Warren Schools: 2022 Capstone Experience

Press release from Warren Township Schools:

May 26, 2022

Throughout the 2021-2022 school year, Warren staff members in all five of the district’s schools have been dedicated to inspiring and supporting their students’ academic, social and emotional needs. Recently, grade 5 and grade 8 students engaged in a Capstone project as a culminating year-end event.

The Capstone Project is meant to provide students with an opportunity to be engaged, supported, and challenged. Capstone is an interdisciplinary assignment that commenced within the district in 2017.

This experience is designed to allow students to apply 21st-century skills to real-world problems. Students were engaged in self-directed research and activities aimed at addressing one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Students identified a topic of interest and were separated into teams based on the topics. Subject matter ranged from hunger, health and well-being, affording a quality education, gender equality, clean water, and more. The students had 10 hours of instructional time to research, and create their project.

Each student team developed and made a formal presentation of their findings to a panel of judges. The overall experience was designed to engage students in a real-world challenge and application of critical skills. The process will also provide educators feedback on how current programming supports students’ capacity to demonstrate personal accountability, cooperative skills, responsibility, leadership and to be self-directed team members.

The Warren Township School district would like to thank the many individuals who volunteered their time as judges for the Capstone event and for providing critical feedback and encouragement to the children. The students were particularly excited to present to Congressman Tom Malinowski at Warren Middle School.

Special recognition for the success of the Capstone Project must be given to Mr. William Kimmick, curriculum director, Mrs. Stacey Hann-Modugno, curriculum supervisor, Mrs. Denise McGee, curriculum secretary, Mrs. Cynthia Cassidy, instructional specialist, Mrs. Kristen Stoyanov, instructional specialist, Mrs. Francesca Frosoni, instructional specialist, Mrs. Michelle Zgombic, technology teacher, Ms. Kimberly Bostory, technology teacher and to the many grades 5 and 8 teachers who worked so hard to make the Capstone experience a reality.

“Capstone epitomizes the district’s mission that students must be engaged with their communities and exercise a set of skills that require them to apply the knowledge they gain in school and through independent research to novel situations. I am proud of our students and staff members who have engaged in these experiences and who make use of the results to guide constant improvements in our programs. This year’s capstone presentations were the best yet!” - Dr. Matthew Mingle, Superintendent

This press release was produced by Warren Township Schools. The views expressed here are the author's own.