With the end of the year approaching, the class of ‘22 looks to start a new set of Senior Capstone Projects. This year, Senior Capstone runs from May 23 to June 3, taking capstone students out of class two weeks before the rest of the senior class leaves on June 3. Capstone students will present their projects to a large audience and reflect on what they had learned from the project and what they accomplished as part of their internship or volunteer work.

This year, out of the seniors who were polled, only about only 34% were participating in Senior Capstone. Even though Capstone Projects are an amazing opportunity, there is a lot of effort needing to be put into the preparation of each student’s project. Not only do students have to find places to intern, but they need a school sponsor and a detailed schedule with a community sponsor. However, all of the work is worth the challenge for those who are ambitious and want to try something new. 

“I’ll be shadowing my dentist, and I’m already a pharmacy technician, so I am always receiving and typing prescriptions from prescribers like dentists,” senior Iqra Chaundry said. “I wanted to see the process of how those medications I fill come to be prescribed to those patients.”

Senior Natalie Vish, meanwhile, is working for a foundation that benefits children who are less fortunate. A lot of senior projects are wide in scope; other students are working with elementary schoolers, teaching, writing for newspapers, or working with car companies. 

“I’m working with the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, which helps high achieving underprivileged students get money for college,” Vish said. “I picked this project because when I heard about it from my mom’s friend, who’s my sponsor, it seemed really interesting. I’ve learned a lot about higher education from the applicant perspective, but I want to learn what these third party organizations do.”

Vish is not only interested in this area due to the fact that she has the opportunity to learn about college education from another perspective, but she will also have the benefits of working with someone who majored in the same area she is planning on studying in college. 

“I’m looking forward to learning a lot and hopefully also gaining some work experience in a field I might want to go into,” Vish said. “My sponsor majored in the same thing I’m planning on majoring in when she was in school, so I want to see what I could do with that degree.”

Throughout the project, Vish has the chance to learn new life skills, this expertise impacting and helping her achieve her future endeavors. 

“I’m hoping to do valuable work for the organization, while also learning office skills and being introduced to new people along the way,” said Vish.

Senior David Arrington is using his capstone project assisting a PE teacher at Belmont Station Elementary School. 

“I like being active and I want to help kids find a fun way of exercising,” said Arrington. “[This project] will help me with dealing with kids in the future [and] it seemed like a fun way to spend my last few days in school.”