Senior Year and Senior Project Tips + Photos of my Senior Year Memories!

Today I will be specifically talking about Tips for your Senior Year of High School, but this post may also be helpful:High School Tips + What I’m Wearing to Graduation and my Future Plans!

Senior Year Tips:

1. Go to your School Events/Senior Programs:

Go to the football and basketball games. This is your LAST YEAR! I already miss high school football games, honestly. Go to prom and club formals! Make sure that you get the full high school experience. Participate in clubs and sports teams you have always wanted to be a part of. Make sure that you get everything out of high school that you have always dreamed of. At my school, seniors had a senior fun day, senior prank, senior skip day, and a day that we walked in our caps and gowns as our elementary school. Take part in these opportunities. Some teachers, like Mr. Fossett, like to have a mandatory test on the skip day that you will get a zero for if you are not there to take, so go in just for that period! Do what seniors do! Walk at your elementary, it is an experience you will never have the chance to have again. Just take every senior opportunity you are given.

2. Do not Bury yourself in Work:

More than likely, you will apply to college by October and accepted by January (Which is what you should do because early admissions is always better, read more here: Tips for Applying for and Choosing your College!). So really, you will apply with you junior year being the most recent record. Basically, I am saying that none of your senior year goes on your college applications. You do have to send a transcript to your college once you complete each semester, but you will already be accepted by then and they will not revoke your acceptance if you do not have straight A’s. With that being said, do not fail a class or get yourself in serious trouble. Something like that could end up in your acceptance being revoked. Of course, it is always best to take challenging course to keep your mind ready for college and give you more opportunities to learn skills you will need in college; but do not take so many hard courses that you cannot enjoy your last year of high school. Another thing regarding the classes you will take: take ones you want to take and know you will enjoy. For example, do not choose an AP Science class (college level course) over art if you are passionate about art and want to pursue it. You probably think that AP courses will look better to colleges, but they want to see that you take classes your passionate about. And anyways, like I said, you will probably already be accepted.

3. Spend time with your Friends:

I hate to say it, but this is probably the last time you will go to school with your friends and maybe the last time you will see some of them. This will be a difficult change, so take advantage of the opportunities to see each other while you can.

Senior Project Tips:

I know nowadays most schools do not have a senior project requirement, but my high school does. Since I went through senior project last year, I am going to give my hometown seniors some tips!

1. Take Senior Project in the Fall if Possible:

Senior project takes a lot of work and effort that you are not going to feel motivated to do in spring semester. Trust me, the seniorist will be in over load by then.

2. Do not choose something you already know how to do:

The whole point of the project is to learn something you have never done before and may never get the chance to learn again. And anyways, if you have Mr. Fossett, he will not let you do something he knows you already do. Oh, and if you are at my high school, DO NOT choose rock climbing. Literally everyone chooses that and it is so lame. Do something unique. I chose apparel design!

3. The Actual Presentation goes much easier on you than Mr. Fossett:

If you have Mr. Fossett, then you know how he is. He likes for everything to be perfectly done in the correct way. Listen to him. He will teach you so much more than you realize. You will be thankful you had him when you give your presentation and then listen to pother students’ presentations that did not have him. I promise, yours will be better. This may not end up truly benefitting you in senior project because the judges tend to go much easier on you, but it will help you prepare for college and job presentations.

4. Talk about What you Learned and How you Felt in your Work Logs:

I did bad on these logs SO MANY times. I could never quite get a handle on what Mr. Fossett wanted. He would say more, so I’d write onto the back of the page: 70. Ugh. What he wants is for you to say how it felt. With sewing, there’s a lot of constant repeat, as long as you do not make mistakes. I messed up quite a bit, so I talked about how frustrating that was to me. Another time was when my thread kept falling through because the fabric was fraying and needed to go through the serger. At the time, I did not know why my stitches would not stay together even when on the tightest setting, so I wrote about being scared that my whole project would fail. Mr. Fossett also wants to hear about what you learned rather than just what you did. So I would say that I learned how to make the fabric stop fraying rather than just that we fixed the fabric.

5. Do not Memorize a Speech:

Attempting to memorize a speech word by word is a sure way to mess up. You will get nervous and forget what single word comes next and then be completely lost on what to say because you do not know what you’re talking about, you only remember the words in order. I know it sounds silly, but trust me. If you have Mr. Fossett, you will only be allowed one notecard. On this notecard, bullet the topics you want to make sure to touch on and maybe even write out your intro, because that can be memorized. Oh, and while I am talking about the intro, you should say an attention grabber, “Hello my name is Olivia Noles and I did my Senior Project on Apparel Design,” and then the speech.

6. Make Sure to Talk about What you Learned in your Speech:

You need to say things like “I learned…” and “my mentor taught me…” If you do not, that will be the judges first question.

7. Do NOT use a Powerpoint:

Do not think that a powerpoint will save you with your speech, because it will not. If your teacher allows you to have a powerpoint, it will not have words. As Mr. Fossett says, reading off a powerpoint is a waste of time and breath- the judges can do that on their own time.  It could technically be used as your visual aid with photos of something you did, but it is not recommended. You should have something physical to share with the judges if at all possible. I did apparel design as my project, so for my visual aid I had a friend wear the dress I made and I also brought the patterns I made to sew and cut by.

8. Dress Professionally:

Professional means pencil skirts to your knees, dress pants, button down shirts, blouses, no strong perfume, no noisy or bulky jewelry, no super high heels, tights. Just try to look your absolute best- Mr. Fossett will tell you if your attire is inappropriate.

If you have any specific questions about senior project please do not hesitate to ask me. There is so much more I could say but these topics cover the basis of it.

All White Lilly Pulitzer Dress with Similar Neckline

Lilly Pulitzer Printed dress with Similar Neckline

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