24 Currents Magazine

25thetownschool.org

In 2016–17 Town launched the 8th Grade Capstone Project under the lead-ership of Tony Featherston, Upper School Head Tamara Schurdak and Upper School teacher Alison Koss. The project was structured as a speaker series and presentation workshop designed for students at the end of their 8th grade year to demonstrate what they have learned during their time at Town. We have a deep belief in the power of our students graduating from Town with a strong sense of self, and of their ability to be agents of change. We saw the Capstone as an opportunity for them to reflect on who they have become and how their interests have changed and developed over the years before heading off to high school.

The Process at a Glance:Speaker SeriesSelf-ReflectionDesign ThinkingStudent Presentations

26 Currents Magazine

SPEAKER SERIES In the spirit of a TED talk, each speaker was given a topic, a theme and a time limit before they came to speak. The students were asked to research the speakers, prepare an introduction for each of them, and develop of series of questions for the Q&A after each talk. The goal was for the series to be guided by the adults but led by the students. Each student was given a Moleskine notebook to record his or her thoughts, reflections and insights.

What is your definition of success? Did you ever fail and think you wouldn’t recover from it?What advice do you have for small kids with big ideas?What was your passion at age 13? How has that changed over time?

27thetownschool.org

After the Speaker Series the 8th graders gathered to reflect as a group on what they had learned about and from each of the speakers. Using a course developed specifically for the project in Schoology, (Upper School's digital LMS), students worked in groups of threes and were given five minutes to review their speaker notes to jog their memories and set them up for deeper reflection.

Then each triad was given one speaker to reflect on and were asked to frame their reflections using specific questions. At the end of the process, each group presented their reflections to the entire class, with time left for a guided Q&A. The work accomplished during the Reflection Exercise was to help prepare the students for their Design Thinking Challenge.

What did this person start out doing?What was their passion?What was the catalyst for their passion to become their profession?What challenges did this person face?What advice did this person have for the 8th grade?

“Work to understand people’s needs, and then design solutions

to everyday problems.”— Jonathan Cedar ’95

REFLECTION

“Triple down on your strengths, and then work harder than anyone else.”— Gary Vaynerchuk

GUEST SPEAKERS

Jonathan Cedar ’95Product designer for Smart Design Inventor, Biolite Stove

Gary VaynerchukEntrepreneur, digital marketing pioneer Founder of VaynerMedia and VaynerX New York Times bestselling author

Danny Meyer CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group (Shake Shack and many others)Founder of Union Square Café

Danielle Weisberg & Carly Zakin Co-founders of theSkimm, a media company with a successful daily newsletter aimed at millennials

Marvin Pierre Former Goldman Sachs executive Director of 8 Million Stories an alternative education program

Neela Vaswani Award-winning author GRAMMY award winner for book narration

“I’m the opposite of a restaurant critic —

I’m looking for what’s right.”— Danny Meyer

“There’s no lack of opinionated reporting.

There’s a shortage of facts.”— Danielle Weisberg & Carly Zakin

“As you climb the ladder of success,

bring people up with you.”— Marvin Pierre

“Writing is an act of compassionate understanding.”— Neela Vaswani

28 Currents Magazine

Once the proposals were done, the students were divided into groups of five and assigned an advisor to work with to develop and refine their final presenta-tions. The advisors were a mix of teachers and administrators who worked closely with the students for three intensive periods. Working with adults, most of whom the students did not have regular contact with, added a level of profession-alism to the process to which the students responded well. They were taken seriously and, as a result, took themselves seriously. During the last two days of the project, additional teachers and staff were invited

Students were asked to talk about their passions and the ways they could see them developing into a purpose.

pose. Students were given a box of design materials and a list of timed questions to help guide their process. After they completed their brainstorm-ing, they shared their work with their classmates and then were given 15-20 minutes to refine their proposals. At the end of the session, each student stood up and presented their propos-als to the entire class and a select group of teachers and administrators who had agreed to serve as advisors for the final presentation preparation.

The next time the students met, they were guided through a rapid-prototyping, design-thinking challenge, the goal of which was for each student to produce a proposal for their final Capstone presen-tations. They could choose any medium they wanted, but they had to stick to the themes of passion and purpose. Rather than talk about their purpose as a poten-tial profession (i.e. what do you want to be when you grow up?), they were asked to talk about their passions and in what ways they might see that developing into a pur-

to the theater, the conference room and the dance space to sit in on the students’ final presentations. It was amazing to see each student standing proudly and speak-ing confidently about themselves and what they love to do. Both the students and adults took risks as we navigated new territory together in the Capstone project. In the end, our 8th graders thought deeply about what in-spires them and connected their passions to purpose beyond themselves, an experi-ence we believe will prove a real strength and advantage for our graduates in high school and throughout life.

DESIGN THINKING CHALLENGE

FINAL STUDENT PRESENTATIONS

Skills Developed Critical Thinking

Rapid PrototypingPublic Speaking

Time ManagementSelf-Reflection/Expression

CollaborationCritical Listening/Thinking

Risk-Taking

Cooking because it has always been a way to connect to my family, and to the countries my family comes from.

Dance gives me joy, and when I perform I feel like I can share that joy with people in the audience.

Photography because I can make people see the world in a new way: whether in-spiring them to explore places they have never been or raising awareness about important social issues.

Community service because even the smallest acts of kindness can make our world better for everyone.

Science because there are endless fascinating questions to answer, and we can help so many people with research and innovation.

Law because it touches every aspect of our society and can positively impact so many lives.

Animation because I wanted to see my stuffed animals come to life as a kid, and I can make that happen now!

Human rights because we are so fortu-nate to live in a democracy and have a voice — we all need to use our voices to move towards equality for everyone!

Students’ Passions IN THEIR OWN WORDS