Capstone is changing from a senior class to a junior class starting the 2024-2025 school year.  

Capstone is a class designed to help students prepare for college by completing assignments in class such as research papers, and a mentorship program. 

 In previous years, Capstone was every seniors’ seventh hour and was taught by their advisory teachers. Now, it will be incorporated into juniors’ schedules and will have one designated Capstone teacher.  

“Application preparation and scholarships fit better in your junior year than your senior year, mainly because early admission is November 1 of senior year,” said vice principal Renee Cox. “If we start [Capstone] junior year, then you have more time to research colleges, scholarships, fix grades, and get credits up.”  

Incoming seniors now won’t have a Capstone class. Instead, they will have a Capstone curriculum to complete in their advisory class. Advisory will be longer to accommodate for the curriculum and allow for students to still have work/study time.  

The curriculum will be a smaller version of Capstone. Activities such as the mentorship program will not be included.  

“[Seniors] will still be able to use that time and have support in applying for scholarships, applying to colleges, all the benefits that are offered in Capstone,” Cox said.  

The advisory-capstone combination for seniors is a temporary fix—after next year, students who took Capstone their junior year will have a normal advisory class for their senior year.  

For next year, instead of Capstone college visitors, the school plans to implement optional presentations during lunch. Then, juniors and seniors can hear from the colleges they want to.  

Cox believes it will be better to open it up to all juniors and seniors as an option, instead of a requirement for seniors. 

“You can go listen to who you want,” she says. “This way, we can expose more kids to colleges, and use [advisory] time to get work done.”