About Us

Capstone, Sonder, and Collabs!

Sonder

Defined as the realization that

each person has a life

as vivid and complex as your own

Our Sonderful Mission

"We hope our resources bring the concept of sonder to English and interdisciplinary high school classrooms and homeschool environments by adapting to the complexities of all students and facilitating vividly authentic learning."

Our Story

With the help of our supportive administrators at East Syracuse Minoa CSD, we developed a year-long course called English 12: The Capstone Experience. Our own “Capstone Journey”-from creators to teachers to now advocates–has been nothing short of transformative. We learned first-hand through trial and error and dozens of classes of students how the course engages diverse learners as individuals with varied interests in ways traditional curriculum accomplishes far less effectively or efficiently. As veteran teachers, Capstone reinvigorated us when we saw how it cultivated enthusiasm in our students, renewed our passion as educators, and contributed to the “culture of learning” throughout our entire building.

We created Capstone Collaborators in order to share our expertise and insights with other educators.

A subset of Capstone Collaborators, The Sonderful Scholar is the product brand we designed to make our resources available to others.

And further, as a curricular extension that grew from our "Capstone for All" program, we developed "Career Prep for All". These resources feature curriculum to develop elements of professionalism in today's workforce.

Let us collaborate with you to develop vividly authentic, relevant, and transformative learning in your own school.

Meet the Capstone Collaborators

Capstone program creator and teacher

Cindy Hlywa

An educator and leader with a strong instruction and curriculum development background. Cindy taught a range of high school English courses along with Capstone English and dual credit courses partnering with SUNY OCC, SUNY Cortland, and Syracuse University, over her 31 years in the classroom. She advises early college students with East Syracuse Minoa's Spartan Academy and is an active member of ESM’s School to College and Career Advisory Board, working to bridge the gap between secondary education and post-graduation opportunities.

Capstone program creator and teacher

Lisa McDougal

A dedicated educator with a passion for fostering student growth, both academically and personally. With over 32 years in education, Lisa has taught a wide range of courses, including AP Literature, AP Language and Composition, Student Leadership, and Capstone English. Throughout her career, Ms. McDougal has collaborated closely with special educators, ensuring that all students, regardless of learning differences, have access to a high-quality, inclusive education.

The Right Program at the Right Time

Capstone for All
Paints the NYS Portrait of a Graduate

with Curiosity, Connections, and Creative Solutions

Our comprehensive program embeds the teaching and learning necessary for students to develop each of the dimensions below.

Effective Communication

Students develop these skills through a gradual sequence of learning activities like interviewing an expert, leading roundtable discussions, and ultimately delivering a research seminar presentation for an authentic audience.

Global Citizenship

By selecting topics from a wide range of world, national, and local issues and then exploring a path of inquiry that includes researching wider issues and opposing viewpoints, students gain important perspectives well beyond what they understood when they started the course.

Critical Thinking

While researching and writing about topics, students learn to analyze evidence, arguments, and their own recursive thinking. Later, when designing and executing projects, students improve time management skills and take decisive actions to meet their goals.

Social and Emotional Competence

Through reflective writing, conferencing with peers, teachers, and mentors, and learning to gracefully give and receive meaningful feedback students are challenged and supported in their individual paths to learning.

Cultural Competence

When Capstone teachers present frameworks like the UN List of Sustainable Goals showcasing the needs of varied and complex cultures, they help students explore how these issues touch our lives, our communities, and the wider world around us. Students are propelled to engage in challenging dialogues and build connections with others in service to their Capstone work.

Literacy Across Content Areas

Throughout their Capstone journey, students learn professional communication, technology, and a constellation of concepts related to science, social studies, the arts, and CTE (career and technical education) fields depending on their research topics and projects.

Innovative Problem Solving

By exploring Capstone exemplars, pitching their own ideas, working with feedback, thinking recursively and reflecting on their performance students hone skills throughout the course developing creativity, resourcefulness, and resilience along with new ways to approach and solve problems.

Capstone Collaborators