KHS seniors knock out end-of-year projects

KELLOGG — Students at Kellogg High School cleared one of the biggest remaining hurdles on their way to graduation last week.

Despite being waived as a graduation requirement for the 2020/21 school year, Kellogg High School kept things business-as-usual and had the class of 2021 complete their projects.

Maintaining this foundation allowed them to come into the current school year without having to curate a new project or process and allowed for an entire new group of students to take time out of their senior year to really dig into a specific topic.

These topics ranged from potential careers all the way to hobbies and fascinations. Diesel mechanics, blacksmiths, bass guitar, veterinarian, and even Brazilian Jiu-Jitzu were topics of the projects and you could tell that these kids really did their homework.

The projects themselves consisted of meeting several criteria, including (but not limited to) a research paper, a set number of hours shadowing someone related to their field, and then a judged presentation where they tied it all together.

Community members and KHS staff made up the multiple 5-person judge panels, whose jobs it was to rate the presentation on everything from the students’ level of knowledge and familiarity with their topic, all the way to how they composed themselves while they did it.

KHS Counselor Secretary Lauren Holmquist is one of the key staff in coordinating the presentation day, as well as serving as an adviser to the students as they make their way through the year.

Holmquist was pleased with how the day went and believes that these types of projects are invaluable to high school students as they move into their next phase of life.

“It’s so important to have these projects that force the kids to get out of their comfort zones,” Holmquist said. “It pushes them to make big moves toward their goals. They have to be proactive in getting in the mentor hours that are sometimes difficult when working around school/sports hours. The project also keeps them focused towards graduating and they get to learn a lot of new things that they might not get the chance to do if we didn't have senior projects.”

While the seniors present the projects, the members of the junior class are tasked with attending the presentations to get a taste for what they should expect when their final year of high school begins.

The seniors themselves got to sit in the library before and after their presentations, interacting with their fellow classmates and cheering on one another’s successes throughout the day.

This year, eight community members volunteered to work on the judge panels, including longtime volunteer and KHS grad himself, Jim Miller.

Miller stated that he had been coming to judge for a few years now and complemented how prepared the seniors were this year compared to past years and that he loved seeing how much pride each student took in what they were presenting about. He also credited the staff, acknowledging their part in that and how he loved seeing how much growth it had undergone.

Now, with that out of the way, the KHS Class of 2022 needs to only finish out the final two weeks of school before they can toss those mortarboards.