Capstone Award Ceremony celebrates Exemplary Work of CGS ’14 Students

This past weekend, CGS had the pleasure of not only greeting the parents of its current students, but also of seeing the parents of those who graduated from CGS this past May to continue onto junior year. Friday night, students from the CGS class of 2014 gathered with their proud families in the Katzenberg Center for the Capstone Award Ceremony.

Capstone is an intensive project that challenges CGS sophomores to work in a small group to research a real-world, timely issue, and propose a comprehensive solution. It was conceived and designed as an interdisciplinary experience, as CGS’s pedagogical mission centers around the Liberal Arts, which are, by definition, interdisciplinary. After students put in countless hours of hard work- including desk research, field research, writing the 50-page paper, and preparing for and completing a group oral defense- each team of professors is challenged to select the strongest cases presented.

The 2014 theme, Think Globally, Act Locally, asked students to act as a panel of experts with the responsibility of surveying the history and scope of a particular problem in the Boston metropolitan area and proposing a policy recommendation. The projects explored targeted issues within the following “broader” topics: urban climate; urban resiliency in the face of hazards and crises; the value of urban biodiversity; transportation; urban waste; urban waterways and drainage; fisheries; human health and welfare in the city; and energy use and development in Massachusetts. With competition tough, each CGS team had to identify one winning group; the summaries of the winning projects can be found in the event program.

The Capstone project exemplifies CGS’s belief that a well-rounded education best prepares students to meet the challenges of today’s world; enabling them to think critically, understand and communicate effectively, bring together multiple perspectives to solve real-world problems. Congratulations to all!

Team S Winner: Ten-Year Proposal for Boston — **Team S Winners:** *Ten-Year Proposal for Boston*
Students include: Julia Budde, Michelle Grbic, Kathryn Lezynski, Michael Montesi, Katelyn Richerts, Teah Welsch-Rainek.

Faculty include: Millard Baublitz, Mary Catherine McDonald, and William Tilchin.

Team T Winners: Boston Transportation Improvement Agency- A Proposed Solution to Boston’s Transportation-Related Air Pollution

**Team U Winners:** *Building Resiliency in East Boston: A Proposal for Logan Airport and Residents Facing Sea Level Rise*
Students include: Allison Brennan, Meghan Kelliher, Cecilia Ramierz, Tali Sandel, Dani Segelbaum, and Isabel Vera.
Faculty include: Christopher Fahy, June Grasso, and Samuel Hammer.

**Team V Winners:** *Proposal for the Seafood Awareness Safeguard: Tackling Seafood Fraud in Boston*
Students include: Marissa Brown, Ryan Guizano, Jayne Lee, Kyle Liberti, Alanna Raskin, and Daniel Rollins.
Faculty include: Sam Deese, Robert Schoch, and Robert Wexelblatt.

**Team W Winners:** *Cycling Our Way to Safety, Recommendations for Safe Cycling in Boston*
Students include: Kerem Kamisli, Sumer Kotwal, Genevieve Lane, Manuel Perello Fernandez, Daniella Seidl, and Max Soloshchanskiy.
Faculty include: Michael Kort, Kari Lavalli, and Jeffery Vail.

**Team X Winners:** *BPA- A Global Issue Warranting Local Action*
Students include: Jonathan Brooks, Lindsey Constantine, Megan Ebner, Julia Katzman, Carley Lemay, and Lilian Liang.
Faculty include: Peter Busher, John McGrath, and Meg Tyler

**Team Y Winner:** *Eutrophication of Coastal Waters- The Problem and the BEST Solutions*.
Students include: Emily fuller, Catherine Gatto, Lee Ginton, Maria Henning, Andrew Miller, and Lavinia Wihtol.
Faculty include: Sandra Buerger, Joshua Pederson, and Tom Whalen.

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