Newark High School seniors achieved a long-awaited, important milestone May 22th when they made their Digital Media presentations for their NHS Capstone Project requirements to graduate June 21st.
To view the designed article with photos from the day, visit: https://5il.co/2nfdp
“I love the energy on Capstone Day _ the building is always buzzing with lots of emotions. My favorite part of the day is seeing how proud the students are when they complete their presentation and receive their cap and gown. It's great way to celebrate the end of their high school career and the new beginnings they are about to embark upon,” said Capstone Coordinator Katie Ganter, who also teaches English, Marketing and Publications and is the NHS Yearbook advisor.
Capstone Co-Coordinator Danielle Ohlson who teaches English and Multicultural Studies shared:
“My favorite part of Capstone Day is the collective demonstration of community, love, and support. . .
. . . in the impromptu gatherings of students coaching each other through last-minute rehearsals.
. . . in the emotional reunions between Middle School teachers and their former students.
. . . in the way students showed up for each other.
. . . in the way staff rallied around those who were struggling.
. . . in the cheers and hollers of joy heard throughout the halls. All. Day. Long.
“It is a special privilege to be a part of days like this, and I am thankful for each one of them.”
The Capstone Project is made up of several required components and the Class of 2024 was the eighth class to be required to successfully complete all of them in order to graduate including:
• 20 Volunteer community service hours.
• Healthy choice journal entries about involvement in various extra-curricular activities and about things they learned in health classes or three-page essay
• A research paper in 10th grade espousing both sides of an argument and a conclusion.
• A senior research project.
“Instead of requiring that students write a research paper, we changed the assignment this year to a research project,” Ganter said. “Students still researched a topic of their choice, but they had flexibility with their product. Some students chose to write a traditional research paper, while others created presentations, podcasts, posters, scrapbooks, etc. based on the findings from their research.”
• And finally, presenting their Digital Media Presentation in front of a 4 or 5-person NHS or Newark Middle School faculty panel. The 8-12-minute presentations on a smart board typically included pictures of the student; a favorite quote reflective of their personality; insights about their high school experience; an explanation of and findings of their 12th grade
research project; sharing about something they are proud of and discussion about their future plans.
After the presentations May 22nd, members of the panel asked questions of students before evaluating their presentation, based on a rubric, in private. Students received one of the following scores:
-Pass
-Revisions required
After a few minutes, the presenting student was called back into the classroom and informed by panelists if they had passed. If so, they were also given the caps and gowns they will wear at graduation June 21st, along with senior yard signs, a gift that was new this year.
Presentations were made by 116 NHS students during several 30-minute sessions in classrooms throughout the high school.
After their presentations, Newark Central School District Workforce Coordinator Debora Barry, who provides support for the Capstone program, provided students with pizza and cake. She was assisted by retired NCSD teacher assistants Becky Hauf and Vicki McBride.
“As Capstone Coordinators, Danielle and I help students with finding community service opportunities and tracking their hours from 9th - 12th grade,” Ganter said. “We also review the Healthy Choices assignment and track that with the help of our Health Teacher Karen Cline. We oversee the requirements for the senior research project and we plan and execute Capstone Presentation Day. The English Department at NHS is instrumental in ensuring that our students complete a senior project and a Capstone Presentation.”
Seniors Marek Pierce and Luciano Rank teamed up and did a unique combined presentation that included a podcast highlighting their research project that explored whether senior privileges are helpful or harmful.
They shared their findings on a podcast and ultimately concluded “privileges have helped many people, ourselves included, but used the wrong way they could be harmful and make students less motivated.”
A positive outcome of their research is that a new Fox Den location in the high school, just for seniors, is being explored for next year. NHS Assistant Principal Joe Canori, who is spearheading the relocation said:
“The interview that Marek Pierce and Luciano Rank did with me as part of their research really hit home as it was obvious that these seniors felt a strong passion to help the NHS seniors of the future. Their desire to have a designated space that was quiet and not disrupted by underclassmen was a driving factor in my decision making that something needed to be done for our seniors. Our administrative staff has been working behind the scenes to find just that, a designated space for our seniors that is staffed with supervision to ensure it is a space that is respected and utilized by only our seniors. If all goes as planned, next year's senior class will have that senior lounge (Fox Den) space. It would not have been possible without the driving force of Marek and Luciano advocating as they did. To honor their passion and leave their mark for the future seniors, I plan to invite Marek and Luciano back to help with some design in the new Fox Den space. Excellent job to you both as your advocating skills will serve you well in your future endeavors after graduation!”
Pierce’s senior artifact at the presentation May 22nd was a blanket she had made for her Mom, Teri Pierce from several t-shirts her Dad, Cabel Pierce wore before he passed away last August. She said the gift to her Mom was a way to say ‘thank you’ for everything she’s done for me and that we had to persevere through.”
Rank’s senior artifact was a plaque he earned “for going to states for the 50 freestyle in swimming this year. “This artifact is important to me because the time that I got in this race was
.01 seconds away from the school record that has been there for 40 plus years. This race taught me that no matter how hard you work, you don’t aways get what you want.”
Both Pierce, who works at Pontillos and Craft 120 in Newark and Rank, who works at Wegmans, are sidestepping a traditional college path, at least in the near future and are content to work in their hometown. Pierce, at this point, is hoping to someday purchase and manage the two Newark businesses she “loves working at.” Rank, who says he wants to do something “totally different,” is eyeing a career in business and sales.
Jadon Kowaleski’s presentation included his findings and conclusions of his research project that probed “the toxic environment of the fashion industry.” He concluded consumers must “draw ethical boundaries and illuminate the path toward necessary reforms in the industry.”
Because he has done morning announcements at NHS with Cole Talbot since they were freshmen and they signed on their “Cole and Jadon In The Morning” show each day by clicking coffee mugs together, his artifact was a piece of a mug purposely broken, as seen in a video during the presentation, at the end of the first year of doing the broadcasts.
A “highlight” of his high school career, Kowaleski said the broadcasts brought him many opportunities, connected him with the school community and deepened his roots there; helped him gain confidence as a public speaker and more.
Kowaleski who works at Byrne Dairy, is one of the cooks at Rose City Drive-In and also is a Big Dog Country Radio sound board operator and sports announcer during fall and winter sports at NHS, plans to begin his studies in business and minor in economics at the University of Rochester this fall. His long term career goal is to “own a record label.”
During Taya Hilfiker’s presentation she explained how she probed the effects of social media on teenagers and preteens and after research ultimately concluded it has both a positive and negative effect.
While she chose not to take one side over the other in her conclusion, she discovered since most people talk about the negative effects more, information that about that viewpoint is more widely available. She also said there are good points to having access to social media.
Hilfiker’s artifact was her tenor saxophone, which she played during her presentation and in a video of a saxophone duet with senior Ian Murphy. She said playing her saxophone was a “huge part of her high school career and life.”
While she currently works at Wegmans and Rose City Drive In, she plans to attend SUNY Geneseo in the fall where she will study criminal justice as a sociology major. She ultimately hopes to become a forensic scientist.
After the event, NHS Principal Kelly A. Zielke said she was very pleased with the outcome of Capstone Presentation Day.
“It was great to see our students pulling together their high school experiences in their Capstone presentations,” Zielke said. “We opened the process up a bit to allow for more student choice, and this made it meaningful to each student. The variety in what we saw was amazing, from homemade food dishes, ID badges from internships, and woodworking objects made in classes, the students did a wonderful job capturing their research and areas of interest. It was an exceptional day!”
Lastly, Superintendent Susan Hasenauer, who enjoyed participating with some other faculty panelists in evaluating some of the seniors Digital Media Presentations May 22nd, commended all the participants on their accomplishments.
“Every year I am blown away by the maturity of the presenters. As each student shared their presentation, you could see what a varied group of students we have. Each striving to do their best, often in front of a few unknown panel members, each detailing a journey unique to only them as they share their vulnerabilities, dreams, hopes, fears and research. Key takeaways include the following:
Appreciate the small moments…
You first…
You are your own biggest advocate…
Some good things fall apart so better things can come together…
If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything…
Words impact other people. . . heavily, choose carefully
“Two students discussed their mental health and how they were able to rise above their anxiety and depression because they found a sense of belonging in school clubs and in our musical performances. One stated. ‘For the first time I realized I could actually do something.’ Research focused on how The Pajama Game became The Pajama Game, women in history, American healthcare, and the negative effects of social media. I love this day as it is truly inspirational and filled with hope for the future. The students were very proud of themselves.”