The capstone project grants an immense opportunity for seniors at WA to explore their passions and get a taste of what the world outside of high school has to offer. However, some students take this opportunity as a way to make a real impact on their community. For senior Ryleigh Waterhouse, her capstone isn’t making a change just for Westford, but is shaping our government by helping influence the Carter Bill in Congress.
According to Waterhouse, within her capstone she will be attempting to sway the decision to pass the Carter Bill, a bill which was introduced by Earl L. Carter to help decrease the cost of skin substitution products. Skin substitution products are bioengineered, synthetic materials used to replace or promote the growth of skin on areas of chronic wounds, or in some cases, diabetic ulcers.
Waterhouse decided to complete her capstone by representing a medical based company at Congress out of an interest in both medicine and law. She is interested in majoring in nursing, but also in pre-law, making this project an adequate balance of the two pursuits.
In order to help influence the bill, Waterhouse is interning for the vice president of Surgenex, Pam McKeown, a medical company which deals with the research and manufacturing of skin replacement products, and will be directly affected by the passing of the Carter Bill.
The bill will affect a myriad of companies, including Surgenex, nationwide who manufacture skin substitution products, as it influences their spending and budgets. Should the bill be passed, the cost of skin substitution products would decrease, making them more accessible, however the price change will also weaken the quality of the product.
McKeown is actively trying to sway the decision of Congress when it comes to this bill, now with the assistance of Waterhouse by trying to prevent the bill from being passed.
“She talks directly to Congress to convince them to pass or not pass certain bills,” Waterhouse said. “As a lobbyist, she advocates for her company when certain bills may affect it harshly.”
According to Waterhouse, both she and McKeown are against this bill. Although it would decrease the cost of skin substitution products, it would ultimately decrease their quality, which would negatively affect the level of capability the skin replacements have.
“Personally, I disagree with the bill. I have a very lengthy medical history and throughout most of it, I have been ignored with very poor quality solutions,” Waterhouse said. “I want to ensure that my case becomes rare, and everyone gets the best healthcare no matter [their] social status or how wealthy they are.”
According to Waterhouse, some companies in support of the bill have lots of debt and many lawsuits against them, but Surgenex has stayed free of both by staying true to their work. However, if the bill does pass in Congress, then Surgenex would fall into debt for reasons undisclosed.
On top of this, Surgenex would have to move its manufacturing to India if the bill succeeds, to satisfy the guardrails the bill sets up involving these companies spending, causing a myriad of difficulties regarding the quality of the companies products, despite their cheaper production.
As a result, Waterhouse and McKeown are trying to persuade the opinions of Congress members by stating how even though the bill would lower the cost of these products, their quality would substantially decrease, resulting in more harm than good.
“I have always known that I wanted to help people whether it was through law or a medical practice. So when it came time for me to pick a capstone project, I chose Surgenex since it is a mix of both,” Waterhouse said.
Furthermore, Waterhouse states that she is leaning more towards the medical side of her interests, specifically nursing, as she would be able to have a wide range of future medical-based professions to pursue.
“One of the people on my team, she was a nurse prior to working with our company, so I might end up taking a similar path that she did,” Waterhouse said.
Waterhouse attended a myriad of meetings involving the decision of the Carter Bill during her capstone. There, she, McKeown, and other Congress members discussed the debts of other companies, the effects of the bill, and the care Surgenex and other skin substitution companies provide.
Throughout these meetings, Waterhouse sincerely enjoyed her capstone and the experiences it provided as it gave her valuable insight on potential future professions she is thinking of pursuing.
“So a person’s enjoyment of the capstone project really depends on their main preferences rather than what they want to do in the future. I just wanted to use it as an advantage to lead me closer to what career I want in my future,” Waterhouse said.
