As a member of the IBMYP Diploma Program, Palmer High School offers many unique academic opportunities for its students. One of the most exciting (and challenging) is the IBMYP personal project, which is done by all Palmer High School sophomores.
Natalie Muro, a sophomore at Palmer High School who recently completed her personal project, stated, “many of my peers have been happy to explore something that they are interested in”, and that the personal project has “motivated them to complete this project and plan it out more successfully than they might have done if they were to do something that they weren’t interested in”. While the personal project can be difficult to complete, it is a fun opportunity to explore and showcase one’s interests.
The personal project also offers valuable life lessons about time management, taking on difficult projects, and learning new subjects. Sophomores at Palmer High School agree that it is “really important to explore something you’re very interested in while also making sure that you are setting a timeline and keeping yourself accountable to finish the project”, and many stated that they too believe it to be a valuable lesson with many learning opportunities.
The personal project can be anything the student is interested in and wants to learn about, as long as there is a finished product to be displayed when the project is finished. Muro’s project was “studying and then passing the Colorado Parks and Wildlife boating exam, and then I learned how to upkeep two mini Sunfish sailboats, and then, finally, I repaired two of their sail sheets”. Other personal project subjects can include learning more about one’s sport/ finishing a difficult task related to the sport, sewing or upcycling an article of clothing, writing a book, planning a road trip, and many more options.
However, the personal project can have many ups and downs. It involves hours of planning, coordinating with teacher supervisors, at-home work, reflecting on the project, and presenting. Many sophomores struggle with procrastination or coming up with an intriguing topic for their project. Natalie stated that “there were definitely challenging aspects to the project. I definitely had a lot of information presented to me at the end of my freshman year, so I was able to think about it over the summer and start work on it. So while I hit speedbumps along the process, it was certainly something that I felt I could be well prepared to plan for”. So, while the personal project is a very fun and interesting opportunity it can definitely have its challenges.
After Palmer High School sophomores have completed their personal project they have the opportunity to showcase their work to the community surrounding the school. Every year, Palmer High School staff and sophomores host a Personal Project Palooza in the Palmer library for fellow students, staff members, and people from the community outside of Palmer to come see the products of the sophomores’ hard work and learn about their projects.
This year, the Personal Project Palooza will be held in the Palmer library on February 12th throughout the school day, so make sure to stop by and check out what our sophomores have done!
