April 8, 2008 — Lassen High School seniors have been busy completing their senior projects, which will be presented before a panel of judges from Monday, May 5 through Wednesday, May 8. Lassen High School is looking for volunteers to judge the presentations. A complimentary dinner and orientation will be held from 5 to 5:50 p.m. followed by presentations from 6 to 9 p.m. For more information call Senior Project Coordinator Christy Rose at 251-1176.

Rose said she needs about 160 judges, which averages out to 40 to 50 a night. Judges are needed for a variety of subjects including medical, music, cosmetology, law enforcement, construction, pharmacy, poetry and writing, cheerleading and interior design.

Students will be giving a six-to 10-minute speech about their project, addressing all the elements on an evaluation form.

A student’s speech should have an effective attention grabber, a clear thesis, explain the connection between the project and the paper, clearly state what they learned while doing the project and have an effective conclusion.

The judges do not tell the students if they passed or failed, but do have an opportunity to give feedback.

Students work on projects and papers during their freshmen, sophomore and junior years, and Rose said the senior project is the culminating activity of their education.

In order for students to pass the senior English requirement and graduate from LHS, they must pass the four components of the senior project.

The four components are: paper, project, portfolio and presentation.

Students choose a topic of interest, which can range from the medical field to teaching, develop a proposal, find a mentor knowledgeable in the field on which the student is doing the project, and put together a portfolio.

When students complete a senior project they should be able to be lifelong learners and problem-solvers and be able to exhibit skills represented by Lassen High School’s Expected Schoolwide Learning Results.

Students must spend a minimum of 15 hours on their project. Rose said 7.5 of those hours are to be spent directly with the mentor and the other 7.5 are to be spent under the supervision of the mentor.

After completing a presentation, Rose said some of the students have been offered jobs by some of the judges.