The school year is coming to an end and while the members of the Class of 2025 are taking AP tests, planning for the prom, and finishing their last assignments for classes, they are also preparing for Senior Project final presentations which will take place on Friday, May 16th.

The goal of the Senior Project class is to help refine skills for life after high school. The students practice professional development such as resume writing and interviewing; they practice writing emails and making presentations; they familiarize themselves with typical workplace programs and expectations. They are tasked with completing 25 hours of volunteer or job shadow internships/placements. And the culminating experience is a project that they design. The project teaches students what’s involved in planning, funding, and executing an idea. For many of the projects, students secure grants most notably through the Maynard Education Foundation. Ultimately, the goal of the class is to help students develop their own agency and to encourage them to make a difference in the community.

Some of the support students received, and placements students have worked at, this year include: 

• Companies and organizations in Maynard such as Insitu and the Farmer’s Market. 
• John Cramer of Summer Street Properties presented to students and met with some of the students who were interested in finance and real estate careers. 
• The Maynard Business Alliance was helpful in making connections for our students. 
• The teachers and counselors of Green Meadow and Fowler schools were gracious in working with our students, as were many teachers at the high school who helped students complete their projects.
• Maynard Pride was involved with a student project
• The Town of Maynard not only provided multiple internships to learn GIS (essentially a database combined with spatial or geographic information), they also welcomed students in touring facilities at the Police and Water Departments. 
• Two students worked with Kindercare at Mill and Main while other students worked with the Till Organization.
• Neighboring towns also were places students volunteered, including the Organization of the Assabet River(OAR)  which presented to the class and invited students to volunteer. 
• A student worked with the Heritage Museum in Hudson. 
• And a student worked with the Stow Conservation Commission. 
• Representative Kate Hogan’s office provided an incredible experience for two interns at the State House. 

And there are many more places that our students were able to work and for that we are very grateful! Each of those placements is an educational experience.

The projects produced by the Class of 2025 have been diverse! Students have hosted leadership workshops, created expert panels, planned events to break stereotypes, used AI to build and test a small rocket, created a DNA lab for the biology class, created an app, produced a book of poetry, a musical zine, a financial guide. If you see a Little Free Art Gallery box on the school grounds, that’s thanks to a senior project! Students have learned Quickbooks, Project Planning, and coding. In short, students have pursued their passions and interests and they’ve seen how those convictions and ideas can turn into tangible artifacts for our community.

As another class joins the ranks of the alumni, the Senior Project program is thankful to all those in the Maynard community who support our students’ work!