Sammy Frawley trekked to the Castle Hill Conservation Land nearly every day during her last months of high school to observe, sketch, classify and reflect. She classified and sketched plants and animals, ultimately creating a guidebook for the area.

Frawley, along with a select group of seniors, skipped many of the lectures and worksheets the final weeks of high school would typically bring. Instead, Frawley spent her time at Castle Hill, an area near Alpine Field, connecting with the natural world. For a few months, Frawley was teaching herself.

No, she was not a truant. Frawley was taking part in a “senior project.” These projects allow seniors to choose an activity or interest they want to pursue, and focus on it outside of the typical school environment. Some see this as an opportunity to get out of classes and do something they find more exciting for a few months. In reality, though, designing their own education is hard work.

According to history teacher Daniel Gavin, senior project co-director, the application process is rigorous, allowing only about 15 students to participate every year. Interested seniors have to get permission from the Guidance Department, the Administration and all of their teachers.

They must then find an adviser and mentor whose specialty relates to their personally designed project.

“The hardest thing I think for students is deciding what they want to do and then finding the people that they need to help them,” said English teacher and senior project co-director Barbara Shellito. “They have to be pretty self-motivated because we really want it to come from the students’ hearts, that they want to do this kind of project.”

“When I first heard about the senior project, I thought it was a great opportunity, and I really wanted to participate,” said Frawley. “At first I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, because literally my options were limitless.. I asked myself, ‘Where do you think you can learn the most outside of the classroom?’”

After reading the poem called “The Tables Turned” by William Wordsworth, Sammy Frawley knew that nature would be the inspiration for her senior project.

When seniors begin their projects, they go to about half of their typical classes. They are required to continue attending performing arts classes, Advanced Placement courses and any classes with final projects. The students must commit themselves to working on their projects for a certain number of hours every week and sign off on that time with their advisers. Students must also keep journals where they reflect on their project work.

From fashion photography, to creating CDs, to skateboard design, each senior project is new and unique, and each student has a different experience.

Taylor Cohen did an internship with The Rendon Group, a communications and public relations firm.

Cohen spent most of her time there working on Empower Peace, a program that The Rendon Group created that works to bridge misconceptions between teens in different countries in hopes of easing conflicts and strengthening relationships worldwide.

Cohen helped out with Empower Peace’s “Women2Women” conference, which was a week-long conference in Boston that brought together teenage girls from all over the world and taught them how to become empowered, effective leaders.

“[The internship] has definitely given me perspective on all the different career paths,” said Cohen. “For example, I learned that I don’t want to be stuck in an office, and I would much rather work in the field, but having this internship gave me the chance to realize that I can major in communications.”

Stuart Yamartino decided to start a student-run help desk called “The Genius Bar,” which he hopes will be in place by the beginning of the 2012 school year.

Students interested in computer help will be able to sign up to take “Genius Bar” as a class for course credit, where they would come during a designated time to meet with other students.

In addition to creating this student-help program, Yamartino has set up a  Google Apps account, which students will be able to access from the high school homepage to view and schedule times to meet with a “genius”. There will also be a section containing “common issues” that students will be able to access at anytime for help with problems such as connecting to the network or printing.

“I have had a lot of fun doing my senior project,” said Yamartino. “I am currently only taking two classes so I have a lot of time to hunker down and work on my project. Despite my excess of frees, I do find myself doing a lot of work at school because I like doing work around my friends than alone in my house.”

Next year teachers hope to introduce the senior project program earlier in the year to allow more time for students to plan out their application and research their project, according to Shellito. This will allow more students to participate in the program and get more out of the experience.

“It been absolutely incredible to watch the kids [be] self motivated, driving this entirely from start to finish,” said Gavin. “I think they get a lot out of these five weeks when they dive into something that they’ve designed themselves.”

“I knew I could really do some self-reflecting and learn a lot by working with nature,” said Frawley. “In addition, I want to major in Environmental Studies, and I felt as though this opportunity would really help me make a connection with the natural world.”

For students, senior projects provide an opportunity to explore their interests and discover their passions.