Welcome to AP Capstone

This is the course website of Ross Smeltzer. This site is a permanent work in progress. Syllabi for the 2019-2020 academic year have been built for all of my classes and are posted to the appropriate course pages. 

If you are enrolled in AP Seminar or AP Research in the 2019-2020 academic year, you will want to access the respective Google Classrooms for these courses. Your summer assignments will be posted there, as well as on a page on this website. 

Who I Am

I am the AP Capstone specialist at the Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet. The two-year AP Capstone program focuses on training high school students to be proficient academic researchers and writers. I see it as an antidote to our nation's poisoned public discourse and tenuouse, uncertain relationship with fact. I take these courses seriously and insist my students do the same. 

I was born and raised in upstate New York and graduated from both Southern Methodist University and the University of Chicago, where I studied political science and history. 

I think the goal of education is to give students skills they can use once they leave the confines of the classroom. To this end, I encourage daily discussions in my classroom and demand my students read and write every single day. I expect a great deal from my students and insist they meet my high expectations. 

I have created Google Classrooms for both AP Seminar and AP Research. I will post readings and assignments in both rooms and students are expected to check them frequently.

How to Reach Me

You can contact me by sending an email to [email protected].