Piedmont Introduces AP Seminar

After President’s Week, the Board of Education will be making their decision regarding the potential introduction of AP Seminar as a new course for the 2025-26 school year. The class generally revolves around self-directed research, leading up to a final group project and individual project at the end of the year.
English teacher Eduardo Wolbert described the general goals of the class, comparing its research-oriented approach as similar to the I-Search.
“I’ve used a lot of the curriculum from AP Seminar for the freshmen,” Wolbert said. “It’s a lot like the I-Search.”
Wolbert also emphasized the freedom that AP Seminar provides to students who get to choose their own research.
“The main goal of the class is to guide students into having more autonomy in directing their academic interests,” Wolbert said. “The class is entirely dedicated to research projects that you do.”
In addition, Wolbert highlighted the group-heavy nature of the class.
“You really do have to figure it out with a group,” Wolbert said. “You come together and synthesize and deliver a final presentation.”
Principal David Yoshihara spoke to this, mentioning the interest expressed from both students and parents. Yoshihara sent out a survey in the weekly Parent Newsletter, which had positive results.
“So far, the early results indicate high interest,” Yoshihara said. “This went out in the parent newsletter. When I last looked we had more parents reply, but it’s close, around 60-40.”
Yoshihara also discussed how the introduction of this class late may cause changes with schedules, specifically for sophomores.
“We’re not sure at this point which courses will be most impacted,” Yoshihara said. “It’s most likely to be taken at the 10th and 11th grade level, but we plan to offer it to 10th-12th graders.”
AP Seminar, although it is an AP class, has a different exam setup than other similar courses.
“In Seminar you’re basically in a months-long exam period where you’re building two different projects,” Wolbert said. “One is an individual research project and the other is a group project.”
However, the course is weighted the same as other AP classes on transcripts.
“It’s weighted the same as any other AP class,” Yoshihara said. “AP Seminar has no prerequisite, and AP Research’s prerequisite is AP Seminar.
AP Capstone is a program containing both AP Seminar and AP Research. Completion of both classes, in combination with passing scores on 4 other AP exams, will earn students an AP Capstone certificate and diploma at their graduation.
“Capstone is the kind of project where you really do create the curriculum,” Wolbert said. “In Capstone, you really can dedicate a whole semester to this thing.”
AP Seminar is the first class in the Capstone program, followed by AP Research the next year.