SAMARA OSHIRO
STAFF WRITER
Senior Project, a class dedicated to pushing students to individually develop skills that benefit their field of work or passion, is a course often overlooked. Ever since the class was removed from the list of graduate requirements for seniors a few years ago due to lack of resources and was somewhat not being implemented in the right way, many students became unaware of the class.
Senior Project Instructor Ms. Koyanagi currently teaches only 6 students in her period 7 Senior Project class; students Naomi Lee, Noah Zuniga, Karizma Santos, Rhysa Lee, Noah Maldonado and Chloe Arii. Koyanagi urges students to partake in the class because of the freedom provided to indulge in a hobby, passion or career in an individualistic way
Aspiring chef Noah Zuniga explained that this class has truly encouraged him to find his own individuality in his goals for the future.
“This class has really taught me to find something you want to do and do it the way you want to do it,” Zuniga said.
Zuniga is currently working on a cookbook and recipe cards to gain more experience in the cooking field and to better prepare himself for the future.
Studying the art and structure of comic books, artist Naomi Lee is working to become an illustrator for comics in the future.
“What my Senior Project means to me is [that] it relates to my future and what I really want to do for the rest of my life!” Lee said.
For students in high school who struggle to find what they’re good at or what they want to do in the near future, this class is intended to help answer those questions.
Looking to start a business, but not sure of what she was good at or even how to start, student Chloe Arii says, “I chose this class because I wanted to find a passion and I didn’t have a creative outlet and it serves as something to help us.”
Originally, the Senior Project course focused heavily on students abiding by strictly structured rules, like documentation and research based paperwork, but it lacked freedom. In order to better the course, there was a slight change in the curriculum, in which the students’ projects could be more creative, their independent working skills are further developed, and students are graded on evidence of their learning, with less written documentation.
“I get the research, but I want them to explore their research in the most broadest sense,” Koyanagi said.
Joining the Senior Project course assists students in evolving the development of the skills necessary to make use of their talents and prepares them for the future. As Koyanagi puts it, “It is about you as a learner, continuing to push yourself in nontraditional ways, to me that is what education is.”
“Students don’t need to be complete with their process. I want it to be something they are going to continue learning for the rest of their life and that to me is the exciting part about learning, it shouldn’t end with school,” Koyanagi said.
As registration quickly approaches for the 2019-2020 school year, the next generation of seniors can sign up for the class to get a head start on their future.