Making real-world connections: English capstone project helps Willowbrook students discover how they can have a positive impact on their community

Educators strive to make real-world connections and help students apply what they learn in the classroom to life outside of school.

Willowbrook English teacher Leslie Allenspach recently accomplished that goal through a new capstone project for her English 12 Dual Credit students. Through the project, students were asked to analyze a topic they’re passionate about, identify an issue within that area and provide suggested solutions to help with that concern. They focused on a discourse community, which is a group of people who share common goals and a set of practices and beliefs, using language and communication to achieve those goals.

Allenspach said the project helped pupils make meaningful connections to their future careers and areas of study. They also learned to use/access available resources to help achieve their goals, including working with Willowbrook teacher aide MaryKathryn Maranowicz in the Writing Center to refine their materials and connect with professionals outside the Willowbrook community for interviews.

“The purpose was to show students the strength of their own voice,” Allenspach said. “The goal was for them to understand that they can have an impact and make a positive difference on the world around them – even through small actions.”

Students conducted interviews (including with District 88 Superintendent Dr. Jean Barbanente and Willowbrook Principal Dr. Daniel Krause), completed professional communications, wrote a reflective essay and created artifacts to support their work through formats that would most benefit and meet the needs of their respective audience. Those included presentations, podcasts, graphics, flyers and more. Community-impact topics included:

• Improving communication between Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) and hospital staff members when transferring a patient
  
  
• Closing the gender gap in STEM-related fields
  
  
• Raising awareness regarding mental health, particularly with high-level athletes
  
  
• Reducing the use of performance-enhancing substances
  
  
• Increasing student motivation
  
  
• Educating people on how to determine whether information is true/credible/trustworthy
  
  
• Decreasing incidents of bullying
  
  
• Supporting students who are dealing with loneliness (such as establishing areas to sit with others during lunch)

*To view samples of the students’ work, go to www.dupage88.net/WBEnglishProject2025.

As a culmination to the course, and to show how actions can have a direct positive impact on others, Allenspach took the class to Feed My Starving Children in Schaumburg (pictured above).