The Capstone: Tying It All Together
Four years of studying, researching and curiosity all come together during your senior year at Elizabethtown College. The capstone project ties together your major course work, liberal arts studies and a practical, “real world” learning application! It’s the culmination of your years of work, whether a showcase, project, publication or portfolio.
Required of every student regardless of your major, you’ll have the chance to complete a project unique to your specific interests and field of study! Though each academic department approaches capstone courses differently, largely what you choose to study will be directed by you, with help from your advisor. The capstone is not only a great final portfolio piece, but also a chance to pursue an answer to a burning question, create something that inspires you, or give back to the community.
Curious about what a Capstone project could look like? Take a peek at what some other students have done:
Computer Science
A team of students practiced for and then competed in the Association for Computing Machinery's Middle Atlantic Region Intercollegiate Programming Competition.
Education
A student-teaching placement is coupled with a senior seminar class that entails an action research project and finalization of a professional development portfolio.
Psychology
In the capstone course "History and Systems of Psychology," students take a topic of interest, such as corporal punishment in parenting, and examine how psychology's views on the issue have been portrayed to the public during a particular time period, such as the 1920s.
Sociology
Mentored by two faculty members, one student researched the relationship between Protestant
missionaries and the K'ekchí, indigenous Mayans living in Guatemala and Belize.
Religious Studies
Kian Spady's independent research project resulted in a 20-plus-page paper, titled "Jephthah's Daughter: An Analysis of Judges 11," which he also presented at Scholarship & Creative Arts Day.
History
Seniors complete historiographical essays, such as Bella D'Ascanio's "The Enola Gay Controversy," which weaves themes of history and culture together to explore how Americans in the 1990s viewed the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.