Marian Catholic High School Celebrates Its AP Capstone Diploma Recipients
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Marian Catholic High School Celebrates Its AP Capstone Diploma Recipients (Chicago Heights, IL) – Six students at Marian Catholic High School earned the AP Capstone Diploma™ during the 2020-21 school year. The AP Capstone Diploma program helps students develop critical thinking, research, collaboration, and presentation skills that are critical to academic success.
“We proudly recognize the achievements of students who participated in the AP Capstone Diploma program,” said Marian Catholic Principal Steve Tortorello ‘04. “Our AP Capstone students and teachers showed extraordinary commitment while facing historic challenges. This is a meaningful college readiness program that will serve our students well after high school.”
To receive the AP Capstone Diploma, students must earn scores of 3 or higher in AP Seminar, AP Research, and on four additional AP Exams. Students are increasingly participating in the AP Capstone program. Over 2,000 schools participated in the AP Capstone program worldwide during the 2020-21 school year, when approximately 11,900 students earned the AP Capstone Diploma.
Unlike traditional AP subject exams with a single end-of-year assessment, AP Seminar and AP Research assessments are project based and evaluate skills mastery through group projects, presentations, and individual essays completed throughout the year. Instead of focusing on one specific academic discipline, AP Seminar and AP Research are interdisciplinary: students are empowered to create research projects based on topics of personal interest and are assessed on the critical thinking, research, collaboration, time management, and presentation skills needed to complete their projects. Marian Catholic students focused their research on a range of topics, including: incorporating artistic (literary) expression in memory, the correlation between physical activity and attitude, Lo-Fi Hip Hop as a study aide for short-term memory, the correlation between sleep patterns and menstruation, and the correlation between STEM interest and science YouTubers.
The following six members of Marian Catholic’s Class of 2021 were awarded the AP Capstone Diploma. Their names, hometowns, and post graduate plans are: Ryan Jacob Bernarte (Dyer, Indiana/Purdue University); Joseph Boiquaye (Schererville, Indiana/Purdue Univeristy); Emily Kain (Dyer, Indiana/Dartmouth College); Sam Kirchner (Park Forest, Illinois/Gap Year); Alexander Korfiatis (Schererville, Indiana/Saint Louis University); and, Mary Udani (Schererville, Indiana/St. Mary’s College).
“Congratulations to the AP Capstone award winners, who conduct, present, and defend academic research on topics they are passionate about,” said Trevor Packer, College Board senior vice president of AP and Instruction. “Their ability to manage long-term projects, collaborate with teams, and deliver effective presentations will accelerate both their academic and professional careers.”
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