Community members sought to judge South Tahoe High School Senior Projects

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - South Tahoe High School (STHS) is seeking volunteer judges for the semi-annual Senior Project presentations in 2025 are January 24, 2025, and May 29, 2025. Over the years, natural attrition has thinned the ranks of our community judges, and we are looking to increase our numbers by reaching out to interested members of the South Lake Tahoe community for help.

Since 1993 (except the COVID-shortened 2020 school year), STHS students have completed their Senior Projects as part of their graduation requirement. The projects, whose topics are chosen entirely by the student, include a wide range of reflections on the creativity and diverse interests of the graduating seniors, which has made senior project judging a very exciting experience for thirty-one years.

The responsibilities of the community judges include a reasonable time commitment. About a week before the live presentations, judges peruse the students’ online portfolios from home or work and score them with an easy-to-use online rubric provided by the Senior Project coordinators. The judges check for completeness and quality of work. The portfolios include a writing sample, a log of hours, feedback from teachers and mentors, various letters to mentors and judges, and may also include photos and videos of the students completing their projects. Each judge will scan and score the portfolios of the five or six students they’ve been assigned. This process takes about 90 minutes and online or personal training is available.

On Senior Project day, each student presents an 8-to-12-minute in-person summary of the project and demonstrates his or her learning in front of a 5- or 6-person panel of teachers and community members who fill out a simple rubric and provide feedback to the student. This process lasts about two or two and a half hours, depending on the number of students presenting that day. An STHS staff teacher typically hosts the presentations in his or her classroom on campus. Presentations occur in late January/early February, and again in late May/early June (to accommodate the two academic terms at STHS). The next set of Senior Project presentations is scheduled for January 24, 2025, and May 29, 2025.

The role of the community judge is to validate each student by completing the rubrics provided and to give the students written feedback. The STHS staff members have already helped the students perfect their writing samples and public speaking skills, so by the time judges see and hear the presentations, the students have rehearsed numerous times and have polished their writing sample and their presentation styles.

The Senior Projects at South Tahoe High School have consistently been singled out by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) as one of the best measures of student learning at STHS.

If you are interested in learning more about Senior Project community member judging or have already decided you would like to be included, please contact the South Tahoe High School Senior Project coordinators at seniorproject@ltusd.org, or Senior Project Community Liaison Frank Kovac at fkovac7734@gmail.com.

Please share this information among friends and co-workers who might be interested, too.

- Frank Kovac
Senior Project Community Liaison