Senior Projects (Week 3)

This week as I reflect on meaningful community engagement I am pleased, and somewhat overwhelmed, by thinking about this year's Senior Projects. As my school's guidance counselor, I made the decision to implement, for the first year ever at our school, senior projects for all seniors. Additionally, this project has been included as a graduation requirement for all seniors. One of the reasons I felt so strongly to begin this program is to give our students a chance to engage with community mentors and a chance to study a topic that they are truly interested in. In 2011, when I was a student teacher at a neighboring local high school, I had the privilege to sit-in on several senior presentations. I was impressed and thought how amazing it was for these young people to be challenged to expand their learning beyond their school campus. Since then, I have been wanting to offer the same opportunity for students at CLA. Honestly, I didn't understand why our students were never encouraged to do Senior Projects in the past, especially considering how manageable of a task it would be because of our small class sizes (less than 50 students in the entire high school). 

So last Spring, I wrote a proposal to my administrators to build into our curriculum our own version of Senior Project. Additionally, I volunteered to oversee all 10 projects myself (which I thought was the hook-line-and-sinker of it all). It was approved. I immediately wrote a 45-page student handbook and pushed last year's 11th graders to begin planning their senior projects over this past summer. The Senior Project requires that each student find a community mentor of their choosing, someone who has considerable experience in the student's field of interest and is willing to oversee a minimum of 20 field hours. There are three categories which projects can fall into: 1) career shadow, 2) community service, and 3) academic interest/ research project. At this point 9 out of my 10 students have a mentor for their projects and approved project topics. Additionally, students will need to write an argumentative research paper that makes a supported claim for their position on a related topical issue. The catch is that there has to be an inherent counter-argument that the students clearly identify and debate. In case you were wondering, here is a short-list of their project ideas:

• How food influences culture and shapes our world, Mentor: farm-to-table chef at local restaurant
• Building a better teacher-student productivity app for phone, Mentor: software designer
• Engineering a prototype of a non-lethal, personal protection device for law enforcement officers, Mentor: electrical specialist, mechanic
• Mokupapapa Discovery Center Volunteer, designing lessons on marine biodiversity and conservation, Mentor: Mokupapapa education specialist
• Career shadowing in the solar industry, learning about PV installation, Mentor: local electrical PV contractor
• Creating a family-friendly guide book for our island, Mentor: environmental activist and nature specialist
• A study on understanding the various dimensions of beauty in society, Mentor: local photographer
• Understanding the therapeutic properties of music, Mentor: piano teacher and composer
• Monitoring with the Hawksbill Turtle Recovery Project, Mentor: NOAA marine biologist
• Honokea Loko I'a (fishpond) restoration project, Mentor: TCBES grad student, cultural practitioner

These are their developing project ideas so far. Reading Smith and Sobel this week has inspired me to help my students take these projects to the next level. I hope that these experiences are truly enjoyable for them and help them realize their ability to be get some information, do something with it, and have fun.