On September 14 Jonathan Alder Local School District’s Board of Education made the unanimous decision to eliminate Senior Project as a graduation requirement. The decision will go in effect for the 2015-2016 school year and the years following.

    English teacher Jennifer Danner and JAHS Principal, Mike Aurin, were the ones who presented the proposal at the BOE meeting. Before making their presentation though they had to go through many steps and ask for feedback from fellow administrators and staff. Aurin first had to put together a written proposal listing changes that have occurred over the years to present to Superintendent Gary Chapman. Aurin and Danner both agreed that Senior Project was no longer a format that they would like to continue with and that to eliminate it as a whole would make for a better school experience.

    When asked what she thought of Senior Project, Danner replied, “Senior Project was a valuable experience for many years and continued to be one for much of the student population, but it didn’t work for everyone.  Our students were learning skills they needed to be career and college ready by completing a Senior Project.  They are still learning skills to be career and college ready, but now those skills can be taught and used in more flexible and student-driven situations.  It is a positive situation for the students and the teachers (Miss Tinberg and me).  Education has evolved significantly over the past few years.  We have so many innovative opportunities that students can now experience.”

    “I think the Board’s decision is great in the sense that students don’t have the stress of a huge project but they should’ve decided this before having seniors already dump a huge amount of time into their project already. I think seniors should still try to go out of their way to volunteer or help others even without the project,” stated senior Michael Salzler when asked if the elimination of Senior Project has been a stress-reliever.

    Some seniors, like Taylor Gaerke, had already started or completed their Senior Project before the board’s decision.  Gaerke explained her feelings on the board’s decision, “I think the decision of eliminating Senior Project is both good and bad. I think that Senior Project gives seniors a very good chance to do something for the community. This has an impact on both the community and themselves. For example with my Senior Project I participated in Pelotonia and had an amazing time. It was incredible and totally changed my perspective on things. Through Pelotonia I realized how blessed I am to have all the people in my life and how lucky I am to be able to have all of the opportunities that I have been given. I definitely do not regret doing my senior project, in fact I would love to do it again. I encourage people to continue with their senior project. I think the only reason people didn’t want to do it was because of the 10 page paper and speech at the end of the year.”

    The feedback from the faculty and students of JAHS have all been positive in regard to the board’s final decision. At this time there will be nothing implemented in the place of Senior Project.