MHS Senior Project Spotlight

Senior Project started seven years ago with funding provided by a grant from the Friends of Marblehead Public Schools.

As part of the program, seniors are responsible for designing and implementing an independent project during the final term of their senior year. A requirement is that all of the projects they choose must follow one of four career paths; career exploration, traditional academic research, artistic expression or community service. All participants are also required to have a mentor who is a high school teacher, which provides them with an opportunity to develop a relationship with an adult.

Students are required to complete an internship or have a project of personal interest, write a paper on the project and deliver a presentation before a panel of teachers on what they have learned during the experience. This program is open to any senior who has above a C-  in all of their third quarter classes and runs from late April to late May.

"The student finds a project of interest, they submit a letter to me explaining what and where they will be doing their senior projects and how it will benefit them in the long run," said Marblehead High School teacher Wendy Soucy. "I will then approve the project if I see that it fits the student well."

This week, I had the chance to visit some of the students at their job sites and I was very impressed with the quality of their projects.

A look at some of this year's projects

Not only do some of the seniors have to put in a full days work, they are also given major responsibilities with very expensive pieces of equipment. Connor Shea is working at Gorilla Printing in Salem which is a busy sign and t-shirt production business. Owner Gabe Manukyan has Connor working with some high-end equipment, especially the $20,000 Solvent Printer that takes an image or text from a connected computer and creates the design or graphics to be used on signs and t-shirts.

Connor's responsibilities have been quality control, sign making production, t-shirt design and screen printing, as well as packaging the finished products. I was fortunate enough to have Connor showcase his new skills by making a t-shirt, from concept to finish. And it just happened to be a shirt that he will wear proudly next fall as a freshman at Suffolk University in Boston.

Maika Phillips and Dylan White are working at the Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem. They arrive at 8 a.m. each morning to get the dogs ready for the doors to open at 10 a.m. for potential adopters.

They clean the cages, walk, exercise and play with the dogs and puppies. The most important task that I witnessed was the socialization of the dogs. Keeping them engaged with people, showering them with affection is very important, especially if a dog or pup was abandoned or a product of a broken home. I also noticed that it's not a glamorous job as I watched the two seniors in and out of cages with "poop bags", paper towels and windex bottles. Responsibility is also at a premium here. Knowing which dogs they can interact with, who's a nipper and when to back off.

Dylan praised the program, saying, "Senior Project provides students with a window for possible career choices and gives them insight to their future vocations." Maika added, "I loved Senior Project and I'm so glad that we were given the opportunity to explore a possible career path." Maika will be attending The University of Vermont in the fall as an Environmental Studies major and Dylan will be attending High Point University in North Carolina.

Dont' let the picture of Katherine Foley fool you as she appears to look very glamorous and confident behind the counter at Rouge. She isn't just another pretty face at the front of the store. Rouge is a cosmetics and beauty care boutique in Salem and owner Anne Massey has had Katherine learning what it takes to own and run a business not only from the front end, but more importantly from the back of the house.

"Katherine has learned what it takes to run a business from behind the scenes. From planning all the way through running the bookings and checking inventory," Massey said.

Along with those duties, Foley has been working with the store manager and helping out with ringing, customers and cleaning. Every tester needs to be cleaned constantly to keep up Rouge's obvious high standards of cleanliness.

And owner Massey adds that "retail is not that glamorous. It's all about personal service, sampling and keeping up with the family atmosphere that we have at Rouge." Repeat customers keep Rouge associates, including Katherine, on their toes to make sure that their clients are well attended to.

Katherine, who is attending UMass Amherst in the fall and will swim for them, is glad that she did this for her senior project. It sounds like she can rule out the retail business. "I don't think that I could run a store alone. I'd get too stressed out," she said. Owner Anne Massey can take that as a big compliment.

My next group of seniors are living their dream, literally. Matt Perlow, Tony Cuzner, Mike Dusenberry, Josh Freedland and Matt Temme chose the creative project of Independent Film. They write, act, direct and edit their own production of skits similar to those seen on Saturday Night Live. I got to meet up with them at MHS while they were sitting at several computers adding sound to one of their productions. I was very impressed with the television studio at MHS and the equipment that these students were able to use.

"MHTV has been great with loaning their cameras to us" stated Matt Perlow. Matt, who will be attending Bowdoin next fall to study and play football added, "I'll definitely take some classes in this in college because it's something that I'm really interested in."

Tony Cuzner, heading to UNH and possibly playing Club Hockey, stated "This has always been a passion of mine since 8th grade to do something like this." Mike Dusenberry added, "We have taken every class MHS had to offer in film making in the past four years." Mike will be heading down to High Point University in North Carolina.

This trio has dreamed of this since they were in middle school together and the Senior Project has made their dream a reality. They had planned to do it on their own anyhow, most likely with video on their phones. But the equipment shown in the photos included in this article will prove their level of excitement for this project.

Hayley Braun, who will be heading to Hobart next fall, is fitting customers for customized insoles at Aline here in Marblehead. "Aline is a company that works with athletes and active people to help them perform at their highest potential while helping to prevent them from injury," she said.

Hayley, along with Amy Federman is conducting a study of MHS athletes to see if they have poor alignment and further prove that poor alignment causes injuries.

Athletes step up onto a platform and then stand on a metal pad that uses infared beam technology to measure alignment of the leg and foot. After the assessment, a proper insole is put under the foot to see if the alignment is corrected. This determines which insole is right for the wearer.

Hayley and Amy held an event on Tuesday, May 17th that filled the waiting area of Aline with athletes.

Brian Felsenthal is definitely in his element at WFNX radio station in Lynn. Here, Brian takes listener calls, edits interviews and handles Podcasting. Brian is a musically inclined student and will be majoring in TV and Radio at Ithaca College.

"The Senior Project gives students the opportunity to go out into the world beyond the four square miles of Marblehead," he said, adding that "being a listener, it's enlightening to see how radio works. The listener doesn't know how complex radio can be 'behind the board'."

Olivia Barry travels to Essex everyday for her project. She works at Castle Neck Farm, a boarding and riding facility that is home to 25 horses, including "Beef", her own horse. Olivia has always been a rider, never a worker and never privy to the business aspect of running such a facility.

In the office, Barry makes sure that boarding fees are paid as well as overseeing sign ups and entry fees for upcoming shows. A large part of the business is keeping the horses and ponies used for lessons by keeping them in shape and in best behavior for the less experienced rider. Olivia is also mucking (cleaning) stalls and grooming.

Olivia has been riding for 12 years in some pretty posh places. "I've never been involved in the business end and I always rode and went home," she said. Olivia will attend Mount Holyoke College in the fall and will tryout for the Equestrian Team. And yes, "Beef", her Canadian Thoroughbred, will be going with her.

Lyndsay Franklin thought that she was going to enter St. Anselm's College in the fall as undecided. But, after working at Marblehead Municipal Light Department, she has now decided on a major, thanks to Senior Project.

"After getting a taste of what it's like to work in a real office, I decided to major in Business Management," she said. Lyndsay is responsible for batching and posting checks to customer accounts. She is there Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. When it's all over, her co-worker Megan Milan had this to say, "She's been a wonderful addition to the office and we are going to miss her."

This is just a small sampling of the hundreds of students involved in this program. Others are working at the State House, with the Boston Bruins, as teachers assistants throughout town and beyond and  as intense as working with an orthopedic surgeon.

It's a great program and quite an impressive one at that. It's the one chance that we get to take a look at these kids without seeing them behind a desk, instrument or in a sports uniform. Keep up the good work and congratulations on graduation and your next steps in life!