April 29 and 30 will find most seniors heading to the Career Center to present their senior projects to volunteers. Afterwards, they’ll wait anxiously to find out if they passed.

For a few students, though, the stress of Senior Project will be long over by that time. Some students already finished the class over last summer, and more will present their projects in February or March and be done with the whole thing.

Although Senior Project coordinator Molly Spisak said she’s found most students are fine with working at the pace the teachers have set out for them, students are free to work ahead if they want.

“All of the requirements [of Senior Project] are set out in the course book, and there’s also a checklist that was handed out at the beginning of the year,” Spisak said. “It allows for a more individualized pace.”

Once a student completes his or her product and reflection paper, and rehearses the actual presentation with a teacher, he or she is ready to present.

A presentation date had been scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 14, but was canceled because only one student was ready to present. Spisak said she thought the date was too soon after break.

She expects more students — about 15 or 20 from the high school — to be ready to present on the next presentation date, which is Monday, Feb. 24. Presentations will take place at the Career Center. There will be another presentation day on Monday, March 24.

Some students, like seniors Christine Burlingham and Danielle Nelson, have talked to their teachers about the possibility of finishing early.

Burlingham and Nelson put on a fundraiser concert called “Music Speaks” on Dec. 15 as part of their senior project, and also went to elementary schools in December and talked to kids there about the benefits of doing band, orchestra or choir in high school.

The concert served as their Marketing project as well, and everything related to that was due first semester. Now, they want to finish their senior projects and present so they can focus on their DECA project, which is over the same thing — although each project has unique requirements.

So, they talked to their Senior Project teachers about what they needed to do to present early. Nelson said her teacher made her a list of things she needed to do before she would be ready to present.

“When I go to Senior Project, I’m just sitting there or [instructor April Lambert] signs me out,” Nelson said. “Since I’m having all this dead time, I figured I should get it done.”

Nelson is almost done putting everything together for her project and presentation, and Burlingham will present Feb. 24. (They are presenting separately.)

Although Burlingham and Nelson’s situation is unique in that they already finished a Marketing project over the same topic, they are like other students in that they want to put Senior Project behind them.

“When the concert was over, I felt a huge weight off my shoulders,” Nelson said. “I just want to get [the presentation] done.”

Students currently in Senior Project can work ahead on their own, but a few students had the opportunity to finish last summer, when Senior Project was condensed into a three-week summer school class.

Students weren’t able to just sign up for the summer class. Because in the past the class started getting too big, a lottery was introduced and juniors were able to enter for a chance to take Senior Project over the summer. Twenty names were chosen for last summer.

“They just really had to do it quickly,” said Senior Project instructor Theresa Gosnell, who taught the summer class. “Sometimes that’s not good, because how’s the quality of work when you have to do it that fast?”

However, Gosnell said most of the students she had in the summer class were extra motivated to finish, and worked hard at summer school.

“While it’s pretty intense to get it all the way done, it’s possible,” Gosnell said. “For those who did get it done, they were so happy to get it done. It was a huge weight off their shoulders.”

Spisak said two of the summer students didn’t present in the summer as the majority of the class did, but instead presented in August. One student who took the class in the summer is taking Senior Project during the year.

Spisak and Gosnell said the Senior Project teachers have been discussing whether to offer Senior Project this coming summer, but no decision has been made yet.

“It’s kind of a back-and-forth,” Spisak said. “If you can do it in four weeks, is it as meaningful as we hope it is?”

Spisak said she expects students whose projects already passed, like Nelson and Burlingham, to finish early this spring, but said that overall, she has been surprised at the small number of students trying to finish early.

“At the beginning of the year, I thought more students would be motivated to complete their senior project early, but I have found that even some of my most motivated students are happy to just work at the pace we have set up for them,” Spisak said.

While Spisak said she sees the benefits of finishing early, she also said there’s something to be said for presenting on the regular dates.

“I think finishing early has some large benefits for the student,” Spisak said. “It’s a large weight off their shoulders…I think that’s a huge advantage. But I also think there’s something to be said about going to the Career Center on April 29 and 30 with the majority of your graduating class, sharing the same stress. Some of that camaraderie, I think, is a benefit of presenting on the regular days.”

For students, though, enjoying the camaraderie may not be a concern.

“With senior year, you’re so stressed with everything else, and Senior Project is just on top of your other things, and it’s always hanging over your head,” Burlingham said. “I just wanted to eliminate that stress and get it over with.”

Editor’s Note: Four students also presented their senior projects Thursday, Jan. 16.