For Entrepreneurship and Business Academy (EBA) seniors, the month of May holds one of the most stressful weeks: Capstone Week. The 2024 EBA Capstones were held from May 19th to May 23rd, but what are Capstone presentations?
Each EBA senior is required to participate in an internship that extends beyond the walls of Kempsville High School. These internships can range from interning in a fast-food restaurant to interning at an engineering firm; it all depends on where the student feels best aligns with their goals and interests.
This internship experience is designed to build students’ resumes, put EBA skills into action, and encourage students to work for the opportunities they want in life. Along with pursuing an internship, students must choose a research topic that applies to their internship experience. All EBA seniors must present their research as their final capstone project for the academy.
Mrs. Sarah Routsis, the internship academy coordinator, describes the capstone project as an “opportunity to present their final findings from their internship experience in conjunction with the research topic they have selected. Throughout the capstone presentation, they are not only to present their internship topic but how they pursued their internship, what they accomplished in their internship, what they found in their internship as it relates to their topic, and sources to support the ideal they’ve observed.”
Capstones are detailed with students’ internship overview, tasks and responsibilities, research topic, research process, analysis, conclusion, and an academy experience. Since each presentation is content-heavy, students are given eight minutes to deliver their information.
These presentations are given in front of a “board” of teachers who assess each student and their capstone project. After the eight-minute presentation, each person on the board will give feedback, ask questions, and score the presentation.
Teachers like Mr. Penn, Mrs. Houchins, Mr. Morris, and Mrs. Routsis sat for almost all the presentations. Other notable staff members were Ms. Green, Mrs. Soccio, and Mr. Givin. These teachers give praise and critical feedback to the students.
Presenting a year’s worth of experiences and research in front of their peers, teachers, parents, and mentors makes many students nervous. While it may be a daunting thing to do, most students perform well under pressure.
Mrs. Meghan Timlin, the academy coordinator, looks at capstones from the senior’s perspective: “I know that it’s painful for the seniors but it’s really rewarding, and I think at the end you see like the sigh of relief in each one of them. And just the opportunity to show not only their capstone and what they’ve been working on all year but also the culminating experience in the academy. I just think it’s a really powerful experience.”
For many students, they agree with Timlin’s take as Kempsville Senior, Johanna Ellerbee reflected: “It was a really cool experience but I’m glad to be done.”
EBA seniors work from September to May of every single year not only within the walls of Kempsville High School but also within the walls of their internships. They spend over a hundred forty hours tediously creating a research project. So in the month of May, with so many end-of-year projects, take the time to congratulate an EBA senior on the Capstone project.
