FAQS

The Festival is an annual showcase of the best senior projects, honors theses, and special research projects completed by undergraduate Mary Baldwin University students during the preceding academic year. The inaugural Capstone Festival was held in 2006 and revives a tradition from the early years of Augusta Female Seminary, when “commencement” involved public oral presentations and contests.

The Festival provides an opportunity for students, faculty members, families, and members of the community to learn about original work done in all disciplines. For nominees, it is a chance to celebrate their achievement and communicate their results to a broader audience.

The Festival is held during May Term and includes presentations, speakers, and an award ceremony. This year’s Capstone Festival will take place on April 22nd, 2024.

Nominations must be made by Mary Baldwin University faculty members. Some departments decide collectively on which majors to nominate and others leave it up to individual faculty. After a faculty member notifies you that you are being nominated, you should work with him or her to make sure that you submit the completed nomination form by the specified deadline (your faculty nominator will have information about the nomination process and deadline).

In recent years, about 30 students have presented their work during the Capstone Festival, representing less than a quarter of the graduating class.

Participation is entirely voluntary, but only nominees who participate will have the chance to earn specials awards and recognitions.

YES! Students may still participate virtually in the Capstone Festival. You will choose the virtual option on your nomination form. Work with the faculty member who is advising you and communicate with the Capstone Team on how to be a virtual participant.

The hybrid-format festival allows for participants’ friends and family to attend the virtual award ceremony on the afternoon of April 22nd, 2023 .

Sometimes we learn the most from experiments that go awry. Presentations in such cases may focus on background information, methodology, and the discoveries that you did make. The point is to help your audience become better informed about an area of inquiry that you have confronted first hand.

Faculty members are generally very supportive of Capstone presenters. Some instructors cancel classes on Festival day so that all of their students may attend. Although they are not required to do so, instructors have been requested to give Capstone presenters an excused absence for the day and give them an opportunity to complete any missed work. Please talk to your May Term professor as soon as possible to confirm your arrangements.

You must select one project to present; however, abstracts for all nominated projects may be included in the Festival program.

Your nominator will recommend a presentation category that he or she thinks will fit your project, but you are free to choose any appropriate category. The presentation categories are:

• Paper (with video presentation; all students who submit a paper will be required to film a presentation)
• Poster (students who submit a poster will present their project IN-PERSON in Grafton Library on Friday, May 6)
• Musical, theatrical, or other artistic performance (students who submit an artistic work will present their project IN-PERSON in Grafton Library on Friday, May 6)
• High Impact Practice Project (students who submit a High-Impact Practice Experience Project will present their project IN-PERSON in Grafton Library on Friday, May 6)

No. The Festival is interdisciplinary, which means that students from all majors present together during each session, and many people attending will have little background in your project area. This means that your presentation should be geared toward a lay audience rather your original faculty audience.

Participants will turn in their projects, which will be judged by MBU faculty members. During Capstone week, a separate category will be highlighted on the Capstone website and through social media Monday through Thursday. On Friday, a ceremony will be held and awards will be announced.

A team of approximately three judges will evaluate each session. A number of special awards will be made at the concluding ceremony on Friday of Capstone Week, but you should remember that it is a significant achievement to be nominated for and participate in the Festival. Presenters will be judged on the overall merit of the project as well as how well they condense and communicate their key concepts to a lay audience. This is an interdisciplinary festival, and while projects should conform to a style consistent with the main presentation format in a particular discipline, they should also be accessible to an educated audience with little or no specific background in the discipline. The judging team will include people who are not knowledgeable about your particular field, and you will be evaluated on how well you are able to make your project understandable to this type of educated non-specialist audience.

Judges include MBU faculty and staff members. Faculty judges will not judge their advisees’ presentations.