A graduation requirement at WHS is a Senior Capstone which is a personal research project seniors work on throughout the entire year. Kristen Bates, a Guidance Counselor at WHS, shares more crucial information on what a Capstone project is and why it is important to the school: a Capstone project allows students to learn something new. The project is broad and it leaves a lot of room for students to be creative. Seniors can do a project about a potential career, a hobby they want to pursue, or research that involves the community. A Capstone project is supposed to give students more of an opportunity to get engaged within their community and or school.
Although students have a lot of freedom regarding what they would like to do, there are guidelines seniors must follow to be successful with their Capstone. Students must complete a minimum of 60 hours worth of work, and log their progress. Students must also have three credible sources to back up the work they have been doing and give an oral presentation about their project to their SSP classes at the end of the year. All of the information regarding Capstones is given to seniors in their Google Classroom and a senior meeting that happens at the beginning of the school year.
Capstone projects are due on March 5th and oral presentations start and end on March 14th and 15th. All seniors are required to complete this project. Throughout the year, Guidance Counselors will check in to see if you are turning in your projects on the designated date. If not, consequences will be given to those who choose to hold it off, such as being excluded from senior activities and potentially not getting their diploma at graduation.
To show you have been successful while presenting, Bates says you should be able to speak clearly and confidently about your topic without having to look at your presentation slide. You should be able to teach the other members of your SSP group about your Capstone and hopefully get them intrigued. The WHS seniors have creative and intriguing ideas that they are excited to share.
