Skidmore College Honors Forum Proposal for the Senior Capstone Requirement

Skidmore College is a small, highly selective liberal arts college that fosters academic inquiry and creative thought and expression. Your Senior Capstone should reflect these goals.  Whether working alongside faculty on research projects in labs, at field sites, in libraries, and in studios, students will shape the curriculum with which they engage in this important culminating experience. The project may take the form of a thesis, exhibition, research, or performance.

The Honors Council is aware that most students in the Forum will likely undertake a substantial, culminating project for the major (e.g. thesis, research report, performance, exhibit, etc.), and we are not asking students to complete an additional Capstone for Honors Forum.  However, in order for your Capstone to fulfill the Honors Forum minor as well as your major, we are asking students to plan and write a thoughtful 1-3 page narrative that not only explains the project clearly for a reader outside your discipline but reflects meaningfully on how this project moves beyond the requirements of your regular courses and thus reflects the goals of Honors Forum as noted in our mission statement:  taking ownership of your learning; engaging in the “life of the mind”; seeking challenge in your HF courses, Add-ons, and other courses or activities; striving for excellence; demonstrating leadership  This well written narrative will serve as a culmination of your HF minor as well as your major(s) or other minor(s).

Please submit your narrative for approval to the Honors Forum Director by the beginning of the semester in which you will undertake the project.  The Honors Forum Director will review the capstone proposals (in some cases with the aid of the Honors Council) and may ask for revision, such as further clarification of the project or reflection on how this undertaking responds to the 5 central aspects of the mission of the Honors Forum as noted above. You will receive notification when your project is approved, and results will be forwarded to the Office of the Registrar.