Senior ISPs Provide Capstone Experience for Class of 2022

The Independent Senior Project is a capstone experience for Upper School seniors which creates a meaningful transition from the structure of high school to the independence of college. 
The Class of 2022 spent much of their last weeks at St. Margaret’s engaged in their Independent Senior Project, a capstone experience for Upper School seniors which creates a meaningful transition from the structure of high school to the independence of college. 
 
The traditional goal of the program is for students to apply their St. Margaret’s education to the real world. In 2022, seniors were able to choose ISPs that fit into one of five categories:
  • Internship or Apprenticeship: working with a business or organization to gain experience
  • Service Learning: work with a partner organization and invest time not ordinarily possible during the school year.
  • Creative Project: Engage in a creative endeavor that piques their interest.
  • Academic Inquiry: Delve into a topic of interest, talking to experts or practitioners in a field.
  • A Job: Working a minimum of 15 hours a week during the ISP window. 

The 124 seniors in the Class of 2022 went off in a number of directions, with several students taking on ISPs in each of the above categories. Here is a look at a few:
 
Internship or Apprenticeship
Here at St. Margaret’s Emelie Miller interned in St. Margaret’s counseling office, and part of her project was to interview Lower School Principal Jennifer Blount and kindergarten teacher Colleen Beshk to create a grade-specific social-emotional learning lesson. She then taught the lesson in Mrs. Beshk’s class last week. 
 
Away from campus, Tartan seniors interned at the science lab at the University of California, Irvine, a law firm, and other professions aligned with their career interest. 
 
Creative Projects
Seniors Ava Lentz and Parisa Khashayar worked with Early Childhood School students to create a mural for display in the Early Childhood School lobby. Ava and Parisa did creative brainstorming sessions with the young Tartans, worked with them on the art and then put the finishing touches on the three-piece mural, which was hung this week in the Early Childhood School office. 
 
Other students took on creative projects including making a surfboard from scratch, converting a skateboard into a pallet jack, and writing, producing and editing a complete film in the three-week ISP window. 
 
Learning Something New
Several students took the opportunity to learn more about a field that interests them. Makayla Arnoldi spent her ISP learning and engaging in best practices for business communications, and added a service component by making a presentation for the Upper School to use when reaching out to service-learning partners.
 
Some ISPs went well outside the traditional schooling subjects. Olivia Heim, Olivia Ostlund and Tess Genske all worked this month on obtaining their scuba-diving certificate, which included online courses and practice dives. 
 
 
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An Independent Preschool Through Grade 12 College-Preparatory Day School in Orange County California

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St. Margaret's Episcopal School does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, religion, sexual orientation or national and ethnic origin in the administration of its educational, admission, financial aid, hiring and athletic policies or in other school-administered programs.