Finally, we have made it to the famous senior year. Senior year is an influential year to be a light and leader for the younger students. It is a year that students look forward to their whole life, the top of the top. All the activities and events that the school organizes have always been something we look forward to.
The one thing that isn’t mentioned as much about senior year are Capstones. Capstone is a compilation of essays written for three different core classes: History, Bible, and English. We choose a book we have read for English class in high school and write an essay on it with the three different prompts we are given. Our word count is usually 1000-2500 words depending on which class you are in. The writing process can be stressful, and due to this we sometimes procrastinate. It can be tricky, but in reality there is no wrong way to write a capstone.
Senior Claire Moye said, “I like to prepare weeks in advance to write my capstone; I take it step by step and ease into it. It was definitely tricky to write my first one, but by now I feel like I have mastered it.”
Each student prepares differently, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It would be ideal to break it up into a multi-week process, but that’s not convenient for everyone. A lot of students participate in extracurricular activities like sports, or work throughout the week which makes it harder to take time to write it every day.
Senior Alexis Wilson said, “I won’t lie, for the Philosophy capstone I waited until the night before, but just because I waited to do it doesn’t mean I failed it. Mr. Bannis prepared us weeks before the due date, which made it overall easier for me.”
Overall, the senior experiences are very exciting and fun to attend. Don’t let anyone scare you about capstone; although it is a lot overall, the papers are worth a lot of your grade, it isn’t anything your teachers haven’t prepared you for. Make sure you have good research and you don’t overwhelm yourself. If you ever get discouraged, just think of all the past seniors that made it to the other side when they were in your shoes. The teachers are also there to guide and help you through the process in a more steady way.
A good piece of advice would be to manage your time as much as possible and prepare along the way, so that when it comes to writing your paper it won’t be as daunting as you think.
We have also learned from previous alumni that capstones prepare you heavily for college and the workload that will be coming.
