Spring Branch ISD Featured News

Two students in Spring Branch ISD were awarded Advanced Placement (AP) Capstone Diplomas – an outstanding accomplishment that required multiple years of effort.

Alex Zhang, a senior at Spring Branch Academic Institute (located in Stratford High School), and Sam Cohen, a 2021 graduate of Stratford, were notified they had achieved the credential this summer. They were coached through the multi-year processes to accomplish the award requirements by Cassandra Hayes, AP Seminar and Research teacher for both schools.

Earning the AP Capstone Diploma requires scoring a three or higher in multiple facets of the College Board program:

• Yearlong AP Seminar course and exam: aims to equip students with the power to analyze and evaluate information with accuracy and precision in order to craft and communicate evidence-based arguments, using cross-discipline inquiries, including group and individually written and oral presentations.
• Yearlong AP Research course and exam: allows students to deeply explore an academic topic, problem, issue, or idea of individual interest. Students design, plan, and implement a yearlong investigation to address a research question, culminating in writing, presenting and orally defending an academic paper of 4,000-5,000 words.
• Four AP Subject Exams of the student’s choosing

The Capstone Diploma credential becomes part of the student’s AP record, and the award is acknowledged on any AP score report sent to colleges for admissions and scholarship considerations.

Zhang’s area of focus for his Capstone Diploma, entitled “Through the Looking Glass,” involved studying the influences of political beliefs on participants’ emotions. Each high school student in his study was asked to read articles written from various political viewpoints, and then complete a survey to indicate which of the articles they would be motivated to share correlated with the emotion they felt about the topic.

He found that the emotion most likely to cause sharing was fear. He also was surprised at how often people were willing to share an article that did not align with their personal viewpoint, which indicated a degree of open mindedness.

“The greatest skill I learned by being part of the Capstone Diploma program was time management,” Zhang said. “And the most satisfying part was presenting so people could see the results of my hard work.”

Cohen, now a freshman at Trinity University in San Antonio, chose to study “Cell Phone Salience in High School Students” for his culminating project. He studied two groups of high school students to see whether cell phone proximity during tests or lectures helped or hindered them academically.

Although the sample size was not statistically large enough to scientifically prove his theorem, his observations indicate that when cell phones are on the desk or nearby, students do not fare as well as when phones are put away and out of sight.

“I recommend being part of the AP Capstone Diploma program,” Cohen said, noting that he was looking for something more engaging in high school. “It broadens your horizons and teaches you important skills for college, like how to do research and present your findings.”

“It’s so impressive,” Tracy Scholz, Spring Branch ISD Director of Advanced Academic Studies, said. “Unlike traditional AP subject exams with a single end-of-year assessment, AP Seminar and AP Research assessments are project based and evaluate skills mastery through group projects, presentations, and individual essays completed throughout the year.”