![Students, teachers, and parents visit Omaha Beach in Normandy, France on June 7 as part of an EF tour group. "In 7th grade I had signed up for a [field trip to] Canada but it was canceled because COVID pushed it off so much, so when Mrs. Pietrzak brought up that they were doing a D-Day field trip to Europe, I thought that was really cool and I knew that I definitely wanted to do a trip while I was at West Shore so I took the opportunity," Amelia Bailly '25 said.](https://westshoreroar.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/edbc27cd-da37-43d3-9ac9-0f38a21bbe02-1200x675.jpg)
The gavel echoed through the Senate chamber on Feb. 19, marking a new opportunity for AP students across Florida. Similar to the Cambridge AICE and International Baccalaureate (IB) diplomas, the AP Capstone Diploma now allows students to bypass standardized test requirements for the Florida Academic Scholar (FAS), which fully covers a student’s tuition. College and career specialist Angela Feldbush rejoiced after hearing this news.
“I think this is a huge win and cannot see any potential downside,” Feldbush said. “Bright Futures is a merit-based scholarship, which is great, but it’s always been tied to test scores, so they wanted to be able to recognize kids that had advanced coursework, but weren’t able to necessarily get the test scores.”
Since its establishment in 1997, the Bright Futures Scholarship allowed students to pursue their passions at a Florida college by funding 75% to 100% of tuition. For years, students seeking to have their tuition funded needed to uphold an above-average GPA while logging service hours and meeting the standardized test score threshold, which has consistently increased over the years.
“‘I’ve reached a roadblock right now that I’m trying to get over, and I keep taking the test over and over again, which is very frustrating,” senior Violet Castillo said. “When I found out that I could get the FAS without relying on my test scores, I was extremely thrilled.”
Castillo said that due to test-taking struggles, the 100% tuition threshold began to feel unachievable.
“I really did not like the ACT because the test is way too long and I couldn’t keep my attention span for that long,” Castillo said. “I did better on the SAT, so I decided to focus on studying for that. However, it has still been a struggle to get my scores up.”
AP Capstone differs from most AP courses in that it spans two years rather than one. Students begin with AP Seminar, where they complete two major tasks: a group research project and an individual research project. In the second year, they move on to AP Research, a full-year course devoted entirely to developing and completing one in-depth project.
“It’s a rigorous, college-level research process that’s not supposed to be easy,” Assistant Principal Glenn Webb said. “Obtaining 100% Bright Futures is also not supposed to be easy to attain, so the course should be challenging. Anything worth having is challenging.”
The AP Capstone Diploma is awarded to students who score at least a three on each Capstone course, along with four additional AP courses of choice. These requirements make the Capstone Diploma one of College Board’s most rigorous distinctions.
“The Capstone Diploma is not a standalone like the IB or AICE Cambridge Diploma that can be used in place of a Florida State High School Diploma,” Webb said. “It is an internationally recognized special diploma that was created as a way to give students in the AP program a higher level to shoot for that was more elite than their other AP offerings, which are already elite in nature.”
When it comes to the recruitment pitch for freshmen and sophomores interested in the Capstone program, Feldbush encourages every sophomore to sign up for the class.
“There’s a big difference between telling students that colleges like the program, and saying that it means free college,” Feldbush said. “This is such a great recognition of the value of this program, which I have seen firsthand through my own kids who went through the program.”
The teachers leading elective Capstone courses are also teaching core AP English courses. While Feldbush expects there to be an influx of students seeking to reap the benefits of the AP Capstone, Webb said greater demand for the program could cause scheduling issues.
“The more students who take these elective courses, the more sections I need for elective classes, so we need to figure out how to continue to provide sections of their English classes,” Webb said.
Even with the possible struggles of scheduling, Feldbush said her goal is to make the pathway to free college known to every student on campus.
“The only thing that makes me sad is that we have juniors right now that are not in the AP Capstone Seminar,” Feldbush said. “It’s okay if a kid does not want to take part in the program, but I don’t want them to get to next year and think, ‘if only I had known about that.’”
