1. business and industrial
2. business operations
3. management
4. project management

Senior Projects 2015
Dear Class of 2015,
During the final eight weeks of the second semester, each of you will be taking part in a
project of your own design. As students of Da Vinci Design, an institution that believes in
Project Based Learning, you have had exposure to a wide array of projects throughout your time
here. You’ve modeled, experimented, debated, constructed, pitched and designed your way
through three and half years of different projects that have been laid out for you. We, your
teachers, have had the pleasure of watching you identify problems, develop plans, and apply
solutions to the tasks we have provided you.
Now, it is your turn. Now is your opportunity to plan the project that you want. Now is
the time to leave a lasting impact, to innovate a solution to an issue, to implement ideas to fulfill
a need in your community. We can’t wait to see what you do!
Sincerely, The 12th Grade Team
Driving Question:
How can the class of 2015 create lasting, positive effects, addressing needs in either their school
or community environments, by designing projects of their own and taking action in the field?
Requirements to participate:
In order to be eligible to participate, you must:
- Be eligible for graduation
- Pass all 12th grade classes (no “I”s)**
- Return a parent notification form
- Present a written proposal of your project
ideas
- Provide a project overview and calendar
- Present group project idea for Spring
Exhibition
- Create a project pitch and present final
project idea for approval
Overview:
During this eight week period, students will be working on their own or in a small group (four
students or less) to achieve a project that makes a positive, lasting impact on our Da Vinci
campus and/or in our local communities. Each student/group will be provided with a 12th grade
teacher who will act as an advisor.. Each project must have a set of tangible products or
“deliverables”. Get creative with what your final product may be!
Deliverables in the past have included:
Strong Ideas
- Outreach programs for at-risk youth
- Innovative product design
- Student produced documentary films
- Volunteer and fundraising events that have a significant,
measurable impact
- Improvement or beautification of a community space
Weak Ideas
- New student-run clubs
- Awareness campaigns
- Recycling programs
- Volunteering with or
fundraising for existing
organizations
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Expectations & Requirements
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Students must be on campus from 9am till 1:15pm daily.
All students must still be present for Advisory and CD at regularly scheduled times.
Groups are expected to seek opportunities to work off-campus and “in the field” to do
research and complete project deliverables
Each group will present to the rest of their cohort for feedback and ideas once per week.
Students will regularly meet with advisors and and keep advisors updated daily*.
Throughout the project, all students will be expected to keep a daily blog or journal to
track their progress. This daily log will be included in weekly and final assessments and
serve as a data source for a final group research paper.
Students must complete all Senior Project presentations and expectations in order to earn
the right to walk the stage at graduation
Scheduling
Each student’s schedule is granted at the discretion of the advisors. Students will present their
progress to their cohort once per week, will consult with their advisor twice per week and will be
granted in-class work time twice per week. In the twice-per-week advisor consultation meetings,
students must provide evidence of their progress in order to continue to earn the right to have
fieldwork time. Students in the field are responsible for letting their advisor know where they are
in the field at all times. Advisors will be performing random site checks during the project.
*If students are absent without excuse from on-campus meeting time, if they are absent for a
random site check, or fail to provide evidence of progress at any time, field work time and other
senior privileges can and will be revoked.*
**Students that do not pass all classes with a C- or better will be retained on campus for the
standard bell schedule: five days-a-week, seven hours-a-day. Students with Incompletes will still
be paired with an advisor to whom they will report every day, and with whom they will design a
plan for passing any remaining classes. There will be required to do make-up work on campus
until all classes are passed.**
Presentations
Students will do three presentations during the last six weeks of the semester: one “Midway
POL” presentation at three weeks into their project, a presentation at Senior Showcase in May,
and a final POL.
The “1/2 way” presentation is formal, is given to their advisor and at least one other teacher, and
will require students to present an outline for their final POL, raw data / footage from their
fieldwork, research samples that they’ve done, and challenges they’ve encountered so far.
The final POL, also formal, will be students’ opportunity to present on their findings and
solutions to the need that they wanted to address. POL must include evidence (data, the daily
logs, and any photos or footage collected, etc.) gathered from working in their field work sites.
Final POLs will be held for a panel including advisor, another teacher, any mentors or
community leaders that helped student organize and implement their project; and, it will be open
to parents, students, community members, and guests.
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Deadlines
Phase 1:
Group Proposals and Parent/Guardian Signatures due: Feb. 13th
Advisors begin meeting with students: March 2th
Exhibition Presentation: April 2nd
Phase 2:
Pitch POL Prep: Week of April 14th
Project Pitch POLs: Week of April 20th
Phase 3:
Field Work Schedule Begins: April 27th
Midway presentations: Week of May 11th
Final POLs: Week of June 1st
Proposals
Each group will be presenting a proposal packet for addressing a particular topic in a way that
will leave a positive, lasting effect on the Da Vinci Schools and/or on your community. Each
group is responsible for presenting one Group Topic Proposal Form (page 4) along with three
Project Idea Forms (page 7 & 8) by February 13th. Once this proposal packet has been received
by the 12th grade teaching team, each student/group will be matched with an advisor.
The focus of the Group Topic Proposal is simple: propose a topic that you (and/or your group)
would like to explore. This topic should be broad, or general, like a theme that many project
ideas could connect to. The topic of your Senior Project will most likely be a community need or
issue that you wish to address for 6 weeks.
The focus of the Project Idea form is to start getting more specific. This is where you would list
specific goals, deliverables, and objectives that you would want to accomplish that would
connect to your project topic. One idea, or a combination of these ideas, will be used to
formulate the final project idea for that group. See page 4 for more details…
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Senior Projects:
Group Topic Proposal Form (One per group)
Each group must present a proposal by Feb 13th that outlines the lasting impact they wish to
make, along with different project ideas, objectives/goals, professionals and/or organizations the
students hope to work with, etc.
Each group is responsible for presenting one Group Topic Proposal Form (this sheet) along with
three Project Idea Forms (page 7 & 8). Once these proposals have been received by the 12th grade
teaching team, each student/group will be matched with an advisor.
As a group, please fill out this sheet, and three Project Idea proposals, and then attach
them to this sheet. Return this proposal packet to Ms. Prentoulis NO LATER THAN Feb. 13th
Project Topic:
Proposed Group Members and Roles (up to four members):
Justify the need for a project about this topic:
(What need(s) of the community or of the Da Vinci Schools is your group trying to address?)
List the main goals/objectives of a project on this topic:
(What specific things do you hope your project(s) will accomplish?)
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Hello Da Vinci Design families!
This letter is to inform you about an exciting opportunity for the senior class. Your student will
be a part of the next class of Da Vinci graduates to experience Senior Projects. This studentdriven project would give Da Vinci designers the opportunity to explore a project topic of their
choosing, and each student will design a project meant to address a need of the Da Vinci Schools
or of our local community. Working either in a group or as an individual, the students will
collect research and take action through fieldwork and through discussions with experts in the
field. Each group or individual will be assigned an advisor to guide them through the project
design process. The project will culminate in an exhibition with students explaining their
research, potential solution or idea that they have created in response to that research.
Some examples of senior projects could be student produced documentary films, volunteer and
fundraising events, or outreach programs to local schools.
Completing a comprehensive project of this magnitude necessarily means that students will have
to be out ‘in the field’. This field research schedule will begin on Monday, April 27th. The
current plan is to have students come to campus for half days from April 27th until graduation.
We understand that second semester of senior year is hard time to stay focused and motivated,
and rightfully so, as students often have all their credits and are simply waiting to graduate and
move on to the next phase in their lives. The Senior Legacy Project was created so that this last
semester of high school can leave a meaningful impact on our students. We hope that students
will take advantage of this opportunity to leave a lasting impression on the Da Vinci Schools and
Los Angeles community.
(PLEASE SEE OTHER SIDE BEFORE SIGNING BELOW AND RETURNING BOTTOM HALF WITH STUDENT)
Sincerely,
The 12th Grade Da Vinci Team
Senior Graduation Project Return Form
Returning this acknowledges that both parent/guardian and student are aware of project
requirements and schedule change starting April 27th:
Student Name:
Student Signature:
Date:
Parent/Guardian Signature:
Date:
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The plan is to have seniors on campus from about 9am-1:15pm every day from April 27th until
graduation, according to the following schedule guidelines:
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Students will present their progress to their cohort once per week to get feedback on project
progress, to receive suggestions for improvement, and to share ideas and successes
Students will consult with their advisor twice per week. In the twice-per-week advisor
consultation meetings, students must provide evidence of their progress in order to continue
to earn the right to have fieldwork time (ie: half-days).
Students in the field are responsible for letting their advisor know where they are in the field
at all times. Advisors will be performing random site checks during the project.
Proposals for projects will be due Friday, February 13th. Advisors will read through the
proposals and return them to students on Monday, March 2nd. PLEASE NOTE THAT IF A
STUDENT HAS ONE OR MORE INCOMPLETES, HE OR SHE WILL BE UNABLE TO
PARTICIPATE IN THE SENIOR PROJECT.
In order to be eligible to participate, each student must:
- Be eligible for graduation
- Pass all 12th grade classes (no “I”s)**
- Return a parent notification form
- Present a written proposal of your project ideas
- Provide a project overview and calendar
- Present group project idea for Spring Exhibition
- Create a project pitch and present final project idea for approval
Please contact any of your student’s 12th grade teachers via email if you have any further
questions, suggestions or comments. Thank you!
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Project Idea
(Idea ___ of 3)
Please describe one project idea that you or your group would like to propose for the topic
you want to dress. Once complete, attach to the Group Proposal Form and
return to Ms. Prentoulis by Feb. 13th.
Project Topic:
Proposed group members:
Project Idea Summary:
List the products / deliverables / measurable goals for your project:
Explain the need for this project: how does it address the group topic, and why would you
need 6 weeks to accomplish this? (write two to three sentences)
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Desired impact:
(What do you want the lasting impacts of your project to be?)
List three organizations that may be used as resources and their contact information:
(What organizations/professionals do you hope to work with on this project?)
Organizations / Professionals
Contact Info (website, address, phone #)
1)
2)
3)
List some potential roadblocks you might face during the course of addressing the need you
identified? How might you find solutions to these roadblocks?
Roadblocks
Solutions
(ex: contacting experts, not hearing back from
(ex: having back-up contacts, following up with
contacts)
contacts)
1)
2)
3)
Other Notes: (optional)
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