"CAPSTONE: EVIDENCE OF HOPE AND FORMATION"

The Capstone process also invites our students to address an important question: How am I different because of my experiences at Regis Jesuit? 

This year, our seniors will experience a newly updated Capstone process where they will answer the question through accomplishing five tasks. What we are most excited about with this new format is that students will reflect on all five pillars of the Graduate at Graduation—Open to Growth, Intellectually Competent, Religious, Loving and Committed to Doing Justice— and that their expressions of gratitude and hope will be outward-facing.  We also love the intentionality of considering the needs of the people in their future community and how they can get involved in service there. The five tasks include: 1) writing a reflection on their growth over four years; 2) writing a[AL1.1] letter to an adult in the RJ community who has challenged intellect, inspired deeper questions and helped growth as a life-long learner; 3) attending a religious experience beyond an all-school Mass; 4) writing a letter to an adult in the RJ community expressing gratitude for how they inspired leadership with love and caring for others; and 5) researching a potential service opportunity the student would be interested in supporting in the future. 

The Capstone program speaks directly to our school’s mission. A few weeks ago, during Catholic Schools Week, we celebrated unity in faith and community. I am grateful for the contributions of Jesuit schools to the larger network of Catholic schools and Catholic education all over the planet. This past October, Pope Leo offered his Apostolic Blessing in an address to the leaders of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), sharing: 

Sounds familiar, sort of like what we try to do here at RJ, day in and day out. Fully Jesuit and fully Catholic. Pope Leo went on to affirm our apostolic preferences and said this about our third preference: 

Our capstones are evidence of accompaniment toward a hope-filled future. Recently, I’ve been inspired by the reflections of our students in the Ordination of Christian Initiation of Teenagers (OCIT) program who were describing their reasons for wanting to join the Catholic Church. Several of them mentioned that it is here, in our Regis Jesuit spaces, where they encounter Christ and feel more deeply called in faith. Through the faculty’s actions and presence as well as words, students feel called. Faculty and staff continue to seek ways to speak the students’ language (no easy feat). Often, faculty and staff become linguists, translators, interlocutors, speech pathologists and excellent listeners showing love more in deeds than in words. These efforts nudge our students to the “Christ life.” That is a reason for my hope and a reason to give all of us hope.