Top off your college education by researching the impact of exercise, or follow Anne Shirley’s footsteps.

Can physical exercise keep our minds young as our bodies grow old?  Ask Angie Seufert, class of 2004.  The exercise science and physical education major focused on this question for her senior Capstone experience. “There’s not any certain research out there,” Seufert said.

To complete her project, Seufert posted fliers and found 15 people between the ages of 70 to 85 to interview. She discovered their activity levels and then conducted tests, like the speed and accuracy of responses to specific tasks.

Seufert’s project is one of hundreds of Capstone projects McDaniel seniors complete each year. In 2004, Stephanie Pelaia, a communication major, followed the dean around school and wrote about communication in the dean-student relationship; another student researched how the West Nile Virus is spread among birds.

The required senior Capstone experience is a personal culmination of the undergraduate educational experience at McDaniel. Each department’s Capstone requirement is different.

And as for Angie Seufert? She’s now busy sharpening young minds as a physical education teacher for elementary school students.