The school now offers the Advanced Placement (AP) Capstone Program course which can earn students a Capstone Program diploma based on two year-long classes, AP Seminar and AP Research with the former being a prerequisite to the latter. Unlike many of the AP classes College Board offers, both the AP Seminar and AP Research classes were designed to be more skills based instead of information based. In other words, these courses are not information heavy in terms of memorization, rather they foster students’ critical thinking abilities. 

According to College Board, the primary goal of both AP Seminar and AP Research is to use an interdisciplinary approach to develop the critical thinking, research, collaboration, time management, and presentation skills students need for college-level work. To strengthen these skills through both classes, students are required to conduct a research project, write an academic paper, create a presentation, and orally defend a topic that they choose themselves.

Senior Ivan Gonzalez-Herrerro is a current student in AP Research who is a part of the first class at CHS to experience and is in the process of completing the Capstone Program.

“I would absolutely recommend the two AP Capstone classes for any underclassman looking to challenge themselves. It has taught me researching skills that go beyond a Google search which I always use in my other classes. I feel prepared for my future in college because of this class and signing up for it was one of the best decisions I have made in high school,” Herrero said.

The Advanced Placement (AP) Capstone program was implemented at in 2018 and its first group of students will graduate with the Capstone Diploma this year. In their first year at the school, both the AP Seminar and AP Research classes were quite small with less than fifteen people. Yet, the program has already began to grow as there are now two full classes of AP Seminar with more than 25 students in each. Along with AP Psychology teacher Lisa Kopacz who teaches AP Seminar, AP English Literature teacher Lori Molodow teaches the AP Research side. And, although the program is in its infancy, it is in capable and experienced hands. 

“This program is very valuable and I fully believe in its ability to teach and fine tune the writing and researching skills that are necessary to succeed in the college classroom,” Molodow said.

The Capstone program offers a unique opportunity that all students pursuing higher education should take advantage of. It may not be an easy A or a conventional lecturing type class, but now CHS is better equipped to prepare its students for the academic rigor they will face in other advanced classes and in college.