For the first time, Newtown High School students presented Senior Capstone projects on April 10.

Within two school years, the plan is for all NHS seniors to complete a Senior Capstone project. This year, teachers Peg Ragaini and Ellie Hanna oversaw the advisory class, which began meeting last year when the students were juniors. The course replaced the Junior/Senior project course at NHS and is a pilot program this school year.

Before presenting their projects on April 10, students spoke during an advisory period on April 1 about their projects.

Emma Stierle explained her project, called “A Mindfulness YouTube Channel,” was to develop YouTube videos covering brain health topics, “such as what happens in the brain when you are stressed.” She wanted to do the project because she is an intern at The Avielle Foundation, where she is also working on her project.

“It’s helping society understand our brains and the basis of the foundation,” said Emma, who hopes to study neuroscience in college.

Isabella Wakeman’s project is “A New Mural at NHS.” She designed the mural for the school’s senior courtyard. The glass-tile mural will be 6 feet by 6 feet, and it will feature a Nighthawk with the phrase, “Nighthawks from here and beyond.”

“My goal was to promote senior pride, pride in your accomplishments over four years, and also carry what you learned in this school and in Newtown to wherever you end up,” Isabella said. The mural is planned to be done by June, and she has plans to include other students in the effort.

Brianna Lovely started an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) Club at NHS for her project, and she created a blog about her experience.

“Over the summer, I did an EMT program [in Shelton] and learned all about how to become a competent EMT,” said Brianna. “I wanted to kind of share that with kids that either don’t know about it or want to know more.”

Paul Samberg created a lending library for his synagogue, B’nai Israel in Southbury.

“I’ve been very involved with my temple since preschool, and I thought it would be nice to give back,” said Paul.

Jenny Wadhwa explained her project’s “product” is a story chronicling her efforts after 12/14. Her project is called “Research on Violence and Mental Health.” She began with bake sales and most recently studied impulsivity and aggression in adolescents with bipolar disorder at Yale University in New Haven through a connection with The Avielle Foundation, which inspired her to do the project.

For her project, Dorothy Ylanes worked with students at Reed Intermediate School

“I taught them how to compost and the importance of composting,” said Dorothy, adding that she wanted to teach a “younger generation” about composting.

Maya Wadhwa furthered efforts made by her NHS Girls Inspiring Girls club with her “Meeting Empowerment Halfway” project, which had her create a website featuring information about the club’s meetings so other students can find empowerment ideas.

John Kalamas studied paleontology for his project after being interested in the study of dinosaurs.

Students Maddie Ceci and Tori Keayes created a “Unified Arts in Best Buddies” project.

After working for two months, Hailey Jankura said she produced an 18-second animation for her project. She learned animation is “very time consuming.” She wants to study animation in college.

Etienne Boily created a video game for his project, which had him study video game design. Etienne said his 2D fighting game was inspired by games he plays.

Carter Goodrich said he wrote a screenplay for his project after finding a video online about symbolism and narrative in movies.

All of the students presented their completed products on April 10.

“I’m always surprised at this point, and as always, I am just really happy with the projects that have been done,” said Ms Ragaini.

The students in this year’s Senior Capstone class were recruited two school years ago as sophomores to pilot the program, according to Ms Hanna.

Ms Ragaini reflected the Senior Capstone program allowed a “greater breadth” of projects than the former Junior/Senior project model did.

“The kids overall really love it. I think they feel a great sense of accomplishment, and I am glad it is going to be open to everybody to experience that [eventually],” said Ms Hanna, adding that 40 students are signed up to take the class next school year.