SIS celebrates inaugural AP Capstone Diploma Class

Members of Saipan International School’s AP Capstone diploma candidate in Micronesia team with SIS headmaster Dr. Ron Snyder. (Contributed Photo)

On Friday, Feb. 22, 10 triumphant Saipan International School students mounted the stage at the American Memorial Park Amphitheater to take their final bows after presenting their team research projects. SIS juniors Malika Mirawaki, Anika Snyder, Andrea No, John Paul Sablan, Allan Lee, and Henry Qain were joined by their sophomore classmates Samantha Liske Clark, Maria Gregoire, Fredric Guintu, and Eileen No to form the first AP Capstone diploma candidate in Micronesia.

Unlike other AP classes, Capstone is a set of two courses, seminar, and research taken over two years. The step these students just took involves independent and team research into a real-world issue, individual research papers and a final team project, explained Dr. Ron Snyder to the community members invited to hear the presentations. The three teams tackled the issues of “How to reduce the incidence of rape in the USA,” “How to reduce the rate of childhood obesity in the USA,” and “How to mitigate the effects of pervasive drought in California.”

For a full month the teams researched their topics from various points of view such as economic, political, social, historical, scientific, medical and ethical considerations. These students read legislation, pending bills, scientific studies, academic journals, newspapers, opinions by experts in the field, and leading magazines in order to gather as much credible data as possible. They used academic search engines such as EBSCO and shared in depth understanding of their research with their team members to create a complex view of the problem and weigh the impact of various solutions purposed by the experts. On average each student read, annotated and presented 10 to 12 sources with one student reading a whopping 25 sources to understand her topic better.

Once the research was done, the teams had to decide how to limit and discuss their topic in a 10-minute professional presentation. They prioritized information, separated ideas and worked on presentation skills that resulted in a coordinated, team effort. These presentations they shared with the community reflecting both their scholarship and SIS’ commitment to 21st century skills of critical analysis, effective communication and collaboration with peers.

While they are not done with the AP class this year, all of the students felt the skills they developed during this project will help them with research in the future, including college-level work. (PR)