My Senior Spring Project is off to a hot start. Although it feels generally well balanced, it also feels as though two of my activities are taking up a disproportionate amount of time compared to my other activities. My two most significant time commitments are AP Biology and Varsity Boys Lacrosse. Although AP Biology only technically counts for eight hours towards SSP, it has proven to be a far more significant commitment than I had expected. We do have a lot of class time, but we also do a lot out of class for homework and extra review. Additionally, three of my biology classes meet at 9:05 in the morning. Therefore, it doesn’t feel like I get to sleep in any later than I usually would have done during the regular school year. Before SSP had started, on Tuesdays my first class started at 8:50 and on Wednesdays and Thursdays, my first class started at 9:00. Therefore, I haven’t truly been able to get more sleep during SSP, which I had hoped for. Despite this huge time commitment, I have been enjoying AP biology and have learned a lot. We are moving at a far quicker pace than we were during the regular school year; however, I enjoy this quicker pace as I feel it keeps my mind more engaged. Varsity Boys Lacrosse is also taking up a lot of my time. It does count for 12 hours towards my SSP, but it also feels like it may be taking up more time than that. Especially on game days, because we have meetings before the game to discuss film and scouting, and if it is an away game, the travel time can take up quite some time. However, I have really enjoyed lacrosse and being a part of the team. With all of this being said, I don’t believe that I have any insurmountable problems at this point. Therefore, I have not made any changes because I have enjoyed SSP thus far.

   Retrospectively, I would say that overall, I did a pretty good job at planning for my Senior Spring Project. From the start, I had a good idea of what I wanted to do during my SSP. The only activity that I didn’t know if I would be doing going into my 12th grade year was my cultural cooking and podcast. However, my friends and I started organizing that activity very early on, well before anything concrete was due. Therefore, since I knew what I wanted to do from the beginning of the school year, I did not have a very difficult time planning for it. The one thing I may have done differently is that I would have contacted Dr. Nascimento earlier. Although I contacted him in December, since the internship included working at a hospital, there were many hoops I had to jump through. I needed to get approved by many different people on many different levels, and if I had started that aspect of it earlier, I would have been more prepared to work with Dr. Nascimento from the start of SSP.

   I am not doing any senior seminars; however, I wish my schedule permitted me to do some. I wanted to do breads and spreads, but my schedule was too busy to allow that to happen. I have baked bread a few times before, but I would love to know how to bake a variety of breads.  Additionally, I wish I had taken Ms. Hudson’s movie seminar, as I believe I would have had a lot of fun in that seminar. Although I am not taking any senior seminars, I am continuing two classes, both of which I am enjoying.

   My greatest pleasure so far has indubitably been working with Dr. Nascimento. It has been very enjoyable for a few different reasons. One reason is that I aspire to be an orthopedic surgeon, which is Dr. Nascimento’s exact profession. Working with him has shown me a little bit more about the medical field and orthopedics in particular than I otherwise would have discovered. Additionally, I am a massive fan of football, especially the Patriots. Dr. Nascimento used to be the team orthopedic surgeon for the New England Patriots before leaving. He has told me a lot about his time with the Patriots and why he decided to leave the Patriots. Even though he only consults with the Patriots from time to time, he is the head orthopedic surgeon for Boston College, including their football program. Dr. Nascimento has brought me to many BC football spring practices, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. Lastly, Dr. Nascimento has a bright personality, which automatically makes spending time with him more enjoyable.

   I have also found my independent study of cultural cooking and podcasting to be very enjoyable. I have a lot of fun while making the podcast, talking with my friends, and I have a lot of fun learning to cook new foods. Additionally, eating the food is very rewarding, knowing all of the hard work we all put into making it.

   I have not yet started reading my Senior Spring Project book, which is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Even though I have not read any of it, I am very much looking forward to starting it. I believe that once I start reading it, I will get hooked on it and finish it in two or three days.

   To make class meetings more enjoyable to me, we could play interactive games as tables competing against each other, like the games we played at the senior faculty dinner. Additionally, I wish there were fewer announcements and less dependence on the slide show. I wish that the slideshow was more brief, as it is our responsibility to make sure we are doing what we need to be doing for SSP.