On Monday, October 7, senior Renee Cargill defended her Capstone Project before a committee of

teachers and administrators. Her passion for her work as a work as both a fashion designer and a

data scientist was evident, and her project was approved by the committee. Athens Academy’s

Capstone Project is an opportunity for Upper School students to explore a passion via four criteria:

research, mentorship, experiential learning, and an outward contribution. Students whose projects

are approved by the committee receive the Capstone designation at commencement in May.

Renee Cargill has always been interested in fashion and design. The daughter of artists, she has

grown up expressing herself through creativity and design. Early on in high school, though, Renee

discovered a second love: coding. After tagging along with a friend at a Girls Who Code club

meeting at school, Renee was drawn to the world of computer science and programming.

Renee has worked for the past two years to combine her love of fashion with her love of

programming as part of a Capstone Project. With help from her project mentor, physics teacher Dr.

Julie Memler, Renee followed her interests in a variety of ways. First, she decided to explore

computer science by taking online courses, including “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence”

through Harvard University. While the areas of AI and machine learning were interesting, there

wasn’t much connection with fashion. She then discovered data science, which she refers to as an

“interdisciplinary field that combines computer science and statistics to collect insight into data.”

Renee also completed two online data science immersion programs through Girls Who Code.

Renee also interviewed a variety of experts, including Adrienne Antonson, the owner of State, a

fashion and interiors market in Athens, and UGA Assistant Professor Dr. Sha’Mira Covington,

author of the article “Dressing for Freedom and Justice.” Renee also spoke with Athens Academy’s

alumni coordinator, Sarah Gilbert, who studied and worked in the field of fashion merchandising

for many years.

A big component of Renee’s project was a display of some of her own handmade designs, including

tote bags, purses, and clothing, that she set up in the Bertelsmann lobby. She surveyed Upper

School students and faculty about their impressions of fashion and data science. Renee used a

common interest among teens (fashion) to educate students about a subject many might find a

little less interesting (data science).With all her research collected, Renee admits she still struggled to connect her work into a

“cohesive story.” As she wrote the research paper required for the Capstone project, her goal was

to answer the question, “What influences fashion trends?” According to Renee, fashion is just as

important a data point in the analysis and study of pivotal societal changes in history as art is. With

the data science to back it up, she analyzed fashion through the lens of the Great Depression in

1929, the COVID-19 epidemic, the era of Women’s Suffrage, and more.

We congratulate Renee on her hard work and for achieving the Capstone designation. While she

does plan to continue using fashion as a creative outlet, Renee hopes to focus on data science at

the collegiate level.

Athens Academy is an independent, co-educational school for students in K3 through 12th grade,

located on a beautiful 152-acre campus in Northeast Georgia. Now in its 57th year, Athens Academy

pursues its mission of “excellence with honor” through academics, athletics, fine arts, and service

and leadership. Ranked the #1 private school in Athens, #9 college prep school in the state of

Georgia, and #1 private school in Northeast Georgia (Niche.com).

For more information, please contact Kelley Cuneo, communications director, at

[email protected] or 706-433-2410.