I really enjoyed my Senior Spring Project. Although my SSP still consisted of two classes, one of which took up more time than the allotted eight hours, it did not feel as though I was still a student at BB&N. I was on campus every day, arriving most days by 8:35 in order to catch a shuttle from Grove Street, so I wouldn’t say my SSP experience was too similar to my classmates. 

The most difficult part of SSP is the planning phase. I must admit, the planning phase of SSP was not especially enjoyable. However, I have realized that it is imperative for our growth as people. This planning process feels like it was designed as a test. It feels as though it is a test to see whether or not you are really ready to participate in BB&N’s Senior Spring Project. You need to push yourself while in this planning process because you will build a serious life skill. This life skill is the skill or argumentation. Planning for SSP requires a lot of critical thinking and figuring out how you are going to argue the purpose of activities. Additionally, because you need to think about how you plan on arguing for your SSP proposal, you also need to think about the actual value of an activity. In doing so, you may realize that an activity you planned on doing doesn’t have much value to it, and therefore, you take it out of your proposal. You also may realize that an activity you have allotted five hours to really deserves fifteen allotted hours. In conclusion, although tedious, the planning phase of SSP ensures that you genuinely care about your SSP.

As you may know, part of your Senior Spring Project includes reading a book of literary merit. The book I chose to read is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I decided to read this book because it is widely seen as a classic in American literature. As a student in 8th grade at BB&N, we were going to read To Kill a Mockingbird. In fact, we were even given the book. However, after one of our two-week breaks, I was made aware of the fact that we would no longer be reading it. Ever since then, I have wanted to read the Pulitzer Prize winner. Therefore, when planning for SSP, I knew instantly that I would include To Kill a Mockingbird in my proposal. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it; however, it wasn’t a very challenging read. I suppose I should’ve expected that to be the case, as BB&N traditionally taught it in 8th grade, but nevertheless, I wanted to read it. If I were to redo my SSP, I would pick a piece of literature that is more challenging than To Kill a Mockingbird. Additionally, I would pick a book that connects directly to medicine, which was a substantial part of my SSP. 

The activity I enjoyed the most during my SSP was my internship with Dr. Nascimento, an orthopedic surgeon. During this internship, I would shadow him in the clinic, at Boston College spring football practices, and in the operating room. This activity was by far and away the most engaging activity as well. I had never been able to experience anything like this during my time in high school previously, and am very lucky and grateful to have been able to do this internship during SSP. Some surgeries I watched were ACL reconstruction, shoulder labrum repair, and rotator cuff repair. The coolest one I watched was the ACL reconstruction, which was also the most invasive.

One piece of advice that I would give to you as you think about your future Senior Spring Project would be to reach out to your desired internship as soon as possible. I’m sure you will hear that same piece of advice from many other people, including teachers and classmates, but it is especially imperative if you would like to intern in a hospital. If you are interning in a hospital, the hospital will make you fill out all sorts of forms that will take a while to review. You will also have to get some tests if you are working directly with patients. These tests take time to schedule and time for the doctors to analyze results. Therefore, it is super important to get started on this early. I was working right up until the start of SSP, finalizing my internship, even though I reached out to the surgeon in late December or early January.

I learned a lot about myself during SSP. One thing I learned about myself was that I definitely want to go into medicine. I had some skepticism about going into medicine as a career before SSP; however, SSP allowed me to confirm that orthopedics is where I want to have a future career in.

When planning for your SSP, I urge you to consider what you will enjoy doing. SSP is a perfect time for you to explore interests, both old and new. Don’t plan to do something during SSP because you feel obligated to. SSP is about finding out a little bit more about yourself. The only way you can truly do that is by setting expectations for yourself rather than strictly abiding by the expectations that were made for you by friends, teachers, and family members.