Thank you to the 150+ attendees who made MENV’s fourth annual Capstone Symposium event a success! This event was held virtually on November 13th, 2020 and hosted students, professional Capstone Partners, Capstone Advisors, and other members of the MENV professional network and community at large.
The Capstone Symposium is an exciting time of the year when students have the opportunity to share the results of their interdisciplinary team projects completed over the course of a year, in partnership with external organizations. Capstone Projects are intended to provide innovative sustainability and environmental solutions to Capstone Partner organizations. Although each Capstone Project is varied in its format and purpose, it is considered a primary tool in preparing students for team-oriented work on real world issues.
While previous MENV cohorts faced logistical hurdles during the completion of their Capstone Projects, the Class of 2020 was confronted with even more new and challenging situations. Given the constraints caused by COVID-19, students and their Capstone Partners had to remain adaptable in the process of project completion. In line with this spirit of adaptability, the Capstone Symposium planning team created new solutions for sharing project success through the use of a unique film-based format for students to document and share their Capstone story.
Over the course of two weekends in October, Capstone Teams gathered one group at a time (with social distance!) in the ballroom of the Hotel Boulderado to have their Capstone presentations filmed by professional videographers. The final results of filming were 6-8 minute long films which shared primary information and key takeaways from each Capstone Project. Aside from their official use at the Symposium event, completed videos provided MENV students with new skills in filming and the rare opportunity to develop a distributable recorded portfolio piece for their professional networks.
In a time when professional presence is becoming increasingly digital, students and Capstone Partners alike found the Capstone filming process engaging and unique when compared to the alternative of traditional presentation methods on Zoom. In addition to the refreshing presentation formats, students mentioned after the event that they now feel more confident on camera. When asked about his experience with the filming process, Sustainable Food Systems student, Spencer King said that he “had a much better ‘feel’ for how to effectively present a reflection in video format” for his Urban Resilience Management class.
Thank you again to all of those who attended and congratulations to the Class of 2020 for completing your Capstone Projects! Check out some of the final videos here.