RUHS - Senior Project

Dear Senior:

You finally made it! You are a SENIOR! Senior Project is your chance to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and maturity you have gained during your school career. YOU choose the subject. Use Senior Project as an opportunity to satisfy your curiosity about a new area of study. Make it a stretch! Take a risk! Your results will be evaluated by a team of teachers and community members who are familiar with your subject. They WANT you to succeed, but they won't accept a snow job. The following pages outline the steps.

The Senior Project consists of five parts, all of which must be completed in a satisfactory manner and in strict compliance with the deadlines on the Senior Project Time Line on page 1. Your review panel will evaluate your entire year's work in May. The title and final evaluation of your Senior Project will be placed on your permanent transcript. You may also request Independent Study credit for an Expanded Senior Project. The five parts of the Senior Project are as follows:

1. PROPOSAL The first part is a proposal for an area of study that is a challenge for you and will hold your interest during this year-long process. The proposal includes a letter of intent, a focus statement and a tentative outline of your Senior Project paper, a working bibliography, a signed mentor agreement, and a parent permission form.

   Part of your proposal may be a request that your Senior Project be expanded for a half credit independent study if the scope and depth of your senior project exceed the basic requirements for Senior Project and meet the requirements for any credit you request. The Independent Study Committee must give final approval for the Expanded Senior Project after your panel approves your Senior Project.

   You will present your proposal to a panel of community members and staff in October. Each panel will be headed by an RUHS teacher. You and your panel will reach an agreement about your Senior Project. After you and your panel head sign your agreement, your panel head must approve any minor changes to the proposal if they become necessary, and they often do. Requests for major changes to the signed agreement must be submitted in writing to your panel head and approved by your panel on or before the January Midyear Check when you will meet with your panel to review your progress towards completion of Senior Project.

2. PAPER The second part is an seven to twelve page researched, documented paper that contains at least five sources (both primary and secondary) sources and meets the RUHS format check and the guidelines for MLA style described in Write for College (with minor modifications). Your panel head and your mentor will read and evaluate a complete working draft of your paper in late November / Early December. Your panel head will determine the topic and focus of the working draft meet the specifications agreed upon by you and your panel. Your mentor, the expert in your field, will read this working draft of your paper for accuracy of content. Your final paper must first pass a format check, then a team of readers who will assess the paper using the RUHS Senior Project Writing Rubric. Your panel members will read, but not assess, your paper before your presentation in May.

3. PRODUCT The third part is a product or a learning experience that requires you to spend at least thirty (30) hours using the knowledge you gained from research and from working with your mentor.

   NOTE: The paper and the product may be done simultaneously or the product may be done first and the paper second, but the school's deadlines for the paper and the product must be met unless you present an amended schedule to your panel and they approve it.

4. PORTFOLIO The fourth part, the portfolio, has two components: a notebook or folder and a display For the Senior Project Open House in May. The portfolio demonstrates the process you used to complete your Senior Project. Your notebook or folder will include the following:

   1. the documents pertaining to Senior Project
   2. a time sheet that records the time you worked on your product and a summary of what you accomplished during that time
   3. a journal reflecting on your work, your process, and your growth

   You should begin keeping a folder of all your documents starting with your proposal packet. As you work through the process for each component of the Senior Project, add any papers, plans, notes, interviews or observations that pertain to that part. As your product nears completion at the beginning of May, organize the contents of your portfolio and add any additional pieces, such as the reflection on the paper and your product evaluation and resume. Put the organized portfolio in a professional-looking cover and check it for overall neatness and legibility. The Open House Display in May will include your entire portfolio and your product. Your product might not be tangible; for example, you might spend time tutoring or working at a service agency, but your portfolio will document what you have done. Documentation might include photographs, a videotape, or a slide show. Some students may wish to participate in a performance as part of the documentation of their product. This usually takes place during the Night of the Arts in May but may be scheduled at another time outside of the high school with your panel's approval.

5. PRESENTATION The fifth part is an eight to ten minute oral presentation of your entire Senior Project to your panel in May. A question and answer period follows each presentation.

If you do not complete any one of the five parts in a satisfactory manner or do not meet one of the published deadlines, you and your parents will be notified that you may not be eligible to graduate in June. At that point you may appeal to the Senior Project Advisory Board for a hearing to consider whether or not you may continue in the Senior Project process (see page 5). Failure to complete any part in a satisfactory manner, or to meet any deadline, automatically disqualifies you from earning an 'Exceeds the Standard' on that component of your Senior Project.

Although you may feel overwhelmed by the Senior Project requirements now, you are encouraged to use the help of Mrs. Viens or any teacher at RAVC/RUHS in planning your project. Use your mentor as a resource during the completion of your product. Meet your deadlines. Give this your best try. If you do these things, you will not only meet the standards for Senior Project, but you will feel like you have really accomplished something important...and you will have! We wish you success!

Senior Project Advisory Board
Mrs. Donna Viens, SP Coordinator
Mr. John Holmes, RUHS Principal
and the Staff of RUHS/RAVC

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