Senior project brings our future into focus

Winter break is over and we are faced with a new semester. Students at East Nicolaus High School came back from their vacation revitalized and ready to start the last semester of the 2011-2012 year.

For the seniors, it is the last semester of their high school career, so this semester is the most important. We have five short months to tie up all of our loose ends with grades, senior projects and so much more.

Looming over the heads of about 75 seniors at ENHS is the dreaded senior project. This is the third year that the school has assigned a senior project. The project has three parts: community service, a six-page paper and a presentation in April.

Our seniors have tackled a range projects, varying from Locks of Love to bullying to breast cancer awareness and even coaching basketball with children. The project helps us grow as a person by making us deal with people in our community that we wouldn't normally talk to.

We learn to write a professional paper and give a presentation before a group of parents who are not our own.

ENHS senior Mikayla Rolufs said, "I think the senior project is a good idea for those of us who are college bound, because we are going to have to get used to writing essays longer than five paragraphs. It's good for everyone else because community service is beneficial to everyone, and being able to develop and plan our own ideas will always help out in future aspirations."

As Mikayla said, the senior project helps students prepare for what they are going to have to face as they step into their future lives. By doing the senior project, we gain experience with the community as it relates to our own individual interests.

Darren Brown, ENHS vice principal, said, "I love the senior project. It forces the students to work beyond their anticipations and expectations. It forces students to be more open minded about their future."

Seniors get to choose a project based on their interests that can also somehow benefit the community. Whether students are interested in helping kids, the elderly, animals or anything else, we have an opportunity to help our society grow.

ENHS senior Denise Kendrick said, "The senior project is a good chance for us, as seniors who are about to take our first steps in the adult world, to better ourselves in our future endeavors."

All in all, the senior project is beneficial to our senior year to help us learn and grow. By the time we get to graduation on June 8, we will all have experience that we need to succeed in the next step of our lives.

Kelsey Barrett is a senior at East Nicolaus High School. Her column appears every six weeks in Education.