Judges still needed for senior projects

The culmination of many hours of research and job shadowing for Columbia County high school seniors is their senior project presentations.

Near the end of their senior year, students are required to give a 10-minute presentation on their senior project to a panel of judges. Schools are recruiting judges for the three-night cavalcade of senior presentations that each high school is gearing up to proffer.

"The judges are gauging the content and how the student dealt with the topic," said Norm Cox, a senior project co-coordinator at Lakeside High School. "The judges don't have to have a background in education or a topic that the student chooses because the students are informing the judges on what they did."

A senior project is a requirement for senior English courses. Students begin working on their projects soon after school begins in August. The projects often require interviewing an expert in their chosen field, job shadowing, writing a research paper and creating a portfolio of their work.

"All of that will be graded by the time they do the presentations," said Debbie Daniel, a project co-coordinator at Evans High. "The only thing they'll be graded on in March is their presentation and their ability to present what they've done."

Evans High's senior presentations will be held March 28-30. Lakeside follows with its presentations April 12-14. Harlem holds its April 19-21. Greenbrier seniors make their presentations April 18, 19 and 21. Most of the presentations will be held in the afternoon and evening hours.

Judges can choose to participate on only one night or all three, and hundreds are required to view all of the projects.

While some schools already have recruited judges, several dozen are still needed.

Anyone interested in volunteering can contact high schools to offer their help.