Plan! Don’t procrastinate It will show if you leave things until the last minutes and you’ll just give yourself and others more work. Procrastination is not an attribute employers seek in employment. Be a “Saver” Keep all papers, printouts, and so on in a safe place. Save to multiple places. Computers can crash, and they will. Practice honesty Don’t plagiarize, cheat, or exaggerate any part of your Senior Project. It’s just bad policy and will generally be caught somewhere during the senior project process, causing yourself embarrassment and additional work. Be organized Organization inspires confidence in others and helps everyone save time and energy. Be Professional Be mature, considerate, friendly, and coachable when dealing with others. Show enthusiasm Don’t be the senior we have to “drag” through Senior Project; you make yourself and others miserable. Practice good communication skills Communication with your mentors, adviser, and teachers is very important to success. Don’t give up when it gets hard Just try harder and see this journey through to the end. It will be worth it.
Requirements In order to meet the requirements for Senior Project, your physical project must meet the following criteria: Shows clear, strong connection between the physical project, research paper, and job experience. Demonstrates a learning stretch Reflects personal or community merit Involves a minimum of 5 hours on the physical project (time cannot include planning time or transportation). Every phase of the project must be documented in a variety of ways. Completed on student’s own time, vacations, weekends, and free time at school (if you don’t have a class). The only exception to this is if the student takes a specific class during school hours that is integrally connected to the student’s physical project such as taking a computer programming class in order to design a webpage as the physical project. Must have a qualified mentor to oversee every phase of the project including planning. A qualified mentor is one who is not a fellow student at this or any other high school not a recent graduate (within five years), not a parent or host-parent, close family member, or anyone within your extended family by marriage or blood. A qualified mentor is a practicing professional who can accurately evaluate your product Document time spent on the project with “Pathways to Documentation” – Learning Reflections and Physical Project Mentor Evaluation Form. Pathways to Documentation: Physical Project Learning Reflections The Senior Project committee determined to improve this portion of Senior Project, seniors should simply keep a personal journal for the physical project portion of Senior Project. This change was due, in part, to students and senior project board members suggestions. Seniors will now be required to submit a journal of their physical project. Seniors will also submit a physical project reflection essay. The journal entries and reflection essay will be included in the final portfolio. Journal entries should serve as a reflective journal that document the time you spend on the physical project portion of your Senior Project requirements. You must document every phase from start to finish, including addressing your attitude, skills, and knowledge and how they changed. It is imperative that you create quality, thoughtful, and accurate journal entries for all the work you do on your physical project. However, the format is slightly different than your Job Experience Learning Reflections. Remember, you must