GROTON, Conn. – At the start of February, the class of 2027 was introduced to the MYP Personal Project and tasked with finding and following through with their goal.
On Feb. 5, the Sophomores had student mentors from the junior class introduce the project timeline. The MYP Personal Project is for students to showcase the skills they’ve been working on for the past five years (i.e. self-management, research, communication, etc.) through a topic they’re interested in. Mr. Christopher Morth and Ms. Jessica Dunican were recently named co-advisors for the Personal Project, and have set the timeline for all sophomores. On May 12, students will turn in their supervisor forms and reports, followed by their tri-boards on May 19 and 20. The IB Exhibition, where students will showcase their finished products, will take place on May 28 and 29 in the library.
“The MYP Personal Project functions as the capstone project to a Groton student’s 6-10 academic journey through the IB Middle Years Programme,” said Morth. “It is their chance to showcase the skills they’ve been working on for the past five years through something they’re passionate about.”
Morth further stated that the initiative is an excellent primer for students interested in pursuing the IB Diploma Programme. “In the Programme, the Extended Essay is a leveled-up version of the Personal Project. The same for the IB Career-related Programme’s Reflective Project. Students get to showcase in 10th grade many of the skills that they’re going to need going forward in our upper-level IB programs and college or the workforce after high school.”
Recently, sophomores were added to the MYP Personal Project Schoology page and introduced to their designated student mentors who completed the project last year. However, many have mixed thoughts on the project and timeline.
“As freshmen, we were pushed to really generate good ideas and take it to the next step,” said sophomore Finlay Overmoyer. “But this year there had not been a word spoken about it, making students come to the conclusion that there is no more MYP project”
Besides the sudden announcement, some students also took issue with the time commitment the project requires, as well as the lack of clear guidance.
“The current timeline is spaced out so it’s supposed to be easy, [but] I missed a week of school and now all I’m trying to do is to catch up on assignments,” said an anonymous sophomore. “I don’t feel like spending all that time on a project that I dislike greatly, [and the student mentors] coming to my CTL just tell us, ‘Oh, go on Schoology.’”
Not all of the feedback has been negative, however. Some students see the benefits of the project.
“I feel the project is a fair way to assess students’ learning and help students pick up new hobbies,” said Overmoyer.
While some students are struggling to come up with ideas, others have an idea of what they want to work on for the project.
“I will be focusing on marketing, specifically how feelings influence consumer behavior,” said sophomore Winter Davis. “To showcase this I will be creating a miniature art gallery that depicts key emotions highlighted in marketing campaigns.”
After multiple delays due to weather, sophomores will have an assembly on Monday, March 3, to meet Morth and Dunican and receive more detailed guidance on the project.
