Teachers, student urge Leon schools to create districtwide AP Capstone research symposium

At the May 13 Leon County School Board meeting, AP Capstone teacher Sarah Marquez and junior researcher Zoe Shoplock described the district's AP Capstone program and proposed a districtwide research symposium for students.

Marquez, introduced herself as a Capstone teacher at Leon High School, said AP Capstone comprises two core courses—AP Seminar and AP Research—and requires students to pass four additional AP exams to earn the Capstone diploma. She summarized AP Research requirements: student-designed projects, institutional review board (IRB) approval for ethical review when applicable, a 4,000-word research paper and an oral defense.

Zoe Shoplock, identified as a junior who has worked in Professor Jonathan Dennis’s lab at Florida State University, described spending “over 300 hours” in research and said she expects to publish in an international journal this summer. “Being there has allowed me to understand what I want to do when I'm older,” Shoplock told the board.

Marquez asked the board to consider creating an interdisciplinary research symposium to allow Capstone students across the district to present original research and to engage local university faculty as mentors and judges.

Board members expressed support. One board member said, “Sign me up to help with that,” and the superintendent assigned a staff follow-up: Mr. Cypher was asked to contact Marquez to coordinate the event planning and next steps.

Ending: Board members welcomed the proposal and asked staff to follow up; no funding decision or formal agenda action was taken at the meeting.