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Health & Fitness

Senior Symposium Set to Showcase Student Final Projects

Students reveal their topics and why they picked them.

Deerfield High School is doing things a little differently this year when it comes to its Senior Symposium. Instead of a smaller setting as in previous years, English
students will be presenting their projects at the Techny Towers in Northbrook on
May 16th, where the entire senior class will be in attendance.

“It was a little tricky finding out what I wanted to research,” DHS senior and athlete Brett Freedberg said, before landing on the topic of whether or not college athletes should get paid. “I got the inspiration from loving sports in general and then deciding what about sports I wanted to focus on.”

The senior project is a unique opportunity designed to allow English students to explore an area of interest in great depth. For many seniors, their topics are
personal. 

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“I settled on the topic of finding identity through religion,” DHS senior Abby Lagunov said and added that she has a desire to learn more about why she calls herself Jewish.

“I am coming to a time in my life where I am trying to understand who I am. I need to know why I believe what I believe. This project was a great excuse to research it.”

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Students are tasked with completing a research-based report and then present their projects to other students, staff, and community members.

Students are conducting their research in a number of ways. Freedberg has turned to news articles in publications like ESPN the Magazine while Lagunov is interviewing local pastors and rabbis.

“My topic question is not as simple as it seems,” Freedberg said, who has delved into the business and legal aspects of sports as well. “There are a lot of stipulations to consider whether it’s taxes, NCAA saying it’s a non-profit, Title Nine.”

Lagunov agrees that narrowing her topic down has been challenging.

“Kids want to pick a topic that they love and want to explore every aspect of it,” she commented and has had to work at crafting her main topic and sub topic. “Then I formulate it, understand it, and use other peoples’ research to support it.”

Teacher organizer Buffy Sallee believes senior projects are a rewarding and enriching experience for students, which is why she decided to invite all 400 seniors to this year’s symposium. Following the senior presentations, all students will be able to attend workshops lead be an array of professionals from varying industries.

“Students will spend the morning sharing their research projects with one another and then spend the afternoon in two one-hour workshop sessions that they selected from a menu of options,” Sallee explained. “We are excited to offer a range of interests from yoga and meditation to general fix-it skills, networking,
cooking and social justice careers.”

More than 240 DHS seniors with present their projects at the symposium this year.   

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