For the first time in the Senior Capstone program’s history, most presenters will be sharing their lunchtime presentation time slot with another participant. The unprecedented change is causing some uneasiness from presenters who worry they may be interrupted by late comers who try to attend both presentations to support their friends.
The Class of 2019’s increased participation is the reason why 22 seniors will be sharing 13 presentation dates, according to Capstone Coordinator and Assistant Director of College Guidance Ashlynne Thomson. Only four seniors will have their own date.
For transcript purposes, all capstone presentations must be finished by the end of the first semester, January 18.
“I think this year is unique,” said Thomson, “as we’ve never had this many to schedule before the end of the first semester.”
– Ashlynne Thomson
Although there are 31 school days in the time period after Thanksgiving break to the end of the the first semester, Thomson said conflicts like not scheduling capstones during Agenda (which class officers and clerks are required to attend) and other school events made many dates unusable.
Some students have pointed out that Diversity Committee, which is scheduled on C day and also requires clerk and class officer attendance, has capstones scheduled during the same time slot. “Moving forward,” said Thomson, “we will probably have to keep that in mind as well so that people aren’t feeling too torn.”
“I think this year is unique,” said Thomson, “as we’ve never had this many to schedule before the end of the first semester.”
Thomson and Upper School Director Meredith Godley helped to schedule the capstone dates after presenters signed up for a Doodle poll in early October. “We tried to not have similar topics on the same day, said Thomson. “What I didn’t account for was the friend groups thing, and I clearly understand friends want to support each other.”
Senior Capstone participants Liam Schenk and Serena Lin will both be presenting on Wednesday, November 30. Lin and Schenk share many of the same friends.
Schenk, who is presenting on sustainable classrooms, said he suspects that there will be people who enter or exit his presentation halfway through in an attempt to attend both. He said attendees who only stayed for half the time would “get the gist, but they would miss the entire reason for my research.”
Friends of Schenk and Lin are in a bind. Senior Julia Kropiewnicki said she still does not know whose presentation she’ll attend: “I think it’s going to be a spur of the moment decision. I think splitting my time between the two would take away from the presentation.”
On the idea of having people switch halfway through, Capstone participant Katie Paw, who is presenting on fitness in social media and its effects on disordered eating, said it was “not only going to take away from the effectiveness of both capstones, but it will also be kind of difficult logistically.”
Despite this, she said she hopes those who do come halfway through can still pick up on the main ideas.
Thomson said Godley, Associate Head of School and Academic Dean Chris Kimberly, and herself will be dividing themselves among the capstones. She said they will be keeping an eye on the program’s integrity, ensuring that the presentations’ standards are high across the board.
Capstone presentations begin on Tuesday, November 27.
