As the end of the 2013-2014 school year is coming to a close and AP tests are over, many students are very relieved. However, the plethora of changes to Capstone this year have left many Sea King students and staff feeling quite upset. These changes include the removal of Tier 3 as well as the earlier essay deadline for Juniors. English teacher Mrs. Kostrencich says that the last minute decision to delete Tier 3 is “unfair to the students and Senior class now.” Many are also wondering why the Tier 3 removal was not announced earlier in the school year. “Everyone here went in thinking there would be a Tier 3,” adds Mrs. Kostrencich.
Another controversial topic about Capstone is changing the essay due date from early Senior year to mid-Junior year. The reason why the essay was moved to an earlier deadline was initially to allow students the opportunity to conduct their physical projects over the summer and have them finalized in early Senior year. Changing the due date of the essay could allow students to include their Senior projects in their college application essays. It could also prevent many students from switching to new Capstone topics over the summer, which was an evident problem in the past. Although this drastic change in the essay deadline may inhibit some students from changing their project topics, there are still abounding amounts of students who hope to change their Capstone topics this summer even after they turned in their final draft essays.
Junior, Nicole Amiridis, decided to do her Capstone on how comedy is an effective way to address social issues because psychologically it allows audiences to be more receptive to otherwise controversial subjects. Amiridis is glad that Juniors have the opportunity to do the physical projects over the summer, however, she does feel rushed and stressed to finish the essay in a short amount of time. “The timing with the essay and flashcards is horrendous. Having to worry about Capstone during AP testing and SATs has made things extremely difficult for many of the Juniors this year,” explains Nicole.
PVHS Junior, Caitlin Hudspith, chose to do her Capstone project on how nurse practitioners are now becoming more involved with patients than doctors and yet they are still getting paid a lot less. According to Hudspith, she liked the changes to Capstone for Juniors because there will be fewer work to do as Seniors. However, she also disliked the changes because “it was right in the middle of testing, AP classes, and getting ready for finals so at times it was really overwhelming,” expresses Hudspith.
In regards to seniors, many senior students were happy with their topics, “Capstone was a really great experience because I enjoyed researching a topic that I was really interested in” said Senior, Mady Decker. As long as you choose a good topic that you are interested in, Capstone should be a whole lot easier.”
Furthermore, for Capstone, Seniors presented in the gym, where they were able to see the giant basketball timer, “I liked how they used the timer above the basketball hoop in the gym so all the judges and students could see the time and there would be no disagreements or discrepancies about it,” exclaimed Daron Wong. The timer is a great way to know how much time you have left to present, especially because a lot of people “didn’t have enough time to talk about [their projects],” says Tanya Wadhawan. Seniors were only given three minutes to present and two minutes to answer questions. After preparing for hours for a brief presentation, some seniors felt like they needed more time.
Not only were presentations cut short, but they were also highly inconvenient, “I thought the presentations should be after aps,” said Trent Wong. With Capstone before APs, seniors are not only pressured to make sure they get a good grade on their Capstone projects, but also study for their AP tests to receive college credit.
In addition, Capstone was incredibly confusing for many students, “I honestly think it could have been better if the teachers were just more organized or the whole Capstone board had more of a clear idea of what all the guidelines were. All the teachers seemed to think different things about the requirements,” explains Lauren Sanders.
Moreover, many students were unhappy with the judging process, as it could be biased and some judges could have been more or less harsh than others. “The judging process might need some improvements because many parents were judging and their biases or inability to understand certain topics may have played a role in the grades students got,” states Mady Decker. Because all of the judges are not the same, the grading has to be subjective, however, there are guidelines, which each grader has to follow for scoring.
Yet, on the upside, Capstone was a really great preparation for college, “I thought Capstone was definitely good preparation for similar projects we would have to do in college,” says Daron Wong. The Capstone paper is only 6 pages long and college papers are usually longer. The Capstone project is a great way to prepare for life as a college kid!
Despite some much-needed project modifications, Capstone, in summary, is a great way for students to monitor their time, improve their speaking skills, and prepare for college.