Long six-hour school days consumed with repetition. Lectures. Worksheets. Essays. Tests. An outdated educational system designed to encourage memorization ends now with AP Capstone.

Capstone, a two year program, is taught and directed by English teacher, Mr. Troy Bradbury. The first year features an AP Seminar class that focuses on building and strengthening the students’ skill sets.

“We’re not learning [anything] content-based, it’s not about memorization. He’s going to be teaching us how to research [and] focus on writing. [We’re] going to be able to use these [skills] for any class that [we] go to” said Capstone student and junior Donnaya McNeil.

“Learning how to look at [and] evaluate the credibility of an argument and present to people those skills can help you later on, it doesn’t matter what the content is” added Mr. Bradbury.

The second year is an AP Research class in which students exercise their skill set through a yearlong research project.

Transitioning from the pilot that began in 2012, this school year is the AP Seminar class’ first as an official course. The program is of such prestige that Eleanor Roosevelt HS and Bowie HS are the only two schools with the Capstone program in the mid-Atlantic area, according to Mr. Bradbury.

The program is still evolving and improving but is also revolutionizing the way students are being educated by addressing and defeating a common misconception: grades measure intelligence.

Capstone student and junior Muhammed Ahmed described the class as discussion-based.

He said that they “discuss multiple topics like technology [while learning] to see things through different lenses and perspectives.”

According to students, Capstone builds an environment of confidence and trust. The class teaches students to question and to think more intellectually for themselves.

“It promotes independence. I think it helps promote a little bit of curiosity too” said Mr. Bradbury. The promotion of independence is  balanced with that of collaboration.

When asked what makes Capstone different from other classes Mr. Bradbury, Donnaya McNeil and Muhammed Ahmed all had one response in common: preparation for college and the real world.

Mr. Bradbury recently received an email from a former Capstone student regarding a survey she received on her first day of college. The survey questioned the student’s preparedness. He explained that “it included a list of a bunch of different things and every single one of them was a Capstone skill. So she’s ready, she could write 5’s for every single one of those things.”

The class teaches communication, collaborative, analytical, research, and problem-solving skills through real-world applications. In order to receive the Capstone Diploma, students must pass both AP Capstone exams and 4 other AP exams taken during any years of high school. Many colleges are offering scholarships, admission, and more to students who have graduated from the AP Capstone program.

Most importantly Capstone teaches students that they are more than their grades. Their grades do not define them, but their skill set does.