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MARCH 14, 2024—The halls at the Pal-Mac High School turned into a long, winding line of display tables Wednesday night. The tables were topped with a mix of Chromebooks, poster boards, and many more exhibits.
That is, except for one student, George, whose project couldn’t fit in the door. We’ll get to that in a second.
The projects were a part of the annual Personal Project Community Showcase. The showcase is a part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (IBMYP) and is the culmination of years of learning, and months of planning and designing.
Each student in the showcase picked a specific area of study, whether it be learning a new skill, taking part in some form of community service, or creating something new.
This brings us to George’s project, which was so big that it had to stay out in the parking lot. George designed and built a large trebuchet. A trebuchet is a type of catapult that uses a rotating arm with a sling attached to launch a projectile. The large wooden structure towered over the truck it was towed in by.
“It probably took over a hundred hours between designing, building, and concepts,” George said.
George said he previously built a smaller model and wanted to challenge himself to create something larger. He brought the smaller model inside with him to show his progression.
He oversaw the entire process, from drawing a model on paper to milling his own wood and then acquiring all the ropes and other materials needed to make the design fully functional. He didn’t test a launch at the school, but he did say the trebuchet could launch a bowling ball or pumpkin at least 500-600 feet away.
“It wasn't as much work as I enjoyed doing it,” George said “I found time to work on it, especially during Winter Break.”
PHOTO GALLERY: 2024 Personal Project Showcase
As mentioned, the projects themselves took up roughly two to three months of development before the showcase. But the actual process behind the showcase starts in the Spring of their freshman years.
Students like George learned about the project itself and then started crafting a specific topic to research and present.
Their work is broken down into three pieces:
- Learning Goal: students set a learning goal based on something they find interesting.
- Product or Outcome: this can be a physical object (e.g., model, invention, etc.) an event (e.g., fundraiser, awareness play, etc.), or a creative piece (e.g., video, artwork, etc.).
- Report: a detailed analysis of the entire project and process of development. The report may be written or recorded orally or visually.
The entire process wrapped up shortly before the showcase.
We also spoke to another student, Kelly, who chose to focus on Equine Therapy. That’s where horses are added into a person’s therapeutic process by doing activities such as grooming, feeding, and leading a horse on a path.
Kelly walks alongside a horse at the facility
“It was kind of one of those things that I didn't know what I wanted to do,” Kelly said. “We were shown these videos, and art therapy was something that came up and I just came up with the idea of animal therapy.”
She spent time volunteering at a therapy facility, mostly working as a sidewalker. She helped kids who might not be able to completely stay on by themselves. Throughout the process, she continued to research the benefits of equine therapy and created a web page dedicated to it.
She says she plans to volunteer at the facility again down the line.
As part of the showcase, students are graded on their approaches to learning skills for self-management, research, communication, critical and creative thinking, and collaboration.
And then there’s the final demonstration of their work. In addition to the poster boards and Chromebooks mentioned before, students like Kelly brought along other tangible demonstrations of their research. While she did bring her Chromebook with the website open, she also shared some pictures from her experience.
Elsewhere, some students brought in everything from a video game set to hand-drawn artwork and food. Lots and lots of food.
Gabriel, Jonas, and Carson each created recipes. Jayson (far right) taught a friend how to be a soccer goalie
An excerpt from Emma's project, which combined cooking and food photography
One student, Emma, combined learning new recipes with growing her professional food photography skills.
Another student, Alana, wore a shiny satin prom dress that she designed and created herself. Her table mate, Sammi, created her own ear piercings. Down the hall, Eloise wrote, produced, and performed her songs.
We also spoke to Ryder, who shared a brief overview of his original movie screenplay, and Brendon, who developed a biodegradable fishing lure.
Alana (left) and Sammi (right)
Brendon sits with his fishing bait set up
While the final displays dazzled the crowds as they walked through the halls, the showcase is also about expressing what you learned throughout the entire process.
“I always thought that horses were just like a leisurely activity and probably had mental benefits from it,” Kelly said. “But I never realized how many physical benefits that happen from it.”
George told us he learned more about what exactly goes into designing something on a large scale.
There was also a chance for families and friends to learn a thing or two. We stopped by Isaiah's booth, where he shared a presentation on how he learned to speak, read, and write in both the Greek and Latin languages. He detailed how many of the words we use today have roots in both languages.
Isaiah with his Greek and Latin setup
Lessons learned, and displays done, the 2024 Project Showcase came and went. And now we wait to see what exciting displays are shared at next year’s event.
To learn more about the program and the showcase itself, click here.
Additionally, several students including Isaiah, George, and Kelly received awards for their work on their presentations:
- Kareem Afify
- Ryan Allen
- Isaiah Bransford
- Ava Burgess
- Kairi Cathey
- Taylor Cheetham
- Tyler Dranichak
- Ryder Herron
- Andrew Jennette
- Madalynn Johnson
- Billy Kipp
- Jenna Lindstrom
- Sami Mahnke
- George Newsome
- Eloise O'Brien
- Nikki Pompeii
- Kelly Sanson
- Brendon Trapiss
- Faith Walters
- Palmyra-Macedon CSD
- Palmyra-Macedon High School