Proposal Process & Letter of Intent
On This Page -
Proposal Process
Letter of Intent (LOI)
Proposal Process
The BRVGS Senior Proposal is the first step of your Professional Learning Experience (PLE). Your formal proposal will be due by the date established for your class on the "Due Dates" doc., but you are encourage to submit it early (and early submission is a great way to get started on accumulating some Quality Points!)
There are two steps to creating your proposal. The first is a draft proposal, which you will review and edit with your senior advisor until it is ready for submission. In order to start your draft proposal, you will need to:
Create a Google Document for your proposal draft. To do this, click on the BRVGS Senior Draft Proposal Template.
Click on "Use This Template"
Follow the directions on the Doc to re-name your copy and share it with your Senior Advisor.
You must have begun your proposal draft (and shared it with your advisor, etc) no later than one week prior to the Online Proposal Deadline.
Once you have completed your draft proposal to your advisors' satisfaction, you will go on to the second step, which is submitting your formal online proposal to the Review Committee by going to the:
BRVGS Senior Proposal Form - See your Advisor for this link
and pasting the information from your finalized draft proposal into the form.
Your formal senior proposal is due by the date established for your class on the "Due Dates" doc. Please keep in mind that your submission will be date/time stamped upon submission.
Once your formal online proposal has been submitted, it will be reviewed by the Proposal Committee for approval and feedback. Students will receive a response from the Proposal Committee via the Director by email.
IMPORTANT - If you should need to make any significant changes to your Professional Learning Experience for any reason after submitting it, you must:
First, get permission from your Advisor to make the necessary changes
Update your answers on your own Proposal Doc to your advisor's satisfaction.
Have your advisor email the Director with notification of upcoming changes.
Submit a new proposal via the BRVGS Senior Proposal form, if required by your advisor.
Update your Letter Of Intent (LOI) as required by your advisor.
Letter of Intent (LOI)
In addition to submitting your Senior Capstone Proposal, you will craft your Letter of Intent (LOI). The LOI is your formal contract for your Professional Learning Experience, Research and Community Service project. The LOI should be in a business letter format, should be addressed to your teacher, and should follow the following outline:
1. Describe yourself as a person and as a student. Indicate your reasons for selecting the general topic for your Senior Learning Experience and Research Project.
2. Describe your specific topic of research study, accompanied by an explanation of how this topic will be an “academic stretch” for you. Explain the sources you will use, and what you hope to learn from your research and experience.
3. Identify your mentor and explain the role that he or she will play in this process. See the Professional Learning Experience and Community Service pages for details.
4. Explain what you specifically plan to do for your PLE, and specifically when you plan to serve it.
5. Explain what you will do for your community service, when you plan to perform your CS, and what the significant impact of your CS will be. Please note that your community service must relate to your research and PLE topic. It is possible to combine your PLE and community service, but if you do so, you will need a minimum of 30 total hours. .
6. Explain your understanding of the importance of Academic Ethics, specifically describing how you plan to meet the standards set forth in the BRVGS Honor Code, and explain your understanding of the consequences of Honor Code violations.
Your Senior Advisor has the final word in approving or not approving your LOI. The Letter of Intent/Proposal is worth 5 points of your total grade for the year. See the LOI Checklist and Rubric for more info regarding expectations and grading.
See your BRVGS Senior Example Sites for examples of LOIs.
IMPORTANT: Students who are in a first semester course (in 4X4 schools only), and whose community service activity will extend beyond the end of first semester, MUST submit a letter to their advisor and the Director containing the following:
A request for the extension, accompanied by an explanation for why it is necessary
Specific information as to when, where, how and with whom community service will be completed
The letter will need to be signed by the student and their parent(s), and will need to be submitted to the Director and the student's Senior Advisor NO LATER than December 1st. Please click on BRVGS Community Service Extension Request Example to see what the extension request letter should look like.