Senior Projects

One of the highlights of Tabor Academy’s spring season is always the senior project presentations.

This year, a group of seniors spent much of the second semester working to develop new skills, create something, or test out new activities. Soon, their final products will be unveiled, but there is a lot that happens behind the scenes that is rarely seen.

Seniors start the process early, pitching their ideas in December. Once they get approved, they can begin working hard to make sure they meet their deadline to accomplish their goal. The most arduous part of senior projects, many agree, is the journal required, which consists of daily updates on the project’s progress.

The projects vary widely: from a ceramics project highlighting different cultures’ signature pieces to a food blog of reviews of restaurants and food trucks. Seniors who participate in senior projects usually drop a couple of classes to focus on their endeavor, whether it is an internship, a blog, or photo project.

One student who arguably knows more about this year’s senior projects than anyone else is Lily Blouin, whose senior project is a documentary about senior projects.

“I initially thought about doing a photo documentary project in the style of Humans of New York about senior projects,” she says, as she has had a lot of experience with photography at Tabor. “I decided I wanted to step out of my comfort zone, though, and try a new medium. So, I decided to do a movie rather than just taking pictures.”

Blouin has worked to interview every senior doing a project for her documentary, as well as shoot footage of them working. For her, the hardest part has been “not taking as many classes.” While she used to spend most of her day in the Academic Center, she now spends a lot of time shooting or editing footage.

“It’s interesting and definitely a new challenge, but I do miss the rhythm of the school day,” Blouin said.

More than anything, Blouin is looking to see her project come together, as it is now still in the rather unglamorous intermediate stage. Hannah Dawicki agrees. Dawicki is also doing a photo-based project – one based on diversity.

“I love both photography and Photoshop, and I wanted to use both skills to make a really interesting project,” Dawicki. “I decided that I would change a person’s features with Photoshop to make them look as if they are of a different race, which is actually a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.”

She has spent countless hours playing with Photoshop trying to perfect her work.

“I’m excited to see how people react to the final products,” she said. “My intention is to show how people should not perceive people differently solely based on how they look.”

These are just a few of the creative projects that seniors will soon present. Every year, teachers, underclassmen, and seniors get the chance to go to longer evening presentations and shorter day presentations of projects that interest them.

Senior projects serve as a unique opportunity to showcase talents that may not be as obvious or prominent to the rest of the community, as well as a chance for students to try something new. As in the past, this senior project day is met with great anticipation as presenters prepare to show the school everything they’ve been working towards for months.

By Madeleine Gregory

 

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