As the end of the year approaches, seniors prepare to present their year’s hard work: the senior project. The senior project is a Clark graduation requirement where seniors can learn a new skill or hobby in the months that they are given and present what they learned to judges, on their oral board day.
Oral boards are a ten-minute-long oral presentation of the senior project that is graded and affects seniors’ final English grades. Despite many challenges and the senior project almost being canceled, seniors were able to pull through with the quick deadlines and come up with some extraordinary projects.
Senior oral boards this year took place on Friday, May 3rd, and Saturday, May 4th. Seniors came to school dressed professionally or brought a change of clothes and waited for their time to present in the classroom.
“I think that the oral boards are a good opportunity to practice public speaking and get out in front of a group of people and hone their skills. There’s a lot of value to be learned from the senior project, and I think it’s something that sets us apart from the other high schools,” principal Mr. Rubio said.
The oral board judges consist of Clark teachers and staff, past alumni, and community members all eager to see what projects the senior class has to offer. “My favorite projects are always the ones that students are excited to do right from the start. Most of the time, when they are really enjoying the process, those projects end up being the best ones to hear about,” English Department Chair and senior English teacher Mrs. Tatevosian said.
Senior Gavin Marquis chose 3D modeling and animation in Blender for his senior project. “It took a few failed starts for me to get going on the project. The rest wasn’t easy, but it went smoothly enough,” Marquis said. Once seniors chose what they wanted to do for their projects, they found courses for their senior project and thought about their final product.
Most seniors started their senior project in December and finished in early April. The senior project is student-paced and teaches seniors time management in their routines. “I started in January, and since I ended up having over sixty hours, that was a whole lot of crunch time on my end. So, to next year’s juniors, start early, like sometime in October or November if you can,” Marquis said.
In mid-April, before the final oral boards, seniors got to practice their speeches in their English class and got feedback from their peers and teachers. “I was pretty prepared for my speech,” senior Nicolas Fang said. “I got the feedback from Dr. Pruitt that my presentation was good, so I continued to do it the way I practiced,” Fang said.
When it was time, the seniors waited in front of their assigned classrooms for their names to be called. Most oral boards ranged in length from eight to twelve minutes.
After the seniors were done presenting their oral boards, they were given a Clark Magnet senior project pin, which they could wear on their graduation day to show off their hard work. “The Senior Project is a valuable assignment for the students, as there is a lot to be gained. If students take advantage of what it’s designed for and pursue something they have a passion for, I think it can be a valuable experience for them when they reflect back,” principal Mr. Rubio said.
Since the senior project is finally over, it is time to hand the baton to next year’s seniors. Some big pointers for juniors said by various seniors include starting early, finding an exciting project, and having fun with this project and not viewing it as a chore.
“I hope the next year’s seniors can break a little bit of that cycle of negativity towards this project. It really, truly, is a great opportunity for every student at Clark to push themselves to learn a skill that they will be excited about and proud of,” Mrs. Tatevosian said.
Clark’s traditional capstone project, the senior project, helps seniors prepare for their future and build their knowledge of what they want to do in the future. Good luck to next year’s seniors!
