I can use the skills I’ve learned here to better my essays."

• "Lit reviews. It was a huge daunting task that turned into something I mastered."

• "Literature reviews and building websites."

• "The ability to find and write about scholarly articles."

• "Definitely the research skills, especially reading through research articles and gathering the best information."

• "Public speaking and annotations on my research."

What are you most proud of in the work you did this year in Advanced Research Capstone?

• "My final product. I think I made something that was really great."

• "I loved being able to show my creativity."

• "I’m most proud of my literature review, because I put a lot of work and effort into it. This essay was also one of the more larger assignments to complete in my high school career, making it more satisfying to complete."

• "My interviews were awesome. Such a fun experience."

• "I’m most proud of my first presentation to administration, and Pierce and my second presentation on our final project. I felt like they both came out exactly as I hoped and I had a lot of fun doing them as well."

• "I am very proud of my Final Product, as it truly feels like the culmination of every single class."

• "Overall it was a great experience and I think that this was the most helpful class for me. It really prepared me for research that college will have."

• "I am most proud on the book that I wrote for my final product. It is a bit repetitive at times in my opinion but I think that makes sense in context of my interviews."

• "I am most proud of the final product and primary research I conducted. I feel like it made a huge impact on the community and grew as a person from the product."

• "I am very proud of the survey I sent out to the St. Johns community. It was really awesome to collect as see the data first hand as you have more of a connection to it, rather than just copy and pasting from the internet."

What advice would you share with students taking the course next year? 

• "Don’t expect that you’re gonna know what your topic is."

• "Be ambitious and creative."

• "Get your work done early. There is often long periods of time in which you have to work on an assignment. Get the work done early, if you wait till last minute the work will end up sloppy and poor and as the process progresses the information you have gathered won’t be useful."

• "Keep up with your work! Ask for help."

• "Keep your head up and keep pushing but also don’t be afraid to ask for help."

• "Plan ahead and make an agenda so you don’t stress yourself out with a massive work load."

• "I think that pacing yourself is key. You don’t want to be lazy, but you don’t want to be overzealous and then burn out. Time management and keeping a consistent pace of work is key to succeeding."

• "Time Management and ASK FOR HELP!"

• "Don’t be set on one subject. Even if you know what you want to do be open to new ideas branching off of your original one."

• "Work really hard in the beginning of the year, it will provide a great base for the rest of your year. Ask question even if you think they’re stupid. Have fun, at the end of the year it gets stressful, there’s a lot going on, but you’re producing something unique to you, represent yourself and your passion well."

• "Swing for the fences, but understand that a single is still great!"

• "To take this course you need to be a motivated individual."

• "Get to know your capstone group and use the time given to focus on whatever you are most stressed about in the day."

• "I would encourage them to work with a topic they truly enjoy as it wont feel like a chore and they will feel better connected."

Class of 2021 Reflections:

What were the most valuable parts of the course?

• "Primary research by far it was the most fun, unique and beneficial."

• "The opportunities that came out of my project... I've been overwhelmed (in a good way!) with all the support for my passion." 

• "The most valuable part was the primary research process. Applying the theoretical knowledge I gained to the real world was something I never really did before."

• "I found a lot of value in my primary research area as it was something I hadn't had the opportunity to do in any classes before. My project also allowed me to learn a bit about the process of writing up an experiment and the importance of peer reviewing."

• "I enjoyed the final presentation the most because It forced me to find the most important arguments of the year and present it in a short time frame. I enjoyed the conclusion because it proved that I really had learned a lot this year."

• "In most classes we aren't being presented with large amounts of new information from classmates, which changes the entire classroom dynamic. It shifts from being close to a lecture hall to a much more collaborative environment, which personally I love. I thought it was clear that we wanted cyclical improvement using classmates and teachers. I find collaborative environments like the one here much more beneficial to learning, but understand that it isn't always plausible and takes student dedication to be effective."

What are you most proud of? 

• "The final presentation definitely showed my growth in public speaking and I was extremely proud." 

• "I was really proud of how I grew in terms of explaining my topic to others. I remember at the start of the year this was a tough topic and I often found people unsure about what I was trying to convey. I think I was successful in breaking it down and making it something anyone could grasp easily." 

What skills, developed in capstone or built upon in capstone, do you think will be most useful to you in college? 

• "Primary research skills like interviewing and conducting surveys. I felt that was a really powerful skill that I developed and think it will be very useful in the future."

• "ALL OF THEM!!!!! This is the biggest college prep tool ever."

• "I think I'll carry every little bit of the process with me: the resources I read, the people I talked to, the coding, the graphic design - all of it."

• "I think presenting and finding research will be the most useful in college. The amount of presenting in this class feels unparalleled, especially in comparison to my courses this year."

• "The most important skill I will take away from this class is how to effectively and efficiently find good sources. It was a skill I slowly developed through my four years at St. John's. Capstone helped me boost my confidence."

What advice would you share with students taking the course next year? 

• "Pick a good topic that you appreciate and love and stick with it. Don't be nervous because it will all come together."

• "Don’t be afraid to get things wrong."

• "Even though it's a primarily independent class, don't feel afraid to reach out. Not just to the Capstone directors, but also to your classmates and other teachers at St. John's. You'll be surprised at how much support they're willing to give."

• "Some days will be more productive than others but just remember to work for something that will potentially have an impact outside of the class."

• "Choose something you're passionate about, when you're working on something that matters to you it stops being work. It becomes about learning for the sake of learning as opposed to making a grade."

• "Take time to get to know your mentor as they can be an incredible resource for you."

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Class of 2020 Reflections:

What were the most valuable parts of the course? 

• “Connecting with people and doing real in-person interviews was great.”

What are you most proud of? 

• Researching something that is important to me and hopefully can make the world a better place.

• I am most proud of my primary research and my presentations throughout the year. I have never done any sort of primary research like I did for this course, so I felt like this experience was really helpful for me as a person.

What advice do you have to students taking the capstone course? 

• Sometimes you have to trust the process.

• Come in with an open mind. 

• Manage your time as best you can. You are given loads of time [to do your work], use it.

• Choose a topic that will really capture your interest like I did and make your approach not the problem unique.

What students said about their experience in Capstone:

• It was one of the best experiences of my time at St. John’s.

• It was a solid and worthwhile experience.

• Great learning experience.

• Very interesting and unique learning experience.

The SJP Advanced Research Capstone is directed by the Center for Mission and Research. 

The Center for Mission and Research connects St. John’s with the world around us. We promote interdisciplinary inquiry and action through the focus areas of environmental sustainability, global health and wellness, innovation and design, and justice and peace. Through our programs and initiatives, we encourage thinking critically, taking risks, and building resilience while engaging humanity’s biggest challenges.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Matt Spearing, Director of Environmental Sustainability

• Cultivate action that brings us in greater harmony with God's creation and minimizes our ecological footprint.

• Strengthen relationships to advance local and global responses to climate change.

• Promote behavior that balances the interconnected systems of sustainability: environment, economy, and equity.

INNOVATION AND DESIGN

Claudia Wessner, Shaw Family Director of Innovation and Design

• Embrace empathy-centered problem solving and other practices of effective design to create sustainable solutions.

• Integrate a variety of perspectives and disciplines with the understanding that innovation requires diversity.

• Support student agency and foster an appreciation for failure as a learning tool.

JUSTICE AND PEACE

Director of Justice and Peace

• Put into action our school’s responsibility to form agents for social transformation.

• Challenge our community to embrace a spirituality that does justice.

• Practice solidarity and transform dynamics of privilege and power.

GLOBAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS

Samira Tella, Director of Global Health and Wellness

• Understand and appreciate how psychological, economic, spiritual, social, and biological factors interrelate to affect health.

• Recognize the complexity of global systems that lead to health disparities.

• Raise awareness and foster inquiry that contributes to valuing the life and dignity of each person throughout the world.

Learn more about the Center for Mission and Research here.