Incoming Seniors Kick Off This Last Year With Senior EE Party

By Helena Lieu

October 2021

Dragons work hard and play hard. Last Thursday, the class of 2022 celebrated their last few weeks of summer with the Senior Kick Off Party, taking time to progress their 4,000-word Extended Essays and catch up with friends at the party afterwards. Students were able to slowly come back to the academic and social rigor of being in a school environment by taking three hours strictly for EE, and three hours hanging out outside with a slip-n-slide party.

We had the exciting opportunity to be able to interview and survey how seniors felt coming into this year, and how this event helped them feel and be ready for this last year!

Q: What are you hoping to accomplish during the Kick Off, EE work portion or party portion?

Lynn : I was hoping to see friends.

Approaching two years in social distance, many of us haven't been able to see friends or interact with people outside of family in person, so many reasonably prioritized seeing friends and having fun. This was noticeable through the airy and energizing atmosphere of the party, friends, classmates, and teachers having fun alike.

We were also able to survey how this event prepared incoming seniors for their last challenging year. Some people valued the opportunity for getting work done, saying it "...helped [them] sit down and work", while others said it was a great way to "allow interaction between peers" and "[meet] new people and teachers". This included meeting our new principal, Mr. Gilford. All in all, it was safe to say that the cohesive emotion shared among most seniors was "hesitantly optimistic".

Moving onto their second and final drafts of their Extended Essay, many seniors also have been able to gain valuable insight into what is important to consider when starting out (for juniors) and when finishing the paper (for other fellow seniors). Ranging from art to biology to world studies papers, it is the number one advice from all, to the point of cliche: do not procrastinate. Others also say:

"Keep in good communication with your advisor, not just for mandatory feedback sessions."

"Work on the essay regularly. Even if it's just 15 minutes a day, that's 15 minutes off when you're cramming it in the end."

"Do lots and lots of research. It's better to be over prepared than underprepared."

"Do not neglect context and different point of views, you need to consider a lot of approaches to the same situation. For example, it's easy to look at China's politics from an American perspective, but it is crucial to also look at it from a Chinese or a European perspective."

"Make sure you know what you're doing."

...So keep it in mind juniors and seniors! Let's work hard to get the EE done with the highest quality possible. Go dragons!

Many thanks to Emilio Calderon for the additional interviews, Clay Rosser for pictures, and Sophia Hurtado-Hernandez, Nashita Naresh, Henry Seely, Jamie Park, Sophia Wagner, Lynn Yoon, Matthew Ramsell, Lakshmi Adiga, Liliana Foley, Joshua Bolly and Valerie Owusu-Hienno for responses.