Our Advice

Here's some advice from the 2021-2022 Idea students for next year's students and beyond...

Allison Valji

My biggest piece of advice would be to figure out what you want your final product to be as soon as you can. This way you won’t waste time doing things that you may not need to do. For me, this would have meant getting a mentor sooner than I did so that he could have helped me get on the right track from the start, and not do unnecessary research.

Another piece of advice I have is to pick an ambitious project. The more you put into the program, the more you will get out of it in the end. You will be much more satisfied with yourself on Achievers' Night if you are genuinely proud of your project. If you aren’t going to challenge yourself, then why are you even doing the program?! It isn’t a graded class, so everything you do is for yourself.

Marshall Smith

For the incoming 9th graders I have a few pieces of advice. First off, a lot of this project is research so pick something that you will enjoy researching. Secondly, when you pick your project make sure it is something that you will want to do all year and not just the first semester. Also make sure you work consistently all year. While it looks like you have a lot of time, the second semester flies by so it is good to have a substantial amount of work done before Christmas break. Overall good luck and have fun.

Francesca Gusfa

I would say the biggest thing is holding yourself accountable in terms of procrastination and being overly ambitious. Be aware of what you can actually get done versus what you would like to get done and then hold yourself to that standard. I would recommend making a schedule to be able to stick to your project.

The final thing is not being afraid to reach out to your teachers and peers because they are there to help you and not to get on you for not finishing your mini goals, or part of your project, etc.

Brenna Agarabi

If I had to go back in time and give advice to my July self, I would tell them to plan and organize much better than I did. That makes the whole process much easier. Also, don't listen to the people who say it's too ambitious, or unachievable. That's why we push ourselves, right?

John Lazzara

The advice that incoming Idea students would probably appreciate the most has most likely been covered by other Idea alumni on this website and from other years. One piece of advice that no one told me, but that would've been more useful to me than any other, is that mentors are busy people and can't be expected to be able to assist you in all the ways you want. At the beginning of the year, my Idea teacher, Ms. Bosson, found a mentor for me whose credentials were exactly what I was looking for. I initially expected I'd be contacting my mentor all the time, running everything by her, asking for advice, and maybe even featuring her in my final production. As the year went on, I realized that my mentor was a busy person and couldn't always meet with me. Despite setbacks such as this, it's well within your power to make this class rewarding and fun.

Caitlin Davidson

To give advice to future idea students, I would say to really put a lot of thought into choosing your project at the beginning of the year. You have to find something that interests you, challenges you (but not too much), while also being something that will keep you busy the whole year. If you don't put enough time and effort into choosing your project at the begining of the course, it's likely that you'll dread this class.

Brooke Liddell

If I had to give advice to future students in the Achievers' Program, I would tell them to pick, from the beginning, a project that they will really enjoy. Originally, I struggled to decide on a project to work on, and I ended up being one of the last students to choose their project. I believe that my careful deliberation over possible topics helped make sure I could continue working on my project throughout the duration of the class, as opposed to having to alter my end goal mid-year. So, to sum it up: pick a project that you will have fun doing :)

Charlotte West

A piece of advice I would give to future idea students is to make sure that you use your time productively. It's not a graded class so there are not strict guidelines, and while that might be seen as an opportunity to not do a lot of work it can also be seen as a time to challenge yourself and work hard on a project you really like. A big piece of advice would be not to procrastinate, and that's easier said than done but a way to avoid procrastination is to pick a topic you're really interested in and think you will be interested in for the whole year. I would also say to set smaller, more manageable goals and make really detailed plans of when you're going to do certain tasks, detailed as in planning out what you're going to do down to the day. You don't need to plan out every day for the whole year, I would just advise to have a general list of what you want to get done each month or so, and break those lists down week by week and day by day as you do along, so as to avoid shoving everything in when you're coming up to a deadline.

Lucas Prince

The best piece of advice that I could give to the people entering this course is to try and go above and beyond but be prepared for roadblocks, potholes, and failure. Set a very large and ambitious goal for yourself to accomplish over the course of the year, try to get as close as you can while staying motivated and not burning out, but be ready to accept the failure that will inevitably come with this course. Your project will not be perfect. Mentors might not be able to meet with you some days, you might feel down in the dumps for a while at certain points, shipping orders for materials for your project will be delayed, etc. The point is, shid happens, but you have to be ready to accept that and move on from it.

CJ Schorr

My advice to give would be to pick a project that is doing something you enjoy. You will be doing this project the entire year, and if you choose something that you're not certain you love, you will be burned out and uninterested by the end of the year. You want to do something realistic, but challenging so that it takes the whole year to complete it. You also want to make sure that you plan your project in advance as often as possible, you don't want to be scrambling to complete things. In general, being prepared is always a safe bet.

Rajiv Pujara

I would advise you to pursue a real interest, make a realistic (but still challenging) size plan, and don't be afraid to change what your project is as time goes on. In my opinion, it is better to have a large goal and to scale back, than to finish your project in the first semester and try to find other things related to your project. Also, don't procrastinate. It might be tempting, but it will cause more stress than it is worth. A good Achievers' project will take a year to create, not eight months of stalling and two weeks of working. If you want to put off working on your project that much, you probably chose the wrong project. Hopefully, working on your Achievers' project will be a fun and fulfilling experience, and you'll have a great time on Achiever's Night.

Owen Gluck

If I were to give some advice, it would be to set definite goals and to plan things ahead. I had a plan for my computer parts, and it was good because there was a definite goal, and I would know if I built the computer right because if wouldn't work if I didn't. Coding was a little bit different becasue there weren't as many solid goals, but I still used a tutorial. Also, don't procrastinate. You'll just cause more problems for yourself down the road. So set a definite goal(s) that you can easily measure whether or not you fail, and also set definite dates to complete those goals by. Also, set up time to work on your project, and don't procrastinate.

Kiley Liddell

For incoming students, the most significant piece of advice I could give would be to take chances! The process they will go through will be repeated many more times in their academic careers, and given that this class is pass/fail, it is an excellent chance to learn how to follow strict deadlines, work with professionals in your field of interest, organize your work and research, and experiment with different styles of presentation. The next time you do this will be “for real,” so utilize this class to figure out how you will want to handle those future projects!