(1) Baking

For this project to work, you would need to
a. be prepared to bake on your own all year
b. work with expert in the field (store or school)

For example:
http://www.csca.edu/programs_baking.asp (Pasadena school)
http://www.csupomona.edu/~cshm/collins_school/index.shtml (Cal Poly)

(2) Social Worker

You need to consider what in the field interest you. Social workers could focus on foster kids, abuse, neglect, poverty, violence, homeless etc.

What you decide to focus on would determine where you would need to volunteer for 35 hours.

For example, if you want to focus on the homeless, then you could contact the city of Pomona (http://www.ci.pomona.ca.us/city_departments/community_development/housing_division/homeless_assistance_2.php) to volunteer helping the homeless. Or if you want to do a project working with helping kids you could volunteer with THINK (http://www.thinktogether.org/volunteer.htm).

We had two students work for THINK TOGETHER last year.

The reason I believe baking would be a strong senior project is because I have a passion for baking and believe that passion would drive me to work very hard and stay motivated throughout the project

The reason I am considering social work as a topic for my senior project is because it is something I find to be very important in society. I have always felt strongly about helping others and find that it is something I want to be involved with in my life and I believe senior project would be a wonderful place to learn more about what I am interested in as a possible carreer choice or college major.

Hopefully this response is along the lines of what you would like to find.

Laura Espinoza

(1) Coaching
(2) Improving as a player

This is also a good idea for a senior project. We haven’t had a student select softball since I have been at I-Poly (Hector did a senior project on baseball last year).

You could:

(1) Focusing on improving as an athlete or being successful in the sport (e.g. what is most important to becoming a successful softball player) Are you planning to play at the college level?

(2) How to coach (e.g., what is the best way to coach a girls’ softball team? or what is the best way to motivate a team to win?)

In either case, you would need to talk to a lot of different coaches (guys, girls, different age levels, different sports). You would also need to read books written by coaches (it can be from any sport, such as John Wooden, a retired basketball coach, or Pat Summit, a famous women’s basketball coach). I would also have you read books on concepts such as teaming and motivation.

With regard to service learning, I recommend volunteering in different arenas (e.g., with a college softball coach and a younger kids coach).

Both good ideas! Your focus will dictate really what you do. For instance, if you choose the veterinarian topic, what type of animals are you interested in?

(1) Veterinarian: Contacts are really important in any senior project. I am not sure if you would be eligible to enroll in college courses, but it is worth trying. If not, I would recommend supplementing by working more service learning hours (like any medical project).

Where can you go?

Cal Poly Pomona has a program. I would suggest to start there. Here is the link to their Pre-Vet club:

http://www.cppprevet.com/

I am sure you could participate in their club and get many contacts.

Cal Poly College of Agriculture:

http://www.csupomona.edu/~agri/

Cal Poly Professor/Expert

http://www.csupomona.edu/~avs/faculty/franco.shtml

Key is finding somewhere to volunteer.

(2) Psychologist

What have you heard or like about this topic? I recommend reading through this and telling me if any of the concepts interest you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology

It is nearly impossible to work with a psychologist. If you go this route, I would suggest you work with Ortega on her peer counseling idea (second semester) and look around the area for high schools with peer counseling. You would also need to take a college course in Psychology.

(3) Helps people, maybe kids

There are many jobs related to working with kids. For example:

Teacher
Nurse
Child Care
Pediatrician
Social Worker

There are many different places you could volunteer (camps, church, hospitals, schools etc). How do you see yourself helping people or kids in the future?

I think you are on to something regarding a senior project topic (musical composition). We will worry about the essential question later (that is the focus).

A few recommendations for the year:

(1) Take classes or lessons in a specific instrument

(2) Take a college class in the field (Mt. Sac, Citrus, or Cal Poly)

(3) Service Learning: Find a church choir where you can volunteer or if this does not work for you, find an expert in the field you can work with next year for 35 hours.

(4) Track how much you are practicing

ELECTIVE is changing next year. Students will be required to take a 2 day elective (expect a more serious elective). Thus,

(5) I recommend taking Ogden’s Performance elective

What are you going to major in? You may consider this as a possible senior project also.

I have heard others talk about event planning also. The rule is that every senior must have a different senior project. It is possible to have the same topic, but have a different essential question.

(1) Event Planning:

Background knowledge or knowing much about a topic is a good start, but if you commit to this topic, you would have to be willing to spend the next year learning things you don’t already know.

Event planners have specializations usually. You would need to find an event planner that you could work with for 35 hours that specializes in an event you like. For example:

Donna Anderson Auctions (http://www.benefitauctioneer.com/)
Simply Perfect Events in Pasadena (http://www.simplyperfectbyfran.com/)

(2) Pregnancy

This is also a good topic. Sandra R. did breastfeeding last year. I thought it worked out well. Key to this topic would be volunteering in a hospital. The kids that have had hospital based senior projects typically work the 35 hours at another 60 hours (getting Independent Task credit also). If this is what you want to do, I recommend arranging the volunteering in the summer. Most hospitals only take volunteer applications for the next year in the summer.

(3) Marketing

This is a general topic. What in marketing interest you? Sales, Public relations, Pricing, Packaging, and Distribution! For your independent tasks, you could take two college classes, but what would you do for your service learning? You would need to find a company like CIS one (http://www.cis-one.com/) . You could shadow/volunteer with one of their experts. Stay away from the different scam firms you may find on the internet.

(4) Make-up Artistry

This topic has worked out well if:

a. you enroll in a cosmetology school
b. or you work a lot of hours with an expert