Here's What Students and Parents Say About Us
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While I took multiple AP courses a year during my high school tenure, none prepared me for my college and professional life like AP Capstone. Unlike more traditional high school courses, AP Capstone gave me the freedom to find the subjects I was interested in and spend months researching, analyzing, and writing about them in depth. It served as a spark for my love for qualitative and quantitative research, sharpened my analytical writing skills, and gave me much needed confidence in my public speaking. I don't know of any other course that would allow a 17-year old to present on the shortcomings of the American education system to Department of Education staff, but that is an experience I'll never forget.
I would recommend AP Capstone to any high schooler, but that recommendation only gets stronger if Mr. Waxman and Ms. Blankenship are teaching it. These two incredible educators provide a learning space that is second to none, bringing their wealth of knowledge along with a great sense of humor and encouraging attitudes to every class. I would argue that Mr. Waxman and Ms. Blankenship were fundamental in helping me get to where I am now in my career and I still carry the lessons learned in their classes to this day.
Ben
I was part of one of the first AP Seminar and AP Capstone classes at Oakton High School, which greatly enhanced my academic and career growth. Under the mentorship of Mr. Waxman and Ms. Blankenship, I explored my interests in music and psychology while developing key skills in research, writing, and public speaking. Two years post-college, I still apply these skills in my career, and they’ve helped me stand out among my colleagues and peers. I highly recommend this course for students aiming to improve their research, speaking, and writing abilities.
Grace
Ms. Blankenship's AP Lang class was by far one of the most impactful classes I’ve taken in high school. I gained invaluable insight into how writing and rhetoric work together while learning to craft strong, nuanced arguments of my own. Beyond writing, Ms. Blankenship taught me to think critically about the world and current events—opening my eyes to the real-world power of writing today.
Joelle
Mr. Waxman was my teacher for a combined section of AP Government and AP Comparative Government in 2021-2022, which became the most impactful part of my high school education. Rather than emphasizing short-term memorization, he encouraged us students to think critically about current events and complex political issues. His engaging and innovative projects challenged us to demonstrate a true understanding of important concepts while also fostering effective collaboration and thoughtful discussion — a critical skill set to enter college with. He valued each student’s opinion, and gave us the tools to construct well-informed and nuanced arguments. As a current third-year undergraduate studying Public Policy & Leadership and Government, I continually draw on the skills I developed in this class — especially in my higher-level, project-based courses. The classroom environment that Mr. Waxman cultivates made it easy to practice these challenging skills with confidence.
Ashley
AP Capstone is a course in high school like none other. A more honest take on college curriculum, AP Capstone prepared me for research in college, which many professors were quite impressed by. Thanks to AP Capstone, I was able to obtain a lab position my first year, and I hope that the future students will consider taking AP Capstone as well. Furthermore, Mr. Waxman (AP Research/Government/WTP teacher) is a kind of teacher that you will never meet in either high school or college. His dedication to his teachings and his care for his students all aided me in succeeding in all the classes I took, and stretched to even aid in college as well. In other words, if I were to choose my first AP course and my first AP teacher, it would be AP Capstone with Mr. Waxman, not only due to how much AP Capstone prepared me for college, but also due to Mr. Waxman's extensive teaching experience as an AP teacher. As a result, as a freshman in college, I would recommend any future students to take the AP Skills Studios to get a better taste of what college is like.
Vincent
I can attest that AP Capstone is an excellent program for anyone with a mind for pursuing the humanities. . . . The class helps students develop critical thinking skills necessary for collegiate futures. The emphasis on reading, writing, and comparing sources of information offers a well-rounded basis for the kind of work students will do in similar academic and professional careers. . . . [It] gave me a strong foundation for my political philosophy, policy, and law major at the University of Virginia. It also helped prepare me for the work that I am currently doing in law school, and in my internships at civil rights litigation law firms. In undergrad, law school, and the professional legal field, reading and writing are at the heart of my work. This program taught me how to better synthesize difficult and diverse pieces of writing and hone my own writing skills. I am forever grateful for what I learned and how it has helped me get to where I am today.
Alexa
The AP Capstone program was, without a doubt, a core part of my Oakton experience and the source of several fundamental skills that the rest of the high school curriculum was not designed to cover. Specifically, the second part of the two-year program requires an entirely individualistic process of developing a research question, conducting your own methodology, and concluding results; because of this, many students end up working with a mentor with expertise in their area. One challenge I faced was that despite cold-emailing several professors, nobody was willing to help me-- though it took some extra research and time, I was able to overcome this by placing my conclusions in the context of a pre-existing framework to legitimize my results. One major lesson this instilled in me was the fact that adversity can almost always be overcome, if you are committed. Because of the agency we had in AP Capstone, and because of the accountability we had to take for our own projects, and because it was largely self-guided, I can say with certainty that this program instilled in me several valuable lessons I would not have gained from the remainder of my high school experience.
Priya
futurenoweducation@gmail.com
PHONE NUMBER: 202.841.7602
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