Twelve seniors shared their research and findings on a variety of important topics in Capstone presentations last week in the Oakwood Room. This project, a requirement to graduate with the Global Scholars Program diploma, involves many components including a written paper, action research and a presentation in front of students and a panel of teachers.
The Capstone Research Seminar supported 12 young scholars through their first original research projects, a journey which takes students through many sophisticated research techniques. They create research questions on issues of their choosing, they form their own definitions of key concepts based on the current knowledge in their fields, and they answer their questions with original data collected through interviews, observations, and primary source analyses. It’s high-quality scholarship akin to what their future college and university professors do day-in and day-out.
“An original research project on this scale is one of the hardest things we could ask a high schooler to do. Now that they've done it, our students can go into college with a level of confidence many undergraduates won't have for years.,” said Dr. Jonathan Wilson, Upper School history teacher and supervisor of the Capstone program.
Student presentations were organized thematically in three sessions: Health, Equity and Public Policy, Education and Culture Change, The State and Our Visions of the Future. All 12 presentations were followed by Q&A sessions during which students, faculty members, administrators and parents asked questions that required the scholars to think more deeply about their topics and potential resolutions to problems.
“As they got ready to present their work, I asked our Capstone scholars for one extra thing: to help the audience understand the human importance of what they've been studying,” Dr. Wilson said. “Judging by the extraordinary level of audience engagement, with Q&A sessions lasting much longer than what I've seen at many national academic conferences, that's exactly what our students did.”
Below is a listing of this year’s Capstone scholars and their presentations:
Health, Equity, and Public Policy:
Raiya Patel ’24 – Maternity Leave and Maternal Mental Health
Gbemi Olarewaju ’24 – Racial Equity in Healthcare
Sanya Sidhu ’24 – Human Trafficking Survivors and Medical Education
Luke Tan ’24 – Eagle Conservation in the Philippines
Education and Culture Change:
Fay Zhu ’24 – Depictions of Romantic Relationships in Chinese Television Dramas
Anushka Dalal ’24 – Inclusive Education and American Sign Language
Siddharth Bharadwaj ’24 – Racial and Gender Diversity in Engineering Teams
Natalie Koegler ’24 –Media Depictions and Public Perceptions of Sharks
The State and Our Visions of the Future:
Heidi Pan ’24 – Emotions and Climate Change
Max Ren ’24 – The Euclidean Distance Model and Economic Development
Zara Zaidi ’24 – Ethical Implications of AI in Healthcare
Isabella Rovito ’24 – LGBTQ+ Citizens and Legal Systems in South Asia
“I'm incredibly proud of the preparedness and poise that our students showed throughout this year's Capstone presentations,” Dr. Wilson said. “They've surpassed my highest expectations for this event.”