Trainings for Leadership Growth
The Live Oak Capstone
Capstone is a yearly program. Each year a new cohort spends the year answering, "How am I leading myself?", and their declarations join the library. Meet the 2026 cohort below. The 2027 cohort presents in spring 2027.
Capstones started 2018. The living library started 2026.
What is Capstone?
Capstone is about extending the story of your relationship with Live Oak, and with yourself. It builds upon your Letters to Camp and allows you to take stock of your journey leading yourself.
Leading yourself means knowing yourself and modeling our values: Be Brave, Be Aware, Be Kind, Be Honorable.
The final product is a 3-4 minute audio declaration answering "How am I leading myself?" — professionally recorded at Be Loud Studios and permanently archived on this website.
The Capstone is a chance for you to take a deep dive into your own life and declare who you are as a leader at this point in your life.
The Capstone Journey
Six months of reflection, creation, and growth. No homework outside of class — just meaningful time with your camp community exploring who you are becoming.
November
Letter to Camp
Use a camp tradition of "Letter to Camp" to reflect on who you are as a unique and individual leader through your time as a camper.
December
Role Models
Study those who have impacted your life, and how they have helped you shape your individual leadership identity.
January
Art and Identity
Use different modes of art that captures the leader you want to be.
February
Pecha Kucha
12 images, 20 seconds each. Visual storytelling of leadership through constraint and creativity.
March
Speech Writing
Write and deliver a speech about how you lead yourself.
April
Recording & Celebration
Professional recording at Be Loud Studios. Peer voting. Spring Celebration presentation.
6
Months Together
6
Sessions
1
Declaration
Forever
Archived
Meet the Class of 2026!
The inaugural cohort of the Live Oak Capstone Library. These leaders are the first to have their voices permanently archived, setting the foundation for a tradition that will grow each year.
9 Leaders | Recorded at Be Loud Studios
Olivia Griffin
10th Grade | 5 Years at Camp
"Capstone is a journey that helps to understand who you are as a person and how you can use your individuality to become a better leader."
Listen to Capstone
Sal Sclafani
9th Grade | 7 Years at Camp
"Capstone is the transition from learning to be a leader to being a leader."
Listen to Capstone
Graham Teall
10th Grade | 9 Years at Camp
"For me, Capstone has been a chance to reflect on what I've valued in past leaders and role models, and use that to define who I want to be as a leader."
Listen to Capstone
Ethan Dixon
10th Grade | 4 Years at Camp
"To me Capstone means who I am today not just as a leader but as a person and how I think."
Listen to Capstone
Tarrel Brooks
11th Grade | 6 Years at Camp
"Capstone is a journey, and by the end you still may not know the leader you are but you definitely will be closer to the truth by the end of it."
Listen to Capstone
Jair Smith
11th Grade | 1 Years at Camp
Listen to Capstone
Declan Doyle
9th Grade | 7 Years at Camp
"Capstone is about exploring yourself and finding out more about who I am as a leader."
Listen to Capstone
Josephine Thomson
11th Grade | 3 Years at Camp
"Capstone is the culminating point; for me, it means the stepping stone to the leader I want to be: in college and beyond."
Listen to Capstone
Maks Gumpert
10th Grade | 7 Years at Camp
"A wonderful experience filled with essential skills and growth."
Listen to Capstone
Capstones at the Spring Celebration
Each spring, the new cohort presents their capstones at the Live Oak Spring Celebration. The 2026 cohort presented on April 21, 2026, with the projects featured at listening stations.
2026 Spring Celebration
April 21, 2026 | Broadside Theater
Peer voting for live presenters closed April 12, 2026
Could This Be You?
Capstone is open to anyone in Leadership Seminar who wants to explore the question "How am I leading myself?" It's a commitment, but one we think anyone could make — any year of the Leadership Seminar experience.
What we believe about Capstone:
- No mandatory homework outside of class
- It's really fun to come (content and structure)
- Your Letters to Camp become the foundation
- Your story becomes part of the Live Oak archive forever
This page is a living history of Live Oak Capstone leaders. Each year, new voices join the archive — a permanent record of young people who dared to answer the question: "How am I leading myself?"
Come back in 2046. Find your cohort. Remember where your journey began.
Professional recordings made possible in partnership with
Be Loud Studios
New Orleans, Louisiana