The SYA Capstone is designed to provide students with an opportunity to showcase their evolving skills through a comprehensive project on a topic that captures their imagination and interest. It is up to each student to design an experiential project in which they learn by doing, and with the guidance of their Experiential Language class teacher. In other words, it cannot simply be a paper written on a topic that could have been researched in their school library at home. While background knowledge and research are integral parts of a successful capstone, the primary focus is the student experience and it is up to students to demonstrate their learning throughout the project.

This year, capstone projects ranged from interviewing cloistered nuns and religion professors in Zaragoza about why young women become nuns to creating a video showcasing how immigrants in Viterbo integrate into the local culture to studying the process of cheesemaking in Rennes and then actually producing cheese. There were countless exceptional projects and we are proud of our students for the ways in which they relied upon and engaged with the local resources available to them.

Here, we will share one exceptional example from each country.

SYA France

Emily's Extraordinary Women
Emily B. interviewed three women entrepreneurs in Brittany about their businesses and then wrote an article featuring each woman – Tiphaine, Fatima and Magali – describing what makes her business and story extraordinary. Tiphaine founded and operates an eco-responsible floral concierge; Fatima and her daughter brought a hibiscus drink with African roots to the shelves of local food stores, and Magali’s passion for working with employees at the beginning and end of their professional careers led her to create a human resource company that creates a bond of connection between the two age groups.

To identify these local business leaders, Emily contacted Breizh Femmes, an online feminist media publication in Brittany who connected her with Fatima and Magali, who were featured on their site. Seduced by Emily’s enthusiasm for the topic, they agreed to publish her work, which you can read here.

SYA Italy

Una Canzone Italiana
Piper J. wrote the music and lyrics in Italian for an original “singer songwriter” composition, and then performed the piece for her peers and teachers. Piper came to SYA Italy as an accomplished songwriter but with absolutely no knowledge of Italian. She also gave herself the challenge to compose the lyrics in Italian and not translate them from English.

SYA Spain

Cajón Flamenco
David H. was highly impressed when, during SYA Spain’s mid-November school trips, he attended a flamenco show in Andalucía with his classmates and teachers. David was already passionate about music and percussion, so after spending some time thinking about his Capstone project topic, he decided to focus on cajón flamenco, a type of drum commonly used in flamenco music. He began by researching flamenco art, which includes instrumental music, singing and dancing, and finally centered on this specific instrument since he realized that covering all the elements of flamenco would be too extensive of a topic for his project.

Along with other Spaniards who were beginners on the cajón, David took lessons with a specialist. Starting with slow, simple rhythms and increasing little by little in speed and difficulty, David learned rumba tempo and other rhythms that are the most common and essential in box drum playing. Additionally, David decided to build his own cajón, acquiring the materials and learning how to make the instrument by watching tutorials online. After many hours working hard on its creation (with his time-lapse video as proof of the process), and also thanks to the help and guidance of his Spanish brother and some friends, he was able to play his own handmade cajón flamenco at the end of his Capstone presentation.