NHS Students Show Initiative, Creativity, Responsibility

The Project Program is an elective class at Newtown High School that students can take in their junior or senior year.  The class gives students the opportunity to become self-directed learners and demonstrate the skills of initiative, responsibility and creativity. 

It also shows them how to take positive risks, said Peg Ragaini, who works in the school's career center.

The culmination of their semester's work came Monday when they presented their project to family, friends and the general public.

The students had selected the project topic themselves and were evaluated on three criteria:  the process by which they worked with their mentor, the product they created and their presentation of the project.

A panel of students, teachers and community volunteers judged the work.

Six students presented this semester on topics that included poetry, 4th century Roman cooking and designing a custom car dashboard.

Two students presented projects that required them to share very personally.  Megan Bernardi's "Autism Through My Eyes," was a presentation marked by candid statements that helped the audience understand her life with autism, including the bullying she had experienced in school.

"When the last day of school came, it felt like freedom," she said.

She said she hopes to share her book with parents of children with autism to let them know a diagnosis is not "the end of the world."

Another presenter, Kaitlyn Kakadeles, also selected a project that required her to share her innermost thoughts.  She took raw material -- poetic thoughts she had jotted down over the year -- and worked with her mentor to apply formal poetic structure to them.

"I came out of my shell through the project because I didn't want to show her my material, but I did," she said.

The students came into the program with different motivating factors. 

Michael Brown researched "The Factors Affecting ADHD Diagnosis" for personal learning, not to find ground-breaking new information.  Because his father is a neuropsychologist, the topic of over-diagnosis came up often in his home.

Eliana Kohrman-Glaser wanted to use the Latin she's studied since the 7th grade.  She translated early Roman recipes to English, tested them and created a cookbook using standard U.S. methods and cooking techniques.

Monica Tedla wrote a business plan for her and her brother's photography business, VRT Studios.  In addition to improving her current business, she said knowing how to write a business plan will help in the future.  She would like to study medicine and open her own pediatric practice.

For Steve zVon, cars are a personal hobby that he and his father shared.  That inspired his "Custom Dashboard" project.  Though he hopes to pursue engineering as a career, he would like to continue working on cars. 

"I would definitely do this again," he said.

The students all cited increased organization and planning as skills they acquired while working on their projects.  They said their mentors, which is an integral part of the program, helped and influenced their work.

"We talk a lot in the class about working with a mentor," Kristen Hardy, one of the course instructors, said.  "It's a professional skill they develop that most students are unfamiliar with."

Ragaini said the mentors are the "heart and soul of the program."

Spring Semester Junior/Senior Projects:

Eliana Kohrman-Glaser:  "From Eggs to Apples: Dining in Imperial Rome"
Mentors: Jennifer Huettner, NHS Latin Teacher and Nancy Bamberg, Caterer

Michael Brown: "Factors Affecting the Diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder"
Mentor: Dr. Jennifer Hoag, NHS School Psychologist

Kaitlyn Kakadeles: "Unspoken, Interrupted"
Mentor: Jeanetta Miller, Chair, NHS English Department

Megan Bernardi: "Autism Through My Eyes"
Mentor: Mimi Riccio, NHS Tutor and Job Coach

Monica Tedla: "VRT Studios Business Plan"
Mentor: Harry Brooks, SCORE

Steve zVon: "Custom Dashboard"
Mentor: Bill Ross, Star Spangled Sports Car Shop