Letter from the Editor: Capstone

Savant Readers,

This past week was an exciting one, not just for the student body but also for the entire senior class. Capstone is one of, if not the most, unique things that happens at ACMA during the course of the school year. For those readers who don’t know, Capstone is the epitome of what being an ACMA student is all about. Once a week every year, every individual in the senior class presents an almost hour-long presentation in order to share their learning experiences, share their art, and impart wisdom on the grades below them. Capstones are the culmination of everything we students have worked for since our very first step through ACMA’s doors.

In the past, Capstone week has always been my favorite week of the year. I remember sitting in Hayley McCurdy’s Capstone, mesmerized as she acted out her life, I remember hearing Noura Al-Khadher sing “Great Gig in the Sky” (the greatest Pink Floyd song of all time) perfectly at her Capstone, I remember Mitchell Pratt having me in tears at his Capstone as he bared his soul to the audience, and I remember just last year watching Grace Fritzke’s Capstone backstage and marveling at the fact that I was lucky enough to be friends with such an incredible human being. This year as a senior, it was mine, and my classmates turn to participate in this ACMA ritual. And now, looking back on my own Capstone a mere six hours after the fact, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on what it means to accomplish something like this, and how special a thing it is to witness.

I am reminded of just how far my senior class has come. We may not all get along, and we may not all share the same interests or values, but we have this school and this experience in common, and that is something we can never forget. From the beginning of this year, to just a few weeks ago when someone asked you how your Capstone was going and the automatic reply was a soft and sad grunt, the class of 2015 has accomplished something spectacular, just as the senior classes before us have as well.

Capstone is nerve-wracking, exciting, scary, and nauseating all at once. It is not easy, and it is not something you can put five minutes of thought into and hope it turns out alright. Capstone takes pretty much everything you have, and you may just lose sleep over it, but the reward at the end is more than any one person could possibly hope for. It took a lot out of myself, and my classmates, and I believe that it was well worth all the effort.

As a final note, I’d like to point out that on the Perks of Being a Wallflower movie soundtrack, the second to last track is called “Charlie’s Last Letter.” There is a particular moment on that track that I believe applies directly to this week and what I (and hopefully others) have learned about my friends, my peers, and myself in the past few days. On that track, Logan Lerman says, “I know these will all be stories someday, and our pictures will all become old photographs, and we’ll all become somebody’s mom or dad. But right now, these moments are not stories, this is happening…I can see it, this one moment where I know you are not a sad story, you are alive.” Then the soundtrack cuts (almost) straight to David Bowie’s “Heroes,” an incredibly appropriate song in lieu of this last week. Because us seniors during this Capstone week, well, we were heroes, if just for one day. Congratulations guys, we made it.

Rebecca Kahn

Editor in Chief

#letterfromtheeditor #capstone