High School Information
Senior Thesis
The Culmination of Years of Study
At Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy, each student writes, orally delivers, and defends a thesis on a topic of his or her choosing that emerges from the curriculum. Each student adapts his or her paper into a speech that is delivered publicly and defended to a panel of faculty members. Satisfactory performance on the writing and presentation of the thesis is required for graduation.
The senior thesis is the culmination of a student’s classical education and a rite of passage to a life of virtue and self-government. The student’s thesis may concentrate on books, events, or themes that draw upon any of the core courses and should serve as a capstone project, one which brings together the things a student has learned during his or her time at the school.
Students from the Class of 2021 successfully defended senior theses on The Virtue of Suffering, Astronomy, Economics and Imperialism in the Food Industry, Can Computer Science be Classical?, etc. Each student presented an excellent presentation and grew through the experience of making a defense for their topics.
Senior Thesis defenses happen each December and are open to all members of the Founders Classical Academy community.