Capstone Project Highlight Series: Cole Harvey ’21
Each year, a number of junior and senior class members choose to participate in the MFS Capstone Program. Designed to challenge students who wish to pursue advanced study in a particular field, the program asks participants to produce scholarly work by engaging in independent research and/or creative development under the guidance of an MFS faculty member. This series highlights recently completed projects of the 18 senior students in the program.
Stuttering has affected Cole Harvey ’21 throughout his life. As a result, he chose to use his capstone project as an opportunity to both learn more about the science behind stuttering and to begin talking about it with his peers.
His research consisted of two parts: examining books and articles written by experts on the subject and a survey of MFS Upper School students to gather information on their knowledge of stutters. The first portion provided him with a number of statistics and more information on the types of stutters, as well as what causes them. He learned that “in total, 5% of all children are affected by stuttering at some point in their lifetime,” the greater percentage of those within the 5% being male, and that there are three separate types of stutters − sound repetitions, sound prolongations, and silent blocks. There are many hypotheses as to what causes stuttering, but the two greatest consistencies among the research show that stutters are heavily related to genetics and are believed to result from overactive portions of the brain.
The second part of his research focused more heavily on the knowledge and perception of stutters amongst his peers. Cole compiled a survey that asked questions such as: “Do you know someone who stutters? Is there a negative connotation surrounding stuttering? Do you believe stuttering is a disability?” and more. Cole noted that while his survey was interesting in seeing what other Upper Schoolers knew and assumed about stuttering, he would like to reach a larger audience and clarify his questions more if he were to go through this process again. To learn more about stuttering and Cole’s project, visit his capstone page.