S
class is different because it is more applied learning.
weaty, you push the heavy wood door and enter
Instead of listening to a professor lecture about a
a classroom of students that all seem to know
topic, students actually have the opportunity to go
each other. While trying to act casual, you find
out and apply their learning by doing projects and
a seat near, but not too near, another one of the
other assignments.
anxious looking students. Freshman year of college,
In the Department for Agricultural
on the first day of school, during the first class of
Communications and Education, students earning an
the day, you never imagined everything would be
agricultural communications degree take two capstone
so foreign. High School had been a breeze and you
courses, Agricultural Communications Campaigns and
thought college would too, until the realization that
the Development of Agricultural Publications.
the real world is looming too close for comfort, and
For the Department of Landscape Architecture,
uncertainty builds in the
Aura Dominguez, a senior
pit of your gut.
landscape architecture
Students in the College
major said her capstone
of Agricultural Sciences
course is exceptionally
and Natural Resources
difficult because of the
(CASNR) are guided
extent of research students
through their four years
are required to complete.
at Texas Tech University
For the final project,
by professors who want
students in landscape
students to succeed.
architecture take a field
During the final stages of
trip to Denver, Colorado,
earning a degree, students
to check out a project site.
enroll in courses called
Dominguez said they are
capstones. In all seven of
then able to create a “new”
the CASNR departments,
Dr.
Darren
Hudson
discusses
the
traits
of
being
a
leader
to
his
space for the people based
these courses are designed
students in the agricultural economics capstone class.
on their own research,
to help the student gain
insights and ideas.
the confidence needed for
“The course provides me with the opportunity to
their final step graduation.
work with people my profession and see how the work
“Capstone classes give you the ability to apply
and the processes they go through,” Dominguez said.
all the skills you’ve learned throughout college,”
“It also gives me an insight as to what the workplace
said Keegan Langford, a student majoring in
will feel like out in the professional world.”
agricultural communications in Tech’s Department
In the duration of student’s undergraduate career,
for Agricultural Communications and Education. “It’s
some assignments are given to the students to prepare
really more hands-on learning and has allowed me
them for a test, but with others, the professor has
to discover what my strengths are, and how I can use
different plans. Darren Hudson, Ph.D, a professor in
them in the real world.”
the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
Unlike regular courses, Langford said a capstone
Kerry Griffis-Kyle, Ph.D, a professor in the
said he gives an assignment in his capstone course that
Department of Natural Resource Management,
is designed to build up student’s strengths and work on
said she likes having the opportunity to make a
their weaknesses.
significant impact on student’s ability to get jobs in
“In the capstone class, it really isn’t about new
the field by teaching the capstone class.
material,” Hudson said. “It’s about thinking about
“Students benefit in a number of ways. One of the
everything you’ve learned and how it ties together and
main ones is they get confidence in being able to do
then relates back to the job that you’re likely to have.”
some of these activities.”
During his time as a
Griffis-Kyle said. “So
professor of agricultural
for example, they may
economics teaching the
apply for jobs that they
capstone course, Hudson
normally wouldn’t have
said he ran into many
before. That also means
different kinds of students.
they can say, ‘I have done
Some try to coast through
that before, so they have
the course while others
a better chance of getting
try to achieve the highest
the job.”
grade possible. Of all the
The student’s ability
students, one stuck out to
to gain confidence in
Hudson in particular.
the workforce is one of
“I just told him one
the main reasons why
day, maybe this isn’t for
professors in CASNR teach
you. Maybe you need to
capstone courses, and
go do something else,”
Aura Dominguez discusses a landscape architecture project with
why it has been successful
Hudson said. “He just
her
classmate
in
the
landscape
architecture
pavilion.
“
throughout the years.
disappeared. I didn’t
Kaitlin Spraberry, a
know where he went but
recent alumna from the Department of Agricultural
he came back about three years later and said, ‘I’m
Education and Communications, said her
ready to go back. I made a lot of money, I worked a
leadership experience in the capstone course gave
lot of long hours, and I had a lot of fun, but I’m ready
her confidence in the workplace she could not
to go back to school.’”
In the student’s last semester, he reached
have gained through any other opportunity. She is
Hudson’s capstone course. Like many students
currently the management coordinator at Triple
before him, he completed the book assignment,
8 Management, a music management company in
identified his strengths and weaknesses, wrote the
Austin, Texas.
paper and finally graduated.
“Ultimately, the goal after graduation is to take
“A couple years
what you’ve learned
later, I started
in class, add it to
getting emails from
your professional
him while he was a
experiences, and use
captain in the Marine
those things to make
Corps,” Hudson said.
yourself successful
“He started sending
in the job market,”
me books he was
Spraberry said. “I
reading that related
learned more about
to the assignment
trusting my instincts
and told me how it
and to be confident
applied to his life now, and how they helped him while
in that the things I’d learned in class had equipped me
he was in Afghanistan.”
with the right tools to be successful.”
By their senior year, students typically do not
have a lot more on their mind than graduation, but
finding jobs after graduation is why students attend
places of higher education.
“It’s about thinking about everything
you’ve learned and how it ties together
and then relates back to the job that
you’re likely to have.”