Senior Projects

The senior project is an independent, year-long project that allows each senior to explore a topic of interest or develop a new skill. It is a culminating event for the students, and the entire community is invited to view these springtime presentations. Each senior project consists of an independent activity that is original for the student, creative, and well-researched, highlighted by a completed work and an oral presentation. Each senior chooses an outside mentor for the project, someone who has expertise in the area of the project and is willing to work with the student over the year. The student may also select a project adviser from the faculty, though the expectation is that most of the work on the senior projects will be done independently outside of school. The project portfolio includes a descriptive paper, the length of which depends on the nature of the project; photos or video, if an artistic piece, model, or scientific activity is part of the project; and the public presentation. The senior project coordinator will develop due dates for aspects of the project and check in with the students and their advisers during the year of preparation to make sure they are meeting the deadlines. The evaluation of the project takes academic achievement, artistic achievement, process, and originality into account. Narrative reports by faculty will form the final evaluation of each project. Successful completion of the senior project is a requirement for graduation.

BENCHMARKS, ASSIGNMENTS AND DUE DATES - 2018-2019

Please note that the tasks to be completed always precede the due date. The due date does not indicate when to begin the tasks, but when they need to completed.

START

There is certainly nothing wrong with considering and looking into a potential project in your junior year, or even initially deciding upon your project.___

BENCHMARK A - TOPIC SELECTION WITH BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Tasks: Look into what type of project you're interested in and would like to do--what's involved, how much can you do, where you might get information and help, and so on--and come up with an initial working title and brief project description.

Due September 12, 2018: Project Selection, including general title or indicator of the project's subject, and a brief description.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BENCHMARK B - MENTOR & PROJECT FLOW

Tasks: Look around for a mentor--who do you know, who might have time to help, how much do they know about your project--while remembering that your mentor is not an employee of the school--faculty, staff, or adjunct--and preferably is not a family member either. Design a simple time-frame showing when you'll do key tasks and how. Work up some kind of outline, flow-chart, or steps of your proje

Due October 17, 2018: Mentor, Outline, and Time-frame, to include the name of the primary person assisting you through the development of the project, a general outline of the steps, procedures, or elements of the project, and a schedule showing the dates of the key parts of your project (critical benchmarks)._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BENCHMARK C - RESOURCES & FULL DESCRIPTION

Tasks: Work up a final list of mentors, sources of information and materials, overall design components, and the like. What's important here most of all is the overall working design of your project. Write a full description of your project. You may edit it from here on as you go along.

Due November 28, 2018: Progress Report, to include a full description of your project, finalized mentor(s) and adviser(s), general resources (information, materials, funds, etc.), and overall design concept (selection of specifics)._________________________________________________

END OF FIRST SEMESTER

BENCHMARK D - FINAL DESIGN

Tasks: Time to complete all the prior tasks and benchmarks. This is probably the latest you could change your project and still be well prepared for your presentation in April.

Due January 9, 2019: Progress Check-in with respect to your stated timeline. This is a good time to really start digging in if you haven't already._____

BENCHMARK E - PRESENTATION PROCESS

Tasks: Begin to develop your project into its presentation form. Imagine you will be presenting soon. Are you ready? What are you missing? What do you need to do? Mentally walk yourself through the presentation. Have you met with your mentor? How long do things really take?

Due February 27, 2019: Progress Check-in with respect to your stated timeline. Be sure you have developed your project to the point that you can talk about it in concrete terms because you have already started and are fairly well into the process.____________________________________________

BENCHMARK F - INTRODUCTION & CONCLUSION

Tasks: This is an excellent time to write the one-page descriptive paper. This paper is not your project script or notes. The descriptive paper is comprised of a) introduction, b) background, c) process, d) summary, and e) looking ahead (effects). The actual length depends on the nature of the project. This paper is to be succinct. The paper should be preceded by a brief descriptive abstract. You will be assigned a faculty assistant to assist with final details at your request. Your academic advisor may also provide some support as needed.

Due March 20 2019: Please have your introduction and conclusion prepared, especially for use during any public speaking block that may be offered. Your academic adviser may ask to review your presentation, as well. You will need to determine your final title no later than Wednesday, 3/22/17, and likely sooner. You may check with your faculty assistant regarding final production and setup. Mr. Shultz will also be available. Mr. Burritt and Sra. Castilla will be your M.C.

THIS ENDS THE PROCESS PORTION.______________________________________________________________________________________

BENCHMARK G - REHEARSAL & DESCRIPTIVE PAPER

Tasks: THE PRODUCTION PORTION BEGINS. Finalize your project and rehearse as necessary. Be sure you've obtained or located everything you need, and contacted everyone who will be helping out and arranged their participation. Write your descriptive paper if you haven't yet done so.

Due April 2019: The presentations will be in the Great Room. There will be a music stand, projector, and some tables, along with the seating and decor. Please see your faculty assistant for additional materials or details such as cables, software, speakers, lighting, strings, display stands, or any other needs you may have beyond the basics. You are encouraged to bring whatever you have from home that works._______________________

-->PLEASE REMEMBER TO WRITE YOUR DESCRIPTIVE PAPER AND GIVE IT TO MR. SHULTZ NO LATER THAN WITHIN ONE WEEK AFTER YOUR PRESENTATION.

THIS IS A REQUIREMENT. Refer to the example handout, "Woodcut," or the attached Descriptive Paper.pdf at the bottom of this page.

Presentation Dates

The dates, times and titles are not yet official. The presentations may be during the weeks around the Spring Break, probably just after (TBA, 2018).

Senior Project Presentation Schedule for the Class of 2019

Senior Projects Week ()

Faculty Assistance

What to pay attention to in the development of your senior project portfolio:

General Content

Show your best work.

Demonstrate academic/vocational/artistic growth.

Provide a collection of competencies and achievements.

Clearly outline your plans for further exploration, development, or career paths.

Skills/Aptitudes

Organizational skills

Research and other academic skills

Writing ability

Preparation and long-range goals

Oral presentation skills

Ability to reflect upon your high school years (in or out of a school setting)

Technological abilities

Ability to think and answer questions in a controlled environment

Components

Descriptive paper of some length (depends on nature of project).

Artistic piece, if part of the project, should include photos or video.

Created piece, like a model or biological activity, if part of the project, photos or video.

Presentation: a public speaking course will be offered beforehand.

Descriptive Paper

The descriptive paper is comprised of a) introduction, b) background, c) process, d) summary, and e) looking ahead (effects). Please do not use "introduction," "background," "process," etc. as paragraph headings. Simply include these items in your paper. The actual length depends on the nature of the project. This paper is to be succinct. The paper should be preceded by a brief descriptive abstract. Again, refer to the attached Descriptive Paper.pdf attached to this page.

Presentation

The presentation is based on the mix of portfolio components. Your portfolio will need to contain enough engaging and well produced content to provide a quality 20-minute presentation to an audience from the school community. Your presentation will be followed by 10 minutes of questions from the audience, which you will need to respond to in a positive, constructive, and informative manner. You will need to practice so you have all the necessary items in proper sequence, and can give a smooth and well crafted presentation.

The artistic piece, if it is a part of your project, includes your current work. The art piece does not include work done on the piece by the mentor. If the mentor assisted in the creation of a piece, this can be displayed to illustrate process, but is not to be considered a part of your final pieces. The artistic piece is not limited to media, performing, or fine arts; it can be an epic poem or some other form of artistic writing.

Likewise, a model, biological activity, experiment, etc. is to be your own work. The piece does not include work done on the piece by the mentor. If the mentor assisted in the creation of a piece, this can be displayed to illustrate process, but is not to be considered a part of your final pieces. The created piece can also be a research topic, in which case the piece is in the form of a lengthy written composition following the appropriate writing standards for the topic.

The Abstract

Writing a Descriptive Abstract

Descriptive abstracts explain the purpose, goal, and methods of your research but leave out the results section. These are typically only 100-200 words. They tell what the report contains; include purpose, methods, scope, but NOT results, conclusions, and recommendations; are always very short— usually under 100 words; and introduce subject to readers, who must then read the report to learn study results. They use one or more well-developed paragraphs, which are unified, coherent, concise, and able to stand alone

Don’t repeat the title of the paper as it is already in the title (and the more you repeat the title, the more boring it gets and the more space it wastes). The title and abstract should function as a self-contained unit - eg they might be used in an indexing and abstracting service like Compendex or Science Citation Index. Don’t include references to literature (eg Bloggs, 1999), figures and tables in the paper. You may define abbreviations and acronyms in your text - but the reader will have to read your paper to find out what your abstract is about.