As a graduation requirement, students must complete the Capstone Project at Windham High School.
Capstone Projects are an independent study in which students can delve deeper into topics of interest to them, including potential careers. The students are completely in charge of this work, including choosing their project’s topic.
 |
| WHS senior Phoebe Bowman is actively working on a Capstone Project involving the topic of adrenaline. COURTESY PHOTO |
Bowman constructed the topic question of “What are the effects adrenaline can have on the body and mind and what are the lasting effects it composes?”
These Capstone Projects also require a minimum of 30 hours of research. Out of those 30 hours, a recommended four hours should be spent volunteering as putting in community service hours is a vital component to the Capstone initiative.
“For the majority of my volunteering hours, I did a lot of random work,” Bowman said. “I had helped out with working for the 50-50 raffle at a basketball game and babysitting some family friend’s kids.”
She said that adrenaline is a hormone that helps with quick reactions when faced upon an exciting, dangerous, or stressful situation. This hormone in everyone helps give one the power and energy to cope with sometimes what can be overwhelming feelings in preparation for readying your mind and body.
“A lot of people just think adrenaline is about your fight or flight response, but it is more complicated than that. Adrenaline itself has lasting effects on how you overcome a situation as there are good and bad ways to produce adrenaline,” said Bowman.
According to Bowman, an example of “good” adrenaline could be hitting a game-winning shot in a basketball game. Bowman says that she witnessed this first-hand during her research hours.
However, adrenaline can also strike from an intense surge due to a panic attack.
“I have learned a lot more than I started out with when I originally thought about adrenaline,” she said. “The experience and knowledge I’ve gained during this project will forever be in my memories.”.
Bowman's community contact is Joe Crocker who serves as the Town of Raymond’s Recreation Director.
“I think the most difficult part would be the whole starting part, figuring out if I wanted to do a slideshow or poster and how to correctly word things,” Bowman said. “Finding who could be my community contact was also a challenge.”
Bowman is preparing to present her project at the upcoming WHS Capstone Fair.
“I’m looking forward to teaching others everything I’ve learned,” she said.
The annual WHS Capstone Fair is a way for students to share their personal experiences and topic presentations with other students and staff members at the school. Student requirements for presenting at the Capstone Fair include having a visual which could be in the form of a 3D model, slideshow, poster, or other methods.
The projects stress the importance of making a connection with local mentors from the community and using learning experiences that occur outside of the walls of Windham High School.
Successful completion of the Senior Capstone Project became a WHS graduation requirement starting in 2018-2019 school year.
During the WHS Capstone Fair in the school gym on April 11, all students from every grade at the high school will be able to check out the 2025 WHS Capstone Projects and ask questions of the presenters.
To learn more about WHS capstone projects, visit https://sites.google.com/rsu14.org/eloandcapstoneprojects/senior-capstone-project <
No comments:
Post a Comment