I originally wrote this article in May, 2018.

Something that makes the school that I work at in Bangkok, Thailand unique is the Senior Capstone Service Project (CSP). This is a project that is undertaken beginning in junior year (11th grade) and culminates in a final paper & presentation in senior year (12th grade). The CSP is influenced by the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2018b). Students work on their CSP throughout high school, culminating in their final semester at ICS.

From the International Community School website:

“In order to graduate from ICS, every ICS student in the class of 2015 and onward must also complete a Senior Capstone Service Project (CSP). This entails that all students research a real-life problem, gain hands-on knowledge of the issue by spending many hours in service towards helping with that problem, come up with possible solutions, and write a reflective paper describing their experience. Then they must present their findings and final product to a panel of educators at the Senior Capstone Service Project Fair in the 2nd semester of their senior year.” (International Community School, 2018a)

The projects that students undertake are as varied as the students themselves. Examples from this year include: 1) Healthy home cooked meals for people in poor communities. 2) Crosswalk flags for seniors living in high traffic areas. 3) English language classes for students in rural communities. 4) Women’s health education for women in rural communities. 5) Oral hygiene education and supply partnership for children in rural communities.

As I walked through the CSP Fair this year I could see pride emanating from students who knew their work had made a difference and would continue to make a difference into the future. Through emphasis on the future, one of the keys of the CSP, students were able to identify communities in need, learn about their needs, educate the community about change, then enable them to make change.

The CSP is a transformative pedagogy (Ukpokodu, 2009) because it is all about change. This project enables students with high level education to use their skills and resources to help those in need in their communities and the rest of the country. The students who partake in the CSP cannot help but be changed by their experiences as leaders who learn through humble service.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. It was a pleasure spending time with you today.

Peace & Blessings, 

– Josiah 

References

International Community School Bangkok. (2018a). Capstone Project. International Community School https://ics.ac.th/capstone_project.php

International Community School Bangkok. (2018b). CSP Guide. International Community School https://ics.ac.th/downloads/ICS_CapstoneProject_Eng.pdf

Ukpokodu, O. (2009) The practice of transformative pedagogy. Journal of Excellence in College Teaching. 20(2). 43-67.

United Nations. (2018a). Sustainable development goals. United Nations. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

​United Nations. (2018b). Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. United Nations. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld