Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Senior projects progress at Bonsall High School

Heather Holdo and Sara Barclay

Writer/Intern

The students of Bonsall High School's 2019 graduating class have been working throughout the year on their senior projects, which allow them to express their personal, career and community interests.

"The Senior Project is designed to be the culmination of a student's experience at Bonsall High School, highlighting the skills they have learned and their ability to engage in and manage their own learning," teacher Karina Calderon said. "It is an opportunity for students to explore an interest, passion or career-related topic."

As a requirement, these students have sought out designated mentors to help advise them through the 10 hours of planning. In May, these seniors must present their final products, motivations, challenges, collaboration with their mentor and their project's impact to a panel of community members.

Student Tanner Dugas has chosen to build a brushless electric motor and has faced multiple setbacks, he said.

"So far, everything about my project has been altered due to unknown problems that have occurred," Dugas said. "Attaining resources has been rather difficult, causing for improvisation. Furthermore, all my planning with my mentor has been affected by the fact that they are moving. I now have little more than four weeks to complete my project rather than having until April. In all, most of my planning has gone awry, and I am going to have to play by ear on how everything will work out."

A brushless motor doesn't use brushes to transfer charge to its coils rather it uses magnets on the center wheel, which allows it to function more efficiently. Dugas said he is dedicated to overcoming these obstacles and creating a quality product to exhibit.

Other students, such as Casimelia Mendiola and Jilian Burnett, have chosen their project based on skills they acquired in school.

Burnett said, "As previous yearbook editors, there are quite a bit of photos that get left out of the actual yearbook, and we (Mendiola and I) want to compile everything from the past four years into a Senior Memory Book. After presenting and sharing my final product, I hope it can serve as a memento for the senior class. We started with choosing a book publishing company to go through and calculated the estimated costs. Then, we focused on what fonts, colors, design and theme we wanted to go with. Now, we are working on template designs and inputting photos into the memory book. For the most part, planning has been on track. We started with a timeline, and we always refer to it when dates and deadlines near to check our progress."

Delainy Reinard chose to work with Safe and Strong Bonsall Schools to contribute to the effort of passing Measure EE. Despite the bond not having passed, Reinard's dedication and commitment did not waver or go unnoticed.

"I volunteered as a student advocate to inform the Bonsall/Fallbrook community about the bond, and how it would affect our students," Reinard said. "I advertised, informed and helped input bills and donations into an online banking system. Because I sat in on a handful of the committee meetings, I learned about every detail of planning that went into passing this bond. I had to create a schedule of when the appropriate times were to advertise, and when to work on the financial aspects of the bond. This taught me a lot about how school bonds work and how to manage my time."

With monthly progress check-ins, the students have been staying on top of their work and learning skills that they can implement into their future projects and careers. Many students said the senior projects were educational and a worthwhile experience, despite the extra time and dedication it added to their schedules. In only a few months, the senior projects will be ready to display their yearlong efforts.

 

Reader Comments(0)