2010 Senior Projects Reflect Array of Interests
"The breadth and variety of this year's projects was simply fantastic," said 12th grade principal Bruce Zellers.
All projects culminated in an oral presentation or performance at the Project Festival on Thursday, May 27.
Listed below are the abstracts from some of this year's lauded senior projects.
Molly Haig
Illustration of Poetry
The goal of my senior project was to portray words through visual art. Since both poetry and drawing are subjects which I enjoy, this was an ideal opportunity to combine two of my passions in a creative way. The literature which I chose to illustrate included “Sonnet 128” and “Sonnet 65” by William Shakespeare, “The Canonization” by John Donne, “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell and a four-part illustration of the Spanish poem “Llanto Por Ignacio Sánchez Mejías” by Federico García Lorca. I carefully read each poem, paying attention to repeated phrases, colors and images and planning ways in which these elements could be combined visually on one sheet of paper. I then used colored pencils, ink pen, water color paints and oil pastels to translate the author’s words into an image which was visually appealing and reflected the meaning of the poem.
Nora Kassner
Together: Perspectives on Community Engagement
Service learning is required at Greenhills. However, radically different views about service learning’s goals and methods exist. Over the last three weeks, I have explored different models for service learning through research, interviews, and work at the YMCA in hopes of bringing ideas back for service learning at Greenhills and develop our program. Martin Luther King Jr. called for “a new sense of somebodyness” to empower everyday men and women to take control over their own lives and take action. In my presentation, I addressed Dr. King’s call, talking about why service is vital in schools and how it can develop students into active citizens. I looked at the different answers to two major questions—why do we do service, and how should we do service—in order to provide both short-term concrete ideas for how Greenhills can improve its service learning program now to start a discussion about how service learning impacts our views of this school and the critical questions our school must address in the long term. My project started simply enough, but over the course of three weeks it has blossomed, exposing questions about the students’ lives and Greenhills’ existence as an institution.
Miranda Dershimer
Book Repair: Repairing My Grandmother's Journal
Over the years I have become fond of old books (I am enamored by their smell), so in accordance with my interest in art conservation, I took a couple of classes at Hollander’s on book repair. My teacher for these classes, John MacKrell, became my mentor for these past three weeks during which I have repaired my grandmother’s journal from the 1940s. Due to the scrapbook nature of the journal, and the many loose items that lie inside, the journal came into my father’s possession in terrible condition. I have undertaken the task of repairing this journal so that it is in usable condition and so that it is protected during future use. During this time, I applied some of the repairs that I learned in the Hollander’s classes, such as page tear repairs, but spent a majority of my time learning new repair processes. Because of specific problems with the structure of the journal, I learned the processes of guarding old signatures and creating new extra signatures. I learned how to form the text block of a book by sewing the signatures together, a process which I enjoyed a great deal. Finally, I learned how to make endpapers, create and attach the backing of the book, and this coming week I will learn how to build a box for the book.
George Tam
Through the Eyes of a Greenhills Teacher
My goal with this project was to shift my role as a student and step into the shoes of a Greenhills teacher. By attending, observing, interacting with, and ultimately helping teach Elaine Moffat’s two sections of Spanish 7, I learned that there is a lot of everyday planning and organization that goes into a curriculum that may seem to be mostly set in place before the class even starts in September. Over the past three weeks, the main topics for the Spanish 7 students were Spanish foods, interrogative words, and general review for the final exam in June. To help the students review for their test on Spanish foods, I was able to generate a difficult flash card activity and meet with kids outside of class to offer the extra help necessary before the final examination. With regards to this test, I explored the notion of “giving grades” by correcting specific sections of the test and comprehending the consistency and leeway needed to give all students fair results. By experiencing a precisely planned in-class Spanish food “fiesta,” helping chaperone a field trip, and watching seventh graders compete against one another to see who can “flyswat” the correct vocabulary term on the whiteboard first, this project has made me appreciate the work that goes into a teacher's curriculum to facilitate a class that each student can thrive in and enjoy.
Louis Johnson
Physics and Sailing
As a sailor, my grandfather introduced me to the sport at an early age but I never really had the opportunity to learn how to sail, something which always intrigued me. I used the senior project to begin to learn how to sail and to learn more about boats. I learnt how to navigate, predict weather, “the ropes,” safety and emergency procedures, the often complicated manners and customs of the sea, and to helm, among numerous other skills. I also was able to participate as crew in several professional level races. Furthermore, I investigated some of the physics behind sailing, specifically the effect hull shape and size has on the boat’s performance. My two mentors during the three week period were Dr. Lupton, who guided me with the physics side of things, and Howard, a professional sailor and friend of my grandfather. Dr. Smith served as my sponsor, helping to coordinate the project. The experience taught me more about myself than I expected; I was required to interact effectively with a crew consisting of complete strangers and to rely on my instincts in close situations more than once. As always the project required a significant amount of time management, especially because the sailing took place in England. I have made the first steps on the way to learning how to sail; many thousands of miles and hundreds of hours of rolling decks lie ahead of me.
