Capstone Projects

Overview

Student initiated projects are the primary focus of the STEM Academy. All students develop and write a technical proposal for a project during the STEM Survey class (10th grade). At the end of each year, the STEM Advisory board reviews the proposals and select a list of the most feasible and/or interesting ideas. The following year, in the Seminar class, students are shown the list of approved projects and provide feedback about which projects they are most interested in. Based on this, the final selection of enough projects to build teams of 3-4 occurs. For example, a class of 32 students would likely result in 8 projects being selected.

Project and Team Selection

Any student whose idea is selected becomes the project manager and selects 2-3 additional students to help them complete the project. This is accomplished through an application and interview process. Students apply and interview to at least 3 projects and then rank their interest in each. Project managers prepare interview questions, conduct interviews, and then rank the applicants. Finally, the two rankings are cross-referenced in an effort to best match students to projects they are interested in and well suited for.

PROJECTS