The purpose of the Diocese of Kalamazoo Capstone project is to require all graduating high school
seniors to demonstrate their depth of understanding of the Catholic faith through a presentation on a selected topic before a panel of theological and academic experts. Each presentation will showcase the student’s academic, organizational, presentation and leadership skills acquired through an organized effort among all content area teachers over the course of four years. This project will be scored and a student must earn a minimum proficiency grade in order to meet this new graduation requirement.

In addition to this graduating requirement, the top students from each school will compete for 10 scholarships ranging in value $500 to $5,000. To assist each student, they will be assigned a mentor during their junior year to guide them and help them meet deadlines. No student will be assigned a mentor from the Theology department since these teachers will be available to assist all students.

After their time in the building blocks of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program, students continue to learn and live their faith throughout their time in our Catholic Schools. For our high school students, their academic careers culminate with their Senior Capstone Project. The Capstone Project is a graduation requirement that began during the 2015-16 school year. It originated to assist our students in being better prepared to defend their faith.

The Capstone Project requires a student to research a particular topic of interest to them surrounding faith, write a paper and present their findings to a panel of judges at their respective schools.  Each school’s top finalists move on to present to a panel of judges at the Diocesan level and compete for a St. Thomas Aquinas Scholarship ranging in value from $500 - $5,000.