All boys. All boarding. Grades 9-12.
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2024
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Seniors Excited for Distinction Projects
Preparations Begin for Independent Study Opportunity in AprilRead MoreNow that students are in the final trimester of the school year, with the reality beginning to set in that graduation is only a few short months away, many seniors are encouraged to look for ways to give back and leave a positive mark on the school. One popular way of doing this is via the “Senior Distinction” program offered to sixth formers in their last month on campus.The program gives students an opportunity to pursue an independent project or field of study to do a four-week deep dive, ideally with some tangible finished product that serves to benefit the school. The project culminates in a presentation of the work at an all-school assembly.About 20 projects are approved each year, and students may work either by themselves or in pairs. The project officially begins on April 22, but many students start to prepare months in advance. Seniors are not required to participate in this program, but there has been no shortage of willingness and excitement for involvement since the project’s founding.
Griffith Uy '23 holds up his finished product of a custom blanket.
“It was really the brain-child of Ted Blane, who taught English here for a great many years and retired recently,” said Dr. Fred Jordan, history teacher and one of three members of the application review board. “I don’t think it’s changed that much. It’s always been a mix of academic and other pursuits.”
The program description is intentionally vague so as to give seniors ample opportunity to explore something they’re truly passionate about.
“There has been interest in a wide range of things from the river and the lake to filming styles to dance interpretations,” said Dr. Jordan. “It’s covered an incredibly wide array of projects.”The application process, though, does require some attention to detail. Students must find a faculty mentor to agree to back their idea, they must research and provide a budget for any materials the project would require, and they must outline a schedule of their four-week process to prove that the project is not unfeasibly difficult … or too easy.
Hugh Wiley '23 is shaping tanned hide.
But even after putting together the application, projects only have roughly a 50 percent approval rate.Perhaps one of the greatest strengths of the program is its openness to adaptability. Since the first year of its availability to seniors, the application review board has worked to create a more solid criteria for what makes a project a success, but in the eight years of the program’s history, seniors’ projects have yielded all kinds of results and surprises.
Stuart Gallihugh '23 and Hugh Wiley '23 stand beside their finished piece of tanned hide.
“Senior Distinction provides an opportunity to do something you’re really interested in.” said Harrison Smith. Harrison and his project partner Karson Keating had their plan approved to try to learn to build guitars by hand.Past projects have covered a diverse range of concepts from studying Astrospectography (deep space photography) under the guidance of a UVA professor, to writing, directing, producing, and performing a one-man play, to building a jet engine from scratch.
This year’s projects include:- Production of an album of sacred music with the Dozen
- Study of Foxes, Salamanders, Beavers
- Landscape painting
- Auto repair
- Oil painting
- Perimeter Trial mapping
- DNA Sequencing in bioengineering
- Construction of welding tables in the workshop
- White-tail deer habitat conservation in Doghair Forest
- Investigation of AI in art and creative writing
- Create a machine learning model in Python to predict stock market
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Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
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