SENIOR PROJECT OVERVIEW 2008/2009

East Valley High School Culminating Senior Project Guide

Welcome to the Culminating Senior Project section of Connections. This is your chance to shine and show all that you have learned while at East Valley High School. You will be choosing your own project that involves:

1. A learning stretch for you-this may be a career, service, or personal interest

2. Twenty hours of actual work

3. A mentor from the community

4. A product or way to verify that you completed the project such as a painted car, a video, a photo journal, a display board with photos, etc.

During the project you will:

1. Meet regularly with your mentor
2. Complete a reflective journal on your progress
3. Meet with your connections coach to evaluate progress

After you complete the project you will show what you have learned in two ways.

1. Written Analysis –This is a written summary of your learning experience, explaining the process followed and what was learned. Reflecting on the learning process and the learning of the topic.

2. Presentation –This is an oral explanation of your project to a panel of teachers and community members.

How do you go about choosing a project you ask? Here are a few things to think about that may help you make that choice easier:

• Choose something that interests you. Remember you will be spending a significant amount of time and energy on it.

• Keep in mind that the project must take a minimum of 20 hours to complete. It must be done outside of school hours and may not be done as part of a class from which academic credit is being awarded: which includes EVHS, YV-TECH, and Running Start. If you try to cut things too short you could have problems. So do not set yourself up for problems by trying to cut corners. This is why we are asking that you choose 3 to do some pre-research on, so you can perhaps foresee possible problems.

• Think about choosing a project that may help you out in the near future, say a career interest, school interest, business interest, etc. What will help most?

• Your mentor is going to be your greatest asset so choose wisely and make sure s/he has the time to help. Because one purpose of the project is to stretch beyond your normal learning environment, your mentor may not be a staff person in the school district nor a parent or guardian. We also prefer that she/he not be a family member.

• Make sure you understand what is expected of you. Forms and directions are available on the school web page or from your Connections coaches. Ask for clarification if you need it. No questions are dumb.

• If a problem occurs, the sooner you ask your Connections coach what to do the better.

East Valley High School Culminating Senior Project Guide

Why must we do a Culminating Project?

The State of Washington has made culminating projects a graduation requirement; however, think how a project can help you have:

• A chance to show yourself, your peers, your parents, your community what you have learned while at East Valley High School.

• A chance to show employers out there that students can meet deadlines, analyze and organize information, work independently, communicate effectively, and solve problems.

• A chance to choose your own genuine experience to show that you do have the skills to cut it in today’s workplace.

• A chance to strengthen your resume.

• A chance to study and try something you have chosen.

Your project along with your course work and Connections portfolio will show how you have reached the four learning goals of the state of Washington.

1. Read with comprehension, write with skill, and communicate effectively and responsibly in a variety of ways and setting.

2. Know and apply the core concepts and principles of mathematics; social, physical, and life sciences; civics and history; geography; arts; and health and fitness.

3. Think analytically, logically, and creatively, and integrate experience and knowledge to form reasoned judgments and solve problems.

4. Understand the importance of work and how performance, effort, and decisions directly affect future career and educational opportunities.

  Download the Senior Project Overview