Increased Restrictions on Senior Projects
By OSCAR BURNES '21
Since the beginning of May, seniors at Milton Academy have not been taking part in any of the usual aspects of Milton life, such as writing essays, meeting deadlines, and taking naps in free periods. In fact, for the past three weeks, seniors have not had to go to class or even actively participate in the Milton community—they have begun their senior projects.
Simply put, senior projects are an opportunity for seniors to explore a topic of their desire. Their projects have to fall in one of several categories: community engagement, arts, internship, or academics. In terms of time commitment, the project can be a full project (forty hours a week) or a half project (twenty hours a week). If a project takes any less than forty hours a week, the senior is required to continue taking some courses.
The projects are “an opportunity for [the seniors] to learn something new,” as Ms. Bonenfant says. She added that “[senior projects] are a great transition to college,” as the students get a taste of independence and an idea of what their learning will be like next year. Seniors can do almost anything they want with the projects, as long as it gets approved.
Before the seniors get their freedom, they have to go through a substantial approval process. Although the amount of rejections this year was normal despite the rumor that an unusually high number of proposals got rejected, the review process is still quite thorough. For each project they want to do, seniors have to write a lengthy proposal and use a calendar to “literally plan out every hour of each day,” as Navpreet Sekhon (I) noted. Different projects have different requirements, although every senior must meet with a faculty sponsor once a week.
As well as having to write a proposal and a calendar, seniors need to have a project sponsor and a committee sponsor. Once a senior finds a project sponsor, they get assigned a committee sponsor based on the project’s classification. A project can only get approved after all of these tasks have been completed.
Some students hold senior projects in high regard because of the opportunities they provide. “I’m trying something that I wouldn’t [otherwise] have the opportunity to do,” Navpreet Sekhon (I) said. Her project involves building a jeep and making digital posters of her sisters. Other projects include a State House internship, shadowing a doctor, and writing a children's book. Without senior projects, students would never be able to do all these unique activities.
Even though senior projects seem great, some students are against them. For instance, one senior (who wishes to remain anonymous) stated, “I feel like [senior projects] are a complete waste of time.” He feels that the projects have way too many requirements to fully allow the senior’s independence. With all the structure, “eventually you probably won’t even be able to do a project.”
Overall, most students would agree that the senior projects give seniors a great opportunity to experience the freedom and independence they’ll find in the not-so-distant future—once the seniors get through the proposal process, what they do is up to them. If seniors take advantage of the final moments of their Milton career, they will find the projects to be a rewarding exploit and one that will help them for the rest of their life.