May 31 — SERVING THE COMMUNITY

High school seniors take different paths to fulfill senior projects

Every year, hundreds of local high school seniors graduate with not only the basic skills needed to master college or careers, but now with the understanding of how important service is in a community. The schools make sure of this by requiring students to complete senior projects, making them more well-rounded adults.

Samantha Salisbury

> School: Puyallup High School

> What is you senior project?: In Romania, myself and the other two girls that went were able to go to a Romanian orphanage and work with the babies that were either abandoned or were really sick. The nurses only held the babies maybe once a day...if that. They were fed three times and changed twice a day, that’s it. We went in and just held them. All of us girls sang to them and told them that Jesus loves you. A little girl named Maria was about a year old but was the size of about a 5-month-old because she did not have the nutrients that she needed and her muscles never developed, she couldn’t even hold her head up. She is blind. We would walk up to her and she’d be just staring into nothing and you’d say her name and she’d light up and smile and start waving.

We also went to a women’s prison and played games with the girls and sang songs. We went to Poland where we went to a gospel choir workshop and performed for the whole town at the end of the workshop. We helped the Polish kids with their English and taught them about Americanized singing.

> What was your inspiration for picking this project?: It really just fell into my lap. It honestly changed my outlook on life though.

> How much time did you invest?: We were over in Europe for a month, but all-in-all I wrote down about 33 hours of community service.

> Who did this project help?: We were able to take a gypsy baby back to his parents out in the gypsy village while we were at the hospital. We took a family of about five kids to McDonald’s. We helped the kids, the women in the prison and the singers in Poland. But honestly I think that we ended up helping ourselves just as much because we all learn so much about ourselves on this trip.

> What did you learn from working on this project?: I learned that adopting a child is one of the greatest gifts you could give someone. Love is all anyone really needs. Knowing that someone cares about you is truly and honestly grateful for everything that you do is the greatest feeling in the world.

> How will this affect your future?: This fall I am going over to Washington State University. After the trip, I have honestly decided that I want to do something that has to do with children.

Hailey Robinette

> School: Sumner High School

> What is you senior project?: For my senior project I am donating my hair to Locks of Love. I have also gotten one student from my school, two people from my hair salon, one person from my work (Pink Coconut Tanning Boutique), and one of my sister’s friends to donate their hair to the charity.

> What was your inspiration for picking this project?: My hair has always been my pride and joy and the envy of my whole family. A couple months before my senior year, I was thinking about cutting my hair because I felt like I needed a change. When I told my mom, she suggested that I should donate my hair to Locks of Love. At first I was a little skeptical about it because when you donate your hair, you have to donate at least 10 inches. I didn’t know if I was really ready for that. But my mom really helped me to realize that it would be a wonderful cause and it would be worth it to donate that much of my hair instead of getting 5 inches off and being thrown in the garbage. My mom has always been the one to inspire me to do a lot of things in my life, and I am really glad that she inspired me to do something as beneficial as this.

> How much time did you invest?: I devoted 15 hours to interviewing, getting others to donate, and setting up the event for this project.

> Who did this project help?: My project of donating hair to Locks of Love will help cancer victims by being able to give them hairpieces because of the fact that they will not be able to grow their own hair back.

> What did you learn from working on this project?: This project has really taught me a lot of communication skills and how important it is to give to a charity such as Locks of Love.

> How will this affect your future?: This project will affect my future because once my hair grows back out, I will probably want to donate it again. And hopefully I will be able to influence some more people to donate their hair as well.

Carly Gintz

> School: Emerald Ridge High School

> What is you senior project?: For my senior project, I chose to volunteer at the YWCA located in downtown Tacoma. This is a battered women’s shelter and where I helped out was in the children’s program. A typical day in the children’s program is a safety plan lesson (calling 911, what to do when your parents start fighting, etc.) a craft, and then gym time. I help lead the lessons, run the crafts, and I’m also just a friend to talk to and play with.

> What was your inspiration for picking this project?: I really love kids and I love being a good friend. The YWCA just seemed like a good place to go.

> How much time did you invest?: Over 80 hours

> Who did this project help?: Children who were either victims of domestic violence themselves or their parents were.

> What did you learn from working on this project?: I learned that even in a world of uncertainty and darkness kids can still find beauty. I also learned to never give up hope; I’ve seen it pull people through the worst of times.

> How will this affect your future?: The kids have taught me lessons I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I will continue my life with a goal to better the world in whatever way I can.

Dane Wesley Thiessen

> School: Rogers High School

> What is you senior project?: My project was volunteering at Habitat for Humanity.

> What was your inspiration for picking this project?: My mother’s house remodeling endeavors first interested me in the idea of homes and construction. It was there that I was able to work with her and see what it actually took to build a house. This was my main motivation to volunteer with Habitat For Humanity.

> How much time did you invest?: I worked on several sites for the organization such as the Redmond site and the Othello site. I still volunteer when I have free time.

> Who did this project help?: These projects were meant to give underprivileged families who live in poor living conditions a chance to afford decent housing.

> What did you learn from working on this project?: I was surprised at my fellow volunteers’ intense enthusiasm in working on the site. This was evident when we were called for a break and a groan swept the group in displeasure. Everyone had a good time working together.

> How will this affect your future?: This volunteering strengthens my interest in the field of architecture, which is the major I am pursuing at the University of Washington this next fall.

Tucker Williams

> School: Puyallup High School

> What is you senior project?: The senior project is actually a culmination of things from your sophomore year up through your senior year. As I sophomore I did my job shadow with the Puyallup Fire Department. I enjoyed that so much that when the time came for me to decide what I wanted to do for my community experience I didn’t even have to think twice.

> What was your inspiration for picking this project?: I have wanted to be a firefighter since I was 5 or 6, and getting the chance to be in the shoes of a firefighter for several hours really inspired me to choose the Puyallup Fire Department.

> How much time did you invest?: For the job shadow I spent about 8 hours with the department, and 20 or so hours for the community experience. But I’ve gone down to the station on my own time for countless hours.

> Who did this project help?: This project, actually, helped me a lot. Ever since I completed my community experience, the battalion chief who supervised me, Dennis Corbett, has become a mentor of mine. He’s helped me get my required field time for my EMT class, he’s periodically asked if I wanted to come down and have some ride time on the rigs, and he’s really exposed me to the great things of the firefighting profession.

> What did you learn from working on this project?: I learned many things about the fire department that I wasn’t aware of previously. Too many to mention, really. I asked questions non-stop. I had known a lot about the fire department through my uncle, who is a firefighter, but to get to experience first-hand riding in the back of a medic unit going lights and sirens to St. Joseph’s hospital is a whole other thing.

> How will this affect your future?: Doing this project really pushed me to start my career early and I’ve now joined the Milton Fire Department and received my Washington State EMT Certification. I have made the choice to stay in Puyallup for two more years and attend Pierce College. From there I hope to transfer to Central Washington University where I’ll get my Paramedic Degree.

Jared Knutzen

> School: Bonney Lake High School

> What is you senior project?: My senior project was to research and purchase a digital SLR Camera, and develop photography skills through classes and field experience.

> What was your inspiration for picking this project?: After a church mission trip last year, I realized the photographs I had taken did not adequately depict my experience — the country, the people, and their lives. I decided to do a project that would develop my photography skills and allow me to more effectively capture images and convey emotions through the lens of my camera.

> How much time did you invest?: I spent more hours in research and paper-writing than I can count, plus 18 hours in college classes and 20 plus hours field experience.

> Who did this project help?: This project helped me explore photography and develop my skills. Without this graduation requirement, I may not have accomplished that goal during this year.

> What did you learn from working on this project?: I improved my time management, professional communication and organizational skills. I developed a basic knowledge of digital SLR cameras and how to use them to take effective photographs.

> How will this affect your future?: My future career is engineering, and my interests in travel, cultures, and missions have given me a desire to assist in underdeveloped countries. A knowledge of photography will allow me to tell a story with my photographs and perhaps motivate others to get involved.

Garrett Allen

> School: Emerald Ridge High School

> What is you senior project?: For my senior project, I made and collected fleece blankets and foreign media (such as CDs, movies, books, and board games) and donated them to Children’s Hospital. We ended up with over eighty fleece blankets and two big boxes of foreign media.

> What was your inspiration for picking this project?: In April of 2005, I was diagnosed with lymphoma in the right side of my jaw. I started my chemotherapy right away up at Children’s Hospital in Seattle. While I was undergoing treatment, my grandmother made me a “sick blanket” that I could take with me to the hospital as something of comfort to have when I was sick and feeling the worst effects of the chemo. Looking back on all of this, I wanted to do something that would really make a difference and help the kids I would see every time I went to the hospital.

> How much time did you invest?: I put in just over 30 hours for my project, whether it was creating fliers, asking businesses and the community for help or actually making the blankets. There were a lot of other people who put their time into this project as well.

> Who did this project help?: This project benefited Children’s Hospital as well as many of the patients who receive their treatment there.

> What did you learn from working on this project?: I learned that if I prioritized everything I had to do and kept everything organized, then I could get so much more done than I ever thought I could. I also learned that my family was there to help me with whatever I needed.

> How will this affect your future?: Doing this as a project and undergoing chemotherapy, I realized that now I really want to work with kids in the field of medicine. Right now I am really looking at anesthesiology in pediatrics as a job I would like to do.

Andreina Guzman

> School: Walker High School

> What is your senior project?: My senior project is a culmination of work that describes and shows where I am and what I have done throughout my high school education, where I want to be in the future and what I am going to do to get there. The whole goal of the project was that I want to start schools in other countries.

> What was your inspiration for picking this project?: My inspiration for picking the direction of my project was attained by observing the activities I have been involved in, such as church-related activities and community experiences and how I can influence and impact my community through these.

> How much time did you invest?: I experienced and gathered information that would support my project about six months prior. And then prepared it two weeks before its due date.

> Who did this project help?: I believe this project helped all the places I volunteered at, including the YMCA, Youth Investment Center, local business, churches, schools, because it enlightened them on what is a senior project and showed them the importance of how education can have a decisive say in the forming of our future decisions. It also showed the community how important their role truly can provide multiple opportunities for success.

> What did you learn from working on this project?: I learned through this project that, what seem to be impossible goals can be attained through, perseverance, unblurred vision, enthusiastic zeal and hope directed faith.

> How will this affect your future?: This project will affect my future because I believe it has inclined me toward a certain direction for college and career plan. This project will affect my future because it has affected my mentality and perception on what I am capable of doing and achieving and how we all have so many resources and opportunities before us that can contribute to our goals.

Lindsay Armstrong

> School: Sumner High School

> What is your senior project?: I held a benefit concert for the refugees of the genocide happening in Darfur, Sudan. Four local artists, Danielle Henry, Brett Hite, Luke Breton Van Groll and Elijah Grindstaff performed on May 11 at Calvary Community Church. We raised $749 for the refugees, which will be donated through World Vision and letters were written to be sent to our senators.

> What was your inspiration for picking this project?: I have had a passion for the past two years to see the genocide in Darfur come to an end. It angers me that people are so indifferent to what is happening or simply don’t know about it. I have been planning to hold some sort of event to raise awareness about what’s happening in Darfur and the timing simply worked with it being able to be my senior project as well.

> How much time did you invest?: I started working on the concert in December, trying to find venues, artists, a good date, etc. I worked well over the hours I documented for my senior project. The two weeks leading up to the event I worked every day for about two hours on it.

> Who did this project help?: I hope this project helped the refugees of Darfur who are in desperate need of water, food and medicine. I also hope it helped wake up people to the reality of what’s happening in Darfur. Hopefully people realized that there really is a genocide happening right now, and it really needs to be stopped by people who are capable of helping.

> What did you learn from working on this project?: I learned that in order to capture people’s attention, you have to be creative. I learned that people are not heartless and if you make them aware of terrible situations, they really will actually care to make a difference. Most importantly I learned that individual citizens, no matter how ordinary they might be or feel, do have the power to make change happen, with hard work, determination and a dedicated heart.

> How will this affect your future?: I want to dedicate my future to humanitarian aid and seeing people take action in putting an end to unbelievable atrocities happening in this world. It was a good beginning to what I hope to be a long journey of activism in my life.

Kayla Holm

> School: Bonney Lake High School

> What was your senior project?: I volunteered at Good Samaritan Hospital in the pediatric department

> What was your inspiration?: I have always wanted to go into the medical field and I believed this project would give me a better look into the future.

> How much time did you invest?: I did 31 hours at Good Sam. I am still currently volunteering and plan on for a long time.

> Who did this project help?: This project helped me as well as helped the nurses and patients. I helped nurses feed patients, clean rooms, basically making it easier for them so that they could spend more time with their patients rather than doing the smaller things that need to be done.

> What did you learn from working on this project?: I learned that I now want to go toward the medical field even more than I wanted to before. I also learned that being a nurse is harder than it looks.

> How will this affect your future?: Ever since the start of my project I now want to go toward the medical field even more in the future. It also showed me how important volunteers are, so therefore I will continue to volunteer.