Capstone, what is it? Capstone is a career kick-start for senior students who want a sneak peek to what they want to pursue in the future. Seniors get informed about the program in early October. They look for their own internships or community projects anywhere in the community or even a little bit more broader than the community.

Ideas range from senior to senior, some doing simple service hours and some doing more complex projects like getting more involved with the school. Megan Moore, a senior at Loudoun Valley, is doing a project with the school psychologist, so she can help people get out of bad home situations. “I want to do this project for capstone because I want to major in physiology,” Moore said.

Some seniors are more interested in teaching and shadowing teachers to see what it’s like to be a teacher. Vaughn Biesecker is shadowing her fourth-grade teacher.  “I’m interested in working with the youth through the peace corps,” Biesecker explained.

Capstone can be a good opportunity for seniors to start looking for a career path a little bit earlier down the road, and they can try things that they have always wanted to try out, “you can seek out your own project, as long as it’s approved first” Mr. Skvarch, the head of the capstone projects for roughly two years now, explained.

This year they are doing something new for the seniors this year, which might give them a longer time frame, “One option will be an extended one-hundred-hour capstone, which is throughout the entire month of May, or a fifty-five-hour traditional capstone which is the last two weeks of May.” They aren’t sure yet if this is going to last, but the teachers want to try it out for the students.

Capstone can be a really fun and different learning experience for the seniors here at Loudoun Valley High School. Many seniors are doing it this year, and all of the project ideas so far sound really detailed and thought out. Let’s hope that this year’s Capstone stands out.