The senior showcase has finally happened, and before our final goodbye to the class of 2026, Audrey and I decided to interview some seniors months ahead. Also, the due to the fact that next year Audrey ‘27 and I will be seniors and have to venture out and do projects for our own, back in mid-March, we have decided to interview some seniors for their projects. 

In order to better understand how senior projects have changed over time, we adventured into the archives and interviewed Doc Mike and Mr. Hanselmann. In year 2000, Mr. Kim made senior projects a requirement. Today, seniors culminated their projects by creating posters that are presented in the East Campus Gym. This allows seniors to effectively share their projects with the school community in an artful format. By contrast, seniors of the past wrote extensive reports on their projects. In past guidelines, it is stated that “shadowing” is not permitted; seniors had to undergo study/inquiry while working with a professional.

The early senior projects of 1969 are summarized in such length that they model books. Robert L. Jones, who worked with an orthopedic surgeon, compiled a number of carefully-annotated diagrams depicting the specifics of each operation he observed. At the end of the book, there is a record of Jones getting to perform his own fracture repair on a rabbit. Similarly, Fred Balduini of the class of 1969 interned with a veterinarian, and he wrote that he believed he would get to do his own spay procedure.

In their reports, students carefully evaluated their own qualms about the ethics and reasoning behind their chosen field of interest. For example, Gerald Epstein recounts how he asked the lawyer he worked with about if there was ever conflict between the lawyer’s morals and the lawyer’s duty to represent the client. When the lawyer tells Epstein that he did not have moral conflicts, Epstein reflects on his dissatisfaction with the dismissive attitude of the lawyer towards what Epstein believes was a notable ethical question. Thus, in these projects of antiquity, there may have been more of a degree of immersion and academic rigor than in many of the “shadowing” projects of today. Still, senior projects of today and yesterday are much the same in many ways; they represent a chance for students to explore absolutely anything they desire, and, often, seniors go to great lengths to delve into their chosen subjects. Not needing to write up a formal report may allow seniors of today to better express creativity, though there has clearly always been creativity associated with all generations of projects. For example, this year, one student pursued the niche practice of beekeeping. In the past, a student chose to spend time observing the penguins of Seaworld, creating illustrations of them.

Senior projects are an important Academy tradition that truly allows students to use their passion for a real-world topic to make something meaningful to them, and we’re looking forward to seeing next year’s projects as well!