Ricardo Barros
THE ACCOUNTABLE CLASSROOM GOES TO COLLEGE: Cecilia Di Caprio ’10 Princeton University, Class of 2014 Princeton, New Jersey
For Cecilia Di Caprio, ’10, the lessons of SPA’s Accountable Classroom extended all the way to the field house, where she was a top athlete on the school’s soccer, basketball and track teams. “My grades were always the best during the soccer season because that was my busiest time of year,” she recalls. “I always tell people sports kept me sane through high school, probably because it forced me to make very good use of my time.” Di Caprio is still keeping plenty of balls in the air at Princeton University, where she is a junior majoring in sociology, playing goalie for the Princeton Tigers women’s soccer team, and exploring postgraduate options that range from the Peace Corps to a master’s degree in public health. A tough competitor, she says one of the things she prized most at SPA was the feeling that every student was on the same team. “Even though it’s academically very challenging, I never felt I was competing with anyone,” she says. “There was always a feeling of collaboration that stems from being at the Harkness table where you learn from your classmates and you teach your classmates.” Di Caprio started at SPA in sixth grade and noticed immediately how the connections SPA’s curriculum fosters between students and teachers were very different than what she’d experienced in her elementary school. “I started to have the kind of relationships with teachers that you don’t always get in that traditional, teacher-in-frontof-a-desk setting. I also really liked the way that discussion-based classes encourage you to look at every subject, across disciplines. I remember often talking about one thing in science and realizing that in English class were talking about something that was connected. That’s one of the values of a liberal arts education, and they really start that early at SPA.” Di Caprio admits there were times when balancing both a heavy course load and competitive sports was a burden, but adds, “I would tell other students not to give up. It’s a hard school, but no one is out to get you. One of the best things you learn there is that it’s not a weakness to ask for the help you need.”
“There was always a feeling of collaboration that stems from being at the Harkness table where you learn from your classmates and you teach your classmates.”
Spring | Summer 2013 | SPA
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