Jacob Boettcher
Fun Fact: goes to bed as early as possible every evening
Jacob’s senior capstone, The Kings and Queens Project, hopes to illuminate the darkness of sexual exploitation and human trafficking through building community resources and awareness. He credits his older sister Maddie for giving him the inspiration to build his project. “She came home one day from college after learning about counseling sexually abused individuals and told my whole family about the issue of human trafficking,” said Jacob, who took it upon himself to do his part to make sure that other people aren’t impacted by this issue in the future. His two mentors, SCLA program director Carrie Adams and sexual abuse prevention specialist Margaret Ochoa, will guide him as he carries out Kings and Queens. If students are interested in helping Jacob out, they can email him at [email protected] or talk to him in the halls at school.
Liz Salmeron
Fun Fact: makes educated poor decisions on the daily
Liz’s senior capstone, Creek Companions, is bringing a new spin on having a mentorship between elementary and high school students. She is forming a partnership with Flagstaff Academy for third grade students and high schoolers. She got the idea from when she was in fourth grade and had a high school buddy. They would play games together and they would sit and talk about her day. She felt as though she had an ally, and that is what she wants to give to elementary school kids now. Liz says that her project goal is to “give younger kids social, emotional, and academic help in a positive environment.” She hopes that her project will make younger kids feel like they have a role model at the high school level. Her mentor for her project is Rachel Miller, who is a fourth grade teacher in Erie. If you would like to help with her project, contact Liz at her school email, [email protected] or talk to her in the halls!
After talking to the seniors who are behind the projects, we went and interviewed the SCLA Program Director, Ms. Carrie Adams. She defined capstone projects as “the culmination of four years of study, that gives the seniors an opportunity to follow their passion.” She also mentions how it gives seniors a chance to get real world work experience, and to meet people in the community. We asked Ms. Adams if she thought this year's group of seniors are going to be successful. To say that she laughed was kind of an understatement, but she did say “this is a really great group of seniors, really great projects and ideas, and will probably be one of the greatest groups to go through the program.” If these three capstones are just some of the great projects coming from this group, then people should be on the lookout for many more amazing things to come.