As a college preparatory school, Covenant knows that skilled academic writing and real scholarly research are essential skills, which can only be learned through experience. Our unique Logic and Rhetoric instruction gives students the edge when it comes to formulating and delivering airtight arguments, but our capstone assignment, the Senior Thesis, gives them a chance to apply that knowledge in an authentic, college-style thesis presentation.
Supervised during our Twelfth Grade Rhetoric course, the Senior Thesis is a fifteen-page, independently researched scholarly essay, written over the course of months and defended on Symposium Day, a special ceremony in front of the entire Rhetoric School and a panel of outside experts. A stand-alone graduation requirement entirely unique to CCA, the Senior Thesis creates confident, knowledgeable, and experienced graduates who excel in competitive undergraduate programs, because they know the demands of such programs from the inside out.
The Senior Thesis project unfolds in multiple stages, from guided initial research, to individually supervised writing, to coached delivery and defense.
Past topics include:
- The Bioethics of Fishing Regulations in Gloucester MA
- Fantasy Literature and Intellectual Development
- Electoral College Reform
- Government Funding for Cyber Warfare Defense
- Desegregating American Churches
- The Subtle Dangers of Media Addiction
- The Question of Ethical Rebellion
- Government Funding for the Rehabilitation of Trafficked Women
The opportunity to conduct such rigorous, independent research projects under faculty supervision, and to publicly defend their ideas marries detailed college preparatory writing instruction to valuable public speaking experience. The Senior Thesis has also helped to create an energetic school-wide culture of thesis and response, where rising Seniors take their projects as an opportunity to respond to arguments from the past. A balanced, demanding, and rewarding distinctive, CCA’s Senior Thesis sets our graduates apart by their maturity and skill.
