High school counselors and senior project coordinators in the Edmonds School District are concerned about the workload of seniors, which is full of college applications, SATs, jobs and more. To fix this problem, they are hoping to revise the senior project guidelines by combining the old guidelines and new guidelines.

The guidelines that are being considered are similar to the current guidelines in place at Edmonds-Woodway H. S. There are three components to the project. Students must include four pieces of their best work in their culminating project, which includes the district’s and building’s anchor tasks, graduation performance tasks and classroom based assessment. The second requirement is that the project has to be at least 20 hours in the form of a class project, extended career shadow or an independent project. The final component is a 20 minute presentation.

“Our hopes are that by 2012-2013, seniors will have a comprehensive and less stressful senior project completed while juggling their hectic schedules,” assistant superintendent Dr. Ken Limon said. He has been working with the United Negro College Foundation, which helps students in Seattle with their college portfolios, so he is trying to apply their guidelines.

In addition, the district plans on giving schools a one year leeway before requiring all schools to have the same guidelines.

However, MTHS will not be making any changes to its senior project guidelines for the upcoming year.

“Mountlake Terrace and Lynnwood really like the senior project,” MTHS Principal Greg Schwab said. “We’re pretty committed to the senior project and we’re going to stick with it for this year at least.”

MTHS student adviser to the Edmonds School Board  Bushra Raza has attended meetings regarding the proposed senior project proposals.

Raza, a senior, said, “I understand the reasons behind the structure of the current senior project and the new guidelines proposed by the district, and I do feel that both projects offer seniors the opportunity to produce a comprehensive project that they can be proud of.”

Discussions are still going on about standardizing the guidelines in the future. A final decisions will most likely be given within the next couple of years.

“My efforts will continue to help our seniors complete a project that will be of quality and prepare them for college,” Limon said.