Noah Arbuckle presents his work on sustainably sourced chicken and pig feed at Lincoln Academy on Monday, Nov. 10. Several seniors participated in the new capstone course starting last spring. (Photo courtesy Jenny Mayher)
Lincoln Academy seniors presented their capstone projects on Monday, Nov. 10, marking the culmination of two trimesters of planning, research, and outreach.
This year marked the first iteration of the capstone course for both students and faculty before it is incorporated into next year’s graduation requirements.
Thirty students presented their projects to classmates and community members on presentation day. The presenters showcased work on everything from sustainably sourced chicken feed to a documentary film capturing the class of 2026’s senior year.
Director of Library Services Laura Phelps and Director of Learning Initiatives Maya Crosby led the LEAP Senior Capstone’s development. Through the two trimesters of work, students are meant to learn, explore, apply, and present, which is the capstone’s acronym.
According to Crosby, the first cohort of students received pass-fail grades on their work and future class participants will be graded similarly.
Phelps said the entire senior class was not required to participate this year, but the faculty wanted a variety of students in the class, including kids who were hesitant about the capstone, to get a diverse range of feedback.
“It’s been an experimentation process for us as well,” Crosby said. “They had to be willing to learn along with us and figure out what was going to work.”
Even though this year marks the first cohort, the capstone course has been a long time coming, Phelps said. School faculty has discussed adding the course for 10 years but only started developing the class two or three years ago.
Head of School Jeff Burroughs, who previously taught a capstone course for 10 years, said he wanted to introduce the new learning opportunity since he first started at Lincoln Academy. By participating in the course during senior year, students will be apply the content they’ve learned throughout high school in new ways.
“(The capstone) will really drive our understanding of how kids are prepared to face … their lives when they leave Lincoln (Academy),” he said.
Director of Curriculum and Instruction Kelley Duffy said the capstone is a “cross-disciplinary” project pushing students to use a variety of skills and knowledge.
Students kicked off their projects last spring with the guidance of Phelps and Crosby, who provided support as they picked out their projects.
“The first portion of the class was really an exploration, trying to find a topic and then doing some pretty heavy duty research,” Phelps said.
Crosby said the course gave students the independence to “do whatever (they) want” in terms of developing a proposal and completing the project. It was a challenge for some students, she said, but many ultimately gained confidence in their ability to work independently.
On top of researching and developing their projects, community outreach was also a big component of the course, Crosby said. Students were required to reach out to community members to better understand their topic area, giving both students and the community a chance to learn from each other.
Amid college applications and the typical senior year activities, Phelps said students focused this semester on bringing their projects across the finish line.
“They’ve been really working on the nitty-gritty of (the project)” leading up to their presentations, she said.
While presenting their final projects, students were graded on factors like information analysis and feedback response.
Even though the capstone’s coursework is finished, many students are continuing to work on their projects. Overall, students were happy with their experiences, but Crosby said there’s a “running list” of ways to improve the course in the future like creating more time for coaching or more structured reflection opportunities.
Though some students may not be able to fit the capstone into their coursework next year, Burroughs said the “vast majority” of the class of 2027 will take the capstone course. He said other graduation requirements have been adjusted to give seniors room in their schedule for the capstone.
Unlike this year’s cohort, Phelps said the coursework will start at the beginning of senior year instead of at the end of junior year. There is more work to be done, but she said she looks forward to continuing to experiment with the course.
“There will be growing pains in the first few years because it takes a while to gel into the culture of the school, but I’m excited to see that happen,” Crosby said.
Helen Duffy presents her project on finding fixes to everyday problems at Lincoln Academy on Monday, Nov. 10. Students had the freedom to pick any topic they wanted and worked on their own timeline, according to Director of Library Services Laura Phelps. (Photo courtesy Jenny Mayher)
