Dean of Academics (Junior Years) Mrs. Kirsi Lupton noted that the fair on Wednesday was scheduled to start at 8:45 a.m. and students were told they could begin setting up at 8:30 a.m., but when staff members arrived in the Library at 7:45 a.m., many students were already hard at work preparing to share their projects with their peers.

 

“The idea of Soul Seeking is to lean into a passion you have, and maybe see if it has career potential,” Mrs. Lupton said. “You never know what they’re going to come up with, and you always see amazing things. I was especially impressed by the diversity this year. The variety stood out to me; there was a fun vibe.”

 

Among the many standout projects were a hand-carved violin, an electricity-generating hamster wheel, a prom dress made from duct tape, mountain biking trails, hot sauce in different flavours and intensities, freeze-dried fruit for the Beyond the Gates program, and work revitalizing a disused shed on campus into a practice space for bands.

 

Following the fair on Wednesday, Grade 10 students would present their projects to their CLE classes, further honing their presentation skills.

 

Grade 12s – who start their capstone projects in Grade 11 – skip the fair aspect, but go through a more rigorous presentation process, sharing their projects in front of a panel of three Academic Advisors as well as three groups of advisees amounting to more than 25 students in total.

 

There are different expectations of the senior students as well.

 

“There is greater depth,” said Dean of Academics (Senior Years) Mr. Declan Bartlett. “They are expected to use mentors and do more research. It’s a lot more independently directed.”

 

And while the junior Soul Seeking projects are completed in CLE class time, seniors do their work entirely outside of class.

 

The results this year were a “really good spread,” including a student blending their passions for sport and art by working with a professional artist to create ice hockey goalie mask artwork related to the School, another developing hands-on skills through car restoration, one promoting activity on campus by creating a Sunday afternoon pickleball league for students, and another looking into the environmental impact of the fashion industry and using the skills they learned in Stitch Lab to recycle clothing. This year’s EDGE Trip to Nepal was also organized by two students as their capstone project.

 

Mr. Bartlett feels that the capstone is more than just a graduation requirement for the Grade 12s, as it teaches them lifelong skills such as resilience, self-reliance, and confidence, and fits perfectly with the “spark minds and forge futures” aspects of the School’s mission statement.