As we all know, every aspect of our lives has undergone drastic changes as a result of COVID-19. This year’s Grade 10 Personal Projects were no exception. Projects that students might have dreamed of creating suddenly became impossible to do under these circumstances, and all plans surrounding how this would play out this year went askew. Grade 10 students have persevered, however, and everyone has something unique and interesting to showcase during 2021’s annual (albeit virtual) Personal Project Exhibition. Here to shed some light on the perspectives of the students throughout this experience is SIS’s Izzy S.

Josefine: So, to start things off, tell me a bit about your project. What is it exactly?

Izzy: Well, I basically created an eighth-grade curriculum where I chose one unit from one subject and went into depth about it. I chose to focus on English as my subject and wrote all the lesson plans for it

Josefine: Oh, cool! I did something similar for my Personal Project last year, but it was a lesson plan for third graders. I doubt it came anywhere close to your project in quality, though, because you presented yours at a university, right?

Izzy: Yeah, I did. It was only in front of three students–thank God, that was very nerve-racking–some very, very smart people who gave me a lot of valuable feedback on what could potentially impact the project and things like that. They made a lot of points that I hadn’t thought about. 

Josefine: Wow, that’s pretty cool. Next, I wanted to ask: how has COVID complicated the Personal Project this year, not only for you but for the whole grade. Were there certain things you wanted to do but couldn’t because of COVID?

Izzy: Well, with online school, it’s more difficult to keep up with your supervisor than it would be in real life. That kind of applies to all subjects. It was especially hard, though, because there were so many things to do and criteria to fulfill that I lost track of all of them and had to catch up later. That made time management even harder, and now the exhibition stuff is gonna be online, too. So, it’s all just kind of messed up.

Josefine: I can imagine. Speaking of the exhibition, how will that look like this year, now that it’s online?

Izzy: We had to make online posters, which wasn’t that bad, but it was definitely different. They made this little computer game for the exhibition where we students could go around and look at each other’s posters. It was pretty cute, so I’m not complaining, but… 

Josefine: That’s different for sure. 

Izzy: Everyone just had to adapt to the new formats, which made it all a little bit harder.

Josefine: Alright, final questions: Reflecting on the project overall, what did you like the most this year? And if you had to do it again, what would you change?

Izzy: I’m pretty happy with my project. Despite the COVID situation, I think I managed to do it pretty well. However, I would maybe manage my time better. That way, I could’ve possibly gone more into depth or put more effort into it. Maybe some things would have been different and I would’ve had a better project overall. Besides that, though, I’m happy with how it turned out. 

Josefine: Yeah, I agree. Time management was a challenge for those of us doing the project even before COVID. 

Izzy: Yep.

Josefine: Well, thank you so much for sharing your perspective! I can’t wait to see what you’ve worked on during the exhibition.

Izzy: Thank you!

Congrats to Izzy and all of the other Grade 10 students for persevering and completing the project against all odds! We hope to see your work displayed at the exhibition.