Cocheco Academy of The Arts Seniors Present Two Year Projects

by Allison Frisella - Class of 2019

On Thursday morning, the CATA senior class stood up in front of all of their classmates to give their final presentations for a project they’ve been working on for the past two years. This project, known as the Senior Capstone, is a project that all CATA students complete during their junior and senior years, where they choose an issue they care about, research it, and implement a solution to the problem. The project, lead by Mr. Keith and Mrs. Lotz, was developed as a means to both prepare students for academic research in college and to develop their understanding of the issues in the world around them, encouraging them to think about how to change those problems. This year’s senior class covered a variety of familiar topics, such as preservation of history, censorship in schools, sexual assault, and legalization of hemp. Others covered topics that had previously been given less of a spotlight, such as pitbull stigma, art therapy, TRAP laws, and sustainable fashion. Even through this variety of topics, there is one thing the senior class has in common: they are all powerful women with powerful messages to share. Catriona Poulin, who did her project on TRAP laws, said during her presentation that, “this is not a political issue, it is a women’s health issue that is made political because of men in office making decisions about what women can or can’t do to their bodies.” She went on to speak about her plans to organize a rally about this issue over the summer. Her presentation is just one example of the actions and solutions students have to solve the issues in the world around them. The CATA class of 2018 is a powerful class with powerful ideas.