English Department

Brian Keaney, Department Head

Department Phone: 508-358-3720

Message to Parents of Seniors:

The Senior Independent Projects program at WHS (SIPs) is heading into its third year.  The program’s goal is to let motivated seniors substitute a project of their own design for some or all of their fourth quarter classes.*  This allows them to explore a creative interest and/or a vocational possibility that their previous classroom work has not addressed, and we’ve found that being responsible for their own projects has been a huge motivating force for the 20-25 students that have participated so far.  Parents of these students say that they have never seen their children so excited about what they were doing, nor so dedicated to the work they had set for themselves as they were in their last term at WHS.

If you think your child would benefit from doing an independent senior project next spring, he or she should do some brainstorming this fall about exactly what it might be.  Deciding on a field of interest, such as art, music, education, computers, scientific research, a craft, or a form of community service, is the first step.  More challenging is coming up with a workable project that will fit into the last five or six weeks of the school year and then finding an internship or a mentor to help the student accomplish the goal.  The initiative for the project needs to come from the student, but parents can suggest people or places to call to set up informational interviews in a field of interest.  Research and planning should start now although the projects themselves will take place in April and May.

For more information, check out last spring’s WSPN article and the new school website, where “Senior Independent Projects”  is listed under Academics.  We hope you will keep this opportunity in mind as your child thinks about his or her deepest interests and what can be accomplished during senior year.

Barbara Shellito and Dana Holland

Senior Project Program Co-directors

*Most students can drop at least two classes, sometimes more, to do a senior project.  Classes that cannot be dropped include performing arts classes, A.P. classes, and ones like environmental science, financial literacy, and business that have culminating final projects of their own.  The students will be given more information about the program before Thanksgiving, but this may help you help them plan their last year at Wayland.