With the coronavirus closing businesses, lowering stocks and more, some students are having issues completing their senior projects because of this pandemic. Most challenges come from the two options of community service or a fundraiser. The problem with the government meetings requirement has been solved by allowing seniors to attend virtual meetings and taking notes on paper. Job shadowing is a struggle for students as well because of the pandemic. 

“The hardest thing about senior projects is trying to job shadow,” senior Emily Hatt said.

“I would say the hardest things about it are trying to get job shadows, especially with COVID-19,” senior Connor McGee said.

Job shadowing is when a student is supposed to go and watch a specific type of person in the career choice they choose. For example, if a student’s senior project is based on criminal justice they can job shadow a security guard or a police officer. Because of COVID-19 and everyone staying away from each other, the opportunities for job shadowing have decreased greatly. 

With volunteer hours, seniors are required to plan, organize and volunteer for the community. They have to spend 10 hours working and are forbidden to get paid for it. This is only the second option instead of a fundraiser. An example of volunteer hours would be helping at a humane society. The hours were cut from 20 to 10 because most seniors were having issues finding places that are open for the volunteer hours. 

“The hardest was probably the volunteer hours and that is strictly because of the pandemic. Had this not been the case, I would have had my hours done by now,” senior Francis Tavern said. 

The fundraiser involves a financial target. The target is a minimum of $250 for a chosen charity in place of volunteer hours. If they raise below that, then their grade will be weighed by how hard they have worked and tried.

With the government meeting, seniors need to attend either an in-person or virtual government meeting. While at the meeting they need to take notes on what is being discussed and then in the end get the paper or email signed by one of the government officials. The day is marked down and they receive points for going to it.

“Doing the project through the pandemic is a pain because it is harder to obtain all of the resources you need such as teachers, job shadowing folks, etc,” senior Brooke Vidovich said.

“I would say things are a lot harder now because we can’t see, in person, the teachers helping us, as well as being able to do community service and job shadowing,” McGee said.

During this pandemic, a lot has been put on hold. Senior projects were one of the few things that kept on going.