Capstone Projects | Infinite Electives

In school, you took a test to prove you memorized the facts. Here, we don't care about memorization. We care about synthesis. You’ve read the books, watched the lectures, and done the labs. You know the material. Now, do something with it.

A "capstone" is the final stone placed on top of a structure. In this context, it is a project that synthesizes what you’ve learned into something tangible. It moves knowledge from "Passive Memory" (things you recognize) to "Active Mastery" (things you can use).

Below is a menu of formats. Pick one that excites you. The questions provided in each syllabus are just sparks—feel free to ignore them and answer the question you wish we had asked.

There are no grades here. The only goal is to make something you are proud of.

The Writer

Best for: Organizing messy thoughts and finding connections.

The Classic Essay: Take the 3 guiding questions from the syllabus and answer them in your own words. (500-1000 words).
The "Letter to a Skeptic" Write a 500-word letter to a friend (or a past version of yourself) who thinks this topic is boring. Convince them why it matters. Don't use jargon. Use emotion.
The Field Journal Keep a notebook during the course. For your Capstone, read back through it and highlight the 3 biggest "Aha!" moments. Summarize how your perspective shifted from Week 1 to Week 4.
The Speculative Fiction Write a short story set 50 years in the future where the core concept of the class is the main plot point. (e.g., A world where fungi have replaced plastic, or A day in the life of a privacy ghost).

The Speaker

Best for: People who think by talking.

The "Walk & Talk" Voice Memo Go for a walk. Hit record on your phone. Rant for 10 minutes about the topic as if you were explaining it to a trapped audience. Don't edit it. Listen to it a week later to see what stuck.
The 60-Second TikTok/Reel Constraint breeds creativity. Can you explain the most complex idea from the course (e.g., The Event Horizon or The Supply Chain) in under one minute? Visuals are optional; clarity is mandatory.
The Video Essay Sit in front of a camera (or use stock footage) and answer one of the Capstone Questions. Script it out. Add music. Pretend you are a YouTuber with 1M subscribers.
The Dinner Party Pitch Your goal is to introduce this topic into a conversation naturally. Prepare 3 "hooks" or anecdotes. If you can get someone else to ask you a question about it, you win.

The Artist

Best for: Visual learners and pattern matchers.

The Zine Take a single sheet of A4 paper. Fold it into an 8-page booklet (look up "how to make a zine"). Fill it with sketches, quotes, and diagrams from the course. It’s a tiny, physical artifact of your learning.
The Mind Map Take a massive piece of paper. Write the main topic in the center. Draw branches showing the connections between all the different ideas that fall under that umbrella. Then, connect it to at least 5 other topics you’ve studied before. (e.g., Connect Tea to Colonialism, Chemistry, and Botany). Get really detailed.
The Infographic Take a confusing dataset or timeline from the course and redesign it so a 5-year-old could understand it.

The Builder

Best for: People who learn with their hands.

The Artifact: Recreate something from the history you studied. If you studied Fermentation, make a jar of Kimchi. If you studied Cryptography, build a Caesar Cipher wheel out of cardboard.
The Field Guide: Create a manual for your local area based on the topic. A guide to the architecture of your street. A map of the edible plants in your park. If you're feeling feisty, share it on your local Facebook group, Nextdoor, or add it to your library's bulletin board.
The Code: Write a script or program inspired by the systems, logic, or concepts you learned. (e.g., A Python script that simulates the Prisoner's Dilemma).

The Curator

Best for: People who love to collect and categorize.

The "Start Here" Bundle: Imagine a friend asks you, "How do I get into this?" Create a curated list of the top 5 links, videos, and articles that aren't in the syllabus, with notes on why they are great.
The Timeline: Build a visual timeline of the key events. Seeing the order of operations often reveals cause-and-effect relationships you missed in the reading.
The Wiki Entry: Find a gap in Wikipedia or a community wiki related to the topic. Write a paragraph to fill it. Contributing to the public knowledge base is the ultimate flex.

The Golden Rule of Capstones

Don't let perfect be the enemy of done.

A bad essay is better than no essay. A crooked drawing is better than a blank page. The magic happens in the attempt, not the result.