Before even coming to Clark, students are told about the senior project and briefly what it entails. As the school year quickly comes to an end, seniors at Clark have one more task to complete before they can head to prom, take their finals, and finally graduate. 

On Friday, May 19th, and Saturday, May 20th, Clark presented its 23th annual Senior Project Oral Boards weekend. Though many procrastinate and begin their projects in the second semester, projects are approved by senior English teachers in August and students can begin. This year, Ms. Kirakosyan, Ms. Ohanian, Dr. Pruitt, and Mrs. Tatevosian were the senior English teachers for the 278 graduating seniors in the class of 2023. 

Prior to the event, Mrs. Tatevosian, the senior project coordinator, set up the schedule and students followed through with testing materials, dropping off portfolios, and getting ready to present. As the day approached, signs were attached to each classroom door that would be used. 

Judges made up of teachers, staff, district members, alumni, and other community members arrived, and the presentations began. Student volunteers worked to support Mrs. Tatevosian and the judges by passing out candy and delivering any paperwork that judges needed in the classrooms. 

Two chairs were placed outside of each classroom as a waiting area for students to wait until their allotted time while another was presenting. Each presentation was approximately ten minutes long, but there was time provided for the judges to ask questions or have a conversation with the presenters. 

Seniors are really excited to be done with the Senior Project because it has been an ongoing project for several months. One of the most stressful moments for the seniors during the Oral Boards was the process of waiting to present to the judges. “Once I walked in and saw the faces of the judge, I was relieved. The judges were really nice, and I felt like they just wanted to help me out throughout the presentation,” senior Lelit Hanna said. After working for 7-8 months on her project of baking, Hanna feels happy that the Senior Projects are finally done.

With the seniors officially finished with their Senior Projects, it’s time for this year’s juniors to start thinking about theirs and maybe even get their proposals pre-approved before the end of the school year. Mrs. Tatevosian will be hosting a lunch and enrichment session for the juniors to get to hear about some projects and start getting ideas of where they can start.