The Senior Project is one staple of the John Carroll graduation requirements. Each project takes a lot of work and dedication to complete, but with the recent circumstances surrounding COVID-19, this year’s implementation has left a lot of room for questions.

Due to COVID-19, project options have altered the implementation process, and the evaluation format potentially may have to be adjusted.
All Senior Projects have to fit into exploration, community service, exploration of a passion, pursuit of a dream, or some combination of these categories. Students must complete a minimum of 30 fieldwork hours to complete their projects; every student must have either a direct or indirect mentor, and all projects have to approved by Senior Project Director Mrs. Louise Geczy before projects can be started.
Mrs. Geczy said that the goal of Senior Project is to “provide each senior with an opportunity to pursue an individual project that will be both a meaningful capstone for their JC days and a powerful transitional experience that is an effective bridge between high school and post-high school life.”
“Goals and expectations have not changed,” Mrs. Geczy said. She added that specific expectations are that seniors “will embrace this opportunity to grow rather than do as little as possible to just get by.”
Students have had all summer to think about what they want to do for their individual projects. The final submission and approval for each senior’s project is due by the end of the first quarter.
Although this 2020 year has been very unpredictable, Mrs. Geczy assures seniors that they will “be able to get the full Senior Project experience as long as they stretch themselves in a variety of ways as well as learn and grow rather settle for being mediocre and spend their time procrastinating instead of producing.”
Senior Tommy Sukiennik is very passionate about his own Senior Project and has been working on it all summer.
He explained, “My senior project is a talk show on Instagram called ‘Talking with Tommy.’ I started my talk show back in April since people were feeling socially-disconnected during the pandemic with school closed and everything shut down. I have JC students on and share conversation and laughs.”
On his talk show, he discusses wellness topics and music to “connect people in a social, positive, fun way and to share conversation despite separation and COVID-19.”
Senior Heather Reich will be painting a mural.
“I’m going to create a mural in the garage in my house for my family. We all love gardening and nature, so I’m creating something inspired by it,” Heather said, adding that this project also would fulfill her requirements for the Fine Arts Diploma with Distinction.
Shannon O’Mara plans to focus her Senior Project on why zoos and aquariums should be eliminated. She said, “I plan to research the mistreatment of the animals.”