Capstone Speakers
This year's Summit will feature two Global Studies Academy capstone speakers. As a part of their senior curriculum, Academy students take a class entitled “Academy Capstone”. The senior year Capstone course allows students to blend their personal interests and skills in order to study a topic of their own selection in depth both by research and by pursuing learning through nontraditional means. In the spring, these students perform advocacy on their topic with a target audience through Spring Action.
Omar Melhem
"My aim is to provide insight to the audience when observing the modern world by providing a link to global history. For example, something as simple as the modern pen can have extensive roots in history spanning millennia, such as in the invention of writing by the Ancient Sumerians, the first use of ink by the Ancient Egyptians, the innovation behind dyes in the Mediterranean, the improvement of metallurgy in the European Middle Ages, the discovery of tungsten by Irish chemist Peter Woulfe, and so on, all converging onto a writing utensil we see every day. My topic draws links to many corners of world history, from medicine, to art, to war."
The World from a New Perspective
Grace Chi
"I studied happiness, what it means to be happy, and why it is so elusive in our society today. As part of my spring action I organized the Sunflower Initiative, an afterschool program at Colony Meadows Elementary School to promote optimism and resiliency in elementary school students. My goal is to foster an optimistic outlook through positive psychology early on that will equip students with the tools to deal with challenges they may face in the future."
The Sunflower Initiative