Starting in February, seniors began taking a brand-new Senior Capstone class, in replacement of previous second-semester Senior Seminars. Prior to this year, there were four different senior seminar options for seniors to choose from. However, these seminars are being left in the past and transformed into a new class: “Civics and Social Action.”
Preparation, which began at the beginning of the school year, involved designing the new curriculum for Senior Capstone. Mr. Liu, the Assistant Principal for Student Life, and other teachers pondered many questions. Liu shared some: “How can we make these four courses more aligned to each other and more uniform, so that all seniors get a similar experience?” Additionally, “How can we provide an opportunity for seniors to share their four-year Prep experience through this class? What would it look like to really reflect on the grad-at-grad pillars? What would it look like to present a capstone presentation to a larger audience and community?”
“The course is a theology credit and includes civics requirements from the state. Finally, social action is incorporated and wrapping up service and social justice participation at Prep,” Liu said.
Further planning involved selecting teachers to fill this new role and actually teach the class. Like Collegio, there will be four capstone classes throughout the grade and about 50 seniors in each section. The four “anchor” teachers will oversee each class; they include Mr. Liu, Mr. Guy, Mrs. Matthews, and Mr. Meyer. Their roles will “primarily be the lead for the presentations at the end of the semester,” Liu said. They will stay in their individual class the entire semester and not rotate.
Additionally, four teachers will rotate between each class to assist with preparation for the presentations and other capstone curriculum. These include theology teachers, Ms. McNeill and Ms. Laskey, and civics teachers, Mr. Elsner and Mr. Hogan.
“There’s a lot of teacher involvement, almost mirroring that of Collegio,” Liu said. He also shared that, “this should really be a culminating experience.”
Contrary to the past, all seniors will present their capstone presentations at the end of the year to a Prep audience, unspecified yet. The capstone presentations mention how the senior has grown, changed, participated, and left their individual mark on the Prep community. Current seniors listened to these presentations as juniors, so they have an idea about what they will be completing. The biggest goal is “a deep, sincere reflection on the student’s time here at Prep,” Liu said.
The course promotes the foundations of a Jesuit education. Mr. Liu shared some goals: “How can seniors be an engaged citizen in our city, state, and country? How can we take our service experiences and bring that to future work and opportunities?”
Wes Merlino ‘25 said that he’s “excited to start Senior Capstone and learn more about civics and social action to link his time at Prep to his future goals.”
