What started as ideas in the minds of a group of freshmen last year turned into complex Middle Years Programs projects, each made with careful thought and planning. Projects like 3D printing, and ‘Body Who?’ are only a few of many.
Some students created projects that have a more personal touch to them.
Sophomore Teju Boinpally locked down her Body Who? idea in January of this year. Body Who? is a project that focuses on body image and the need for approval by others, and how it affects teen lives. It unfolded from a forensics speech and an inspiration to bring more light to the issue. Complete with a trifold that took 3 hours, a plethora of paint, and 3-4 days waiting for interview answers, Boinpally has invested time, effort, and money into his project.
Boinpally had drawn ideas for her project from a forensics persuasive speech about the comparison to the perfect body from what some would consider an ‘average’ one.
“That research [for my speech] guided me when thinking about my project because it really inspired me to talk about this issue,” Boinpally said. “I hope that at least a few more people end the stigma of body image,”.
Other projects, however, took a completely different turn.
Sophomore Yash Fichadia, another MYP student, worked with a professor from the University of Nebraska- Omaha to 3D print cheaper prosthetic hands for kids.
“I was volunteering at Do Space, and they were doing a lot of things with 3D printing there, so I was looking up cool things to do with it,” Fichadia said. “I just found this prosthetic hand site, e-NABLE, and they told us about the professor at UNO.”
While Fichadia did not design the prosthetics himself, he did print them and assembled the complicated objects himself.
These projects are not graded like an average assignment. The MYP supervisors are the first to grade on the MYP rubric. The strongest papers are then chosen to be sent to the IB counsel to be graded again, but this time on an IB rubric.
MYP Coordinator, Amber Ripa, has been the Personal Project Coordinator since 2007 and has seen the unique ideas that come from students.
“I love the creativity that the students are encouraged to demonstrate. I think this is a great opportunity to have a chance to show their talents and interests,” Ripa said.
These projects are worked on throughout sophomore year. Every so often there are checkpoints that the students take part in to monitor their growth until project night.
After completing their year-long projects, the students had an opportunity to show them off at the IB Showcase on April 5, opening eyes to an interesting array of topics with the intricate details, and diving into an even more in-depth look at body shaming and 3D printed hands.