True Showcase

Your final senior projects should fill the space like a cabinets of curiosities — a wonder-room, it is sometimes called, or in the original German, Wunderkammer. Visitors should find a wide range of beautiful and brilliant artifacts — artifacts you have created.

You have many interlocking guides to this process already. The site you're reading is another attempt to provide support. Read carefully.

You may have seen this wheel or one like it before in this space. A version of it is often included with project guides:

Senior Talks: Choosing a Topic

It comes from a set of gold standards for project-based work. Our district uses this standard, and the makerspace was shaped by that professional development.

Your projects should match this wheel. Below are three categories that invite such projects. Note that they include each requirement by default.

Category #1: Challenging Problems & Questions

Challenging Problems & Questions

What interesting idea, perspective, etc. can you share in an interesting way?

These are the more traditional approaches to this this non-traditional project. Find more of these options here:

https://tinyurl.com/senior-talk-topics

Senior Talks: Choosing a Topic

"River" Essays

Model: "The Age of the Essay" by Paul Graham

Instructional Post:

The Age of the Essay, UpdatedOverview of “The Age of the Essay,” with space for comments and discussion. Includes an instructional essay on analysis and a link to Paul Graham’s follow-up, “A Version 1.0…

Research Papers

Model: "Why Johnny Can't Fail" by Jerry Jesness

Instructional Post:

Research-Driven EssayPost directing students through a makerspace-infused research paper. Includes ALL necessary research materials, an essay to emulate, and a step-by-step writing guide.

Live Presentation

Model, Live TED Talk:

Birds Aren't Real? How a Conspiracy Takes Flight

Video Presentation

Model, Animated TED Talk:

Why Every Map in the World Is Wrong

Video Essay

Model, Video Essay:

Sympathy for the Monster

Let the Algorithm Work for You

These six videos were suggestions next to Birds Aren't Real? How a Conspiracy Takes Flight.

Explore YouTube for inspiration and even specific topics.

Find Creators to Emulate

Here are two creators who focus on NBA basketball. Thinking Basketball also has a podcast with unscripted analysis and discussion. On YouTube and through the NBA app, he creates video essays and analytical breakdowns.

GOAT recaps NBA action through scripted video essays.

Thinking BasketballMerging film study with stats - created by Ben Taylor, host of the Thinking Basketball podcast and author of Thinking Basketball book. Additional Thinking Basketball content is available on the NBA App, NBA YouTube page, and other official NBA social media platforms, as well as the More Thinking Basketball channel.

GOATBasketball scientist 🐐

Even Parodies Will Teach You Structure and Style

Dave TALKS are comedic presentations that parody the TED Talk format and style. You can also try Onion Talks or the recent Dropout program Smartypants (although the latter has only one episode out at the time of this writing).

Category #2: Empathy & the Collective Good

Empathy & the Collective Good

What can you do as part of the community or for the collective good?

Note that a project dedicated to helping others might take any format:

Video showcases
Essays
Websites
Podcasts

20Time Projects

Some of the best examples of this kind of project can be found on the 20time.org website:

https://www.20time.org/students

BHS Opportunities

Career and College Fair

This is a day in May dedicated to sharing your post-secondary path with younger students.

Eighth Grade Letters

One example of teaching out to younger students. These are from 2023:

English 12 Projects - Dear Eighth GradersDear Eighth Graders

Category #3: Personal Journalists & Storytellers

Personal Journalists & Storytellers

What is your story, and why does it matter?

The two embedded TED Talks set this up: Your story matters.

This hearkens back to your personal narrative or college essay. Now you can develop another way of sharing your story, from TED Talks to podcasts to letters to yourself.

Everyone around you has a story the world needs to hearDave Isay opened the first StoryCorps booth in New York’s Grand Central Terminal in 2003 with the intention of creating a quiet place where a person could honor someone who mattered to them by listening to their story. Since then, StoryCorps has evolved into the single largest collection of human voices ever recorded. His TED Prize wish: to grow this digital archive of the collective wisdom of humanity. Hear his vision to take StoryCorps global — and how you can be a part of it by interviewing someone with the StoryCorps app.

The danger of a single storyOur lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

Addressing an Audience

Any of the prompts in this instructional post could help you to share your story:

Addressing an AudienceLetter- and speech-writing prompts based around specific audiences. Includes instructions and models for writing a commencement address for the graduating class.

NPR StoryCorps

StoryCorpsStoryCorps is an independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate the lives of everyday Americans by listening to their stories.

The Decameron Project

Just one example of the creative writing prompts and projects available online. This one is based on a collection of shorts stories inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Decameron Project | Share Your StoryThe Decameron Project is a student-led initiative which empowers young writers to create and share meaningful work throughout the COVID-19 crisis & beyond.