2008 - 2009 Senior Project
Dear parents and friends,
Through Tupelo High School’s Curriculum-Based Research Senior Project, a senior’s reading, writing, speaking, thinking, information-accessing, time management, problem solving and organizational skills are showcased in a four-part process. The components include a research paper, a curriculum-based product related to some aspect of the paper, a portfolio, and an oral presentation before a team of evaluators. Curriculum-based identifies this project as one that falls within an instructional program presently taught at the high school.
This senior experience cannot rely solely upon what a student already knows but must demonstrate an aspect of new learning and growth (a learning stretch). A successful senior project involves parental and teacher support as well as student initiative and self-discipline. Grades are given for meeting deadlines and for the completion of the senior project components. An online handbook includes the requirements and deadlines. For more detailed information, see http://rcu.blackboard.com/; click on THS Senior Project and access with the user name thssenior and the password ths.
THS Senior Project would not be successful if it were not for community volunteers graciously giving of their time throughout the year to help students as mentors and evaluators. Culmination Day was on May 6, 2008, for the Class of ’08 at Bancorps South Center. The students’ evaluation procedures on that day consisted of a ten-to-fifteen minute presentation using a student-created tri-fold presentation board, followed by a five-minute question-and-answer period. With 350+ senior presentations on display that day, AEE members, parents, friends, and interested community members vicariously experienced the wonderful sense of accomplishment these seniors felt as they shared their efforts.
We at Tupelo High School strongly support the goals of senior project and believe that it has been instrumental in helping us prepare students for a demanding future. We are privileged to have the support of AEE and its many dedicated contributors and members. We are, furthermore, unwaveringly humbled by the generous outpouring of so many businesses and individuals in our community who generously support us in a wide variety of ways. Tupelo is truly a city that values education and continues to hold the education of its populace as one of its greatest advantages.
Students today are entering a competitive and, at times, a daunting world, and the nurturing of interested, caring, and accomplished adults from their earliest school days through the end of senior project has helped instill in each of them the confidence and courage to meet the demands of their futures.
Sincerely,
Senior Project Committee
