The final third of each semester will focus on students' capstone projects. Students will work within small groups to design and implement substantial projects that will further the goals of The Field Semester. Students will pick their own area of interest, and in collaboration with faculty, identify and outline projects that will draw on many of the skills and knowledge they have developed over the course of the semester. The majority of these projects will be physical in nature—building sustainable housing solutions, improving campus energy use, developing and implementing habitat restoration plans—but could also include work such as designing cost effective crop selection plans, tackling regional environmental policy challenges, or pursuing an oral history project with members of the local community. Faculty and regional experts will act primarily as coaches for these projects; students will be the ones to identify and solve the many challenges that face them in successfully accomplishing the goals they set. Students may design projects that culminate in a finished product, or they may choose to participate in ongoing projects—laying solid groundwork for the next semester's cohort to pick up where they left off and cumulatively work towards larger-scale solutions.
In addition to propelling the program and campus further, these projects will develop each student's confidence to go out and tackle similar challenges in the communities they next find themselves a part of.