Piedmont College Navigator

Issue date: 1/26/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: Sandi Tatum Mass Communications alumna Jerisa Pierce presents her capstone, "Creating a Graphic Novel", in Fall 2008.

Senior year can be tough. Most students have to really prove themselves to the faculty. Many of the hardest classes happen during your fourth year. After it is all over, its time for graduation.
At Piedmont College, one of the requirements of graduating with a bachelor's degree from the school of arts and sciences is the completion of a capstone course. Depending on the major you're studying, you'll have different objectives to meet to pass the capstone.
"When the faculty made the requirement for a capstone to graduate, we allowed for flexibility between majors," says Dr. James Mellichamp, dean of the school of arts and sciences.
Science majors have to do original research, form a hypothesis, and write an academic paper. English majors have to write a paper, a book, or an anthology. Philosophy/ Religion majors also have a paper including a new thesis. Mass Communications majors have a 6 part project that includes the use of more than 5 technologies. That's just to name a few.
Some colleges have a comprehensive final that is like a graduate exam. At Piedmont we put our knowledge to use to create something that we can add to our portfolios.
The question of which capstone is the hardest is a difficult question to answer. According to Mellichamp, the intent of capstones is that they "are a true reflection of what a student has learned."
The paper and research for a science major may be longer and more time consuming than for an English major, but in the professional world, it takes more work and firsthand research to complete work for science. Comparing capstones for math students and music students would be like asking whose job is harder, a mathematician or a musician.
"Hypothetically, it is desirable for all capstones to be of similar difficulty," says Mellichamp.
Mellichamp feels that the capstones are well representative of their majors.
Alan Ritter, a senior who is working on a fiction novel for his capstone, says his capstone is not necessarily easier.
"I think it is something that I really want to do and I'm going to enjoy it," he says.
Many students, including mass communications alumna Jerisa Pierce, think there is a distinct difference in the difficulty of different capstones.
"I think that more is expected from students completing a mass communications capstone than students completing other capstones," says Pierce, who presented her capstone on making a graphic novel in December.
Most students agree that their capstones represent their knowledge in their majors.
"My capstone was meant to be a tough project that put all the skills I'd acquired as a student to use, and it did just that," says alumna Natalie Crawford who graduated in 2006.
No matter how difficult a capstone is, with the knowledge learned throughout your time at Piedmont, you have the ability to do well. And just remember that after your capstone is over, you graduate, then it is time to start paying off your student loans.

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