PWHS Senior Projects: Class of 2023

May 11

The Senior Project is an important capstone of our students' Waldorf education.

Each high school senior is asked, "How can my interests and strengths be manifested in the world in a way that is fulfilling to me and also benefits others?"

The goals of taking on this endeavor are to:

Explore a topic they are interested in and passionate about
Experience personal growth and gain a deeper understanding of themselves, their future, and purpose in the world
Bring forth an experience that benefits the student individually as well as the greater world community.

Students are encouraged to choose topics that may be new and challenging, or they might elaborate on long time passions. Towards the end of their 11th grade year students submit their proposals to the Senior Project Coordinator, along with a planned timeline of what they hope to accomplish over the summer.

Many students reach outside of the immediate community to find a mentor who is an expert in the field or topic of their specific project. Each student has a faculty guide who meets with them weekly throughout the project, culminating in a project presentation in early spring. The senior project requires a minimum of 50 - 75 hours of work outside of school, documented research, and photo journaling of their process.

After watching the Senior Project Presentations, our Pedagogical Director, Uchiyama Sensei, reflected that the “senior presenters were full of enthusiasm, confidence, experiential wisdom, artistic talent, and highly intelligent contextualization. I was impressed by their maturity in consciousness and compassionate attunement with the world around them. They are ready to engage with the world and take leadership!”

Here we’d like to highlight a few presentations and share a full list of student projects. Congratulations to all of our students and thank you to everyone who has supported them in this endeavor.

Sylvia Lambley is a singer/songwriter and guitarist who wrote and recorded original music in German. She says she sings, “because it allows me to make beauty from dust, and magic from pain… and simply because it makes me happy.”

Calvin Peck-Dobson used his experience with dyslexia as a launching pad to research this learning variation further and become a tutor for other dyslexic students.