Page 20 - Priorities #53 2012-June/July

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“Senior Project at Priory gives students the opportunity to challenge and stretch themselves as indi- viduals and intellectuals. Individually, in that every student is asked to identify talents, skills, or in- terests that are unique to him/her. Intellectually, in that students are allowed to design a project that draws upon many years of school and different courses of study.” - Scott Parker, Dean of Students
Mental Disorder Education: A Part of the Priory Curriculum
Krysten Pfau and Aaron Cornelius
Due to the lack of education about common mental illness in adolescence at Priory, Aaron and I have decided to make a unit on mental health. A mandatory health class will be implemented in 2013. With this class we will prepare a unit that covers various topics such as the disorders themselves (like depression and AD/HD), the effect disorders have on students, and the signs of a possible mental disorder. We hope that this will raise the awareness of mental disorders in teens, which is becoming a more prevalent problem throughout the U.S.
Building a Bridge (Breakfast Program)
Anthony Shu, Ali Maahs, and Douglas Galdamez
Bridge kids who do not eat breakfast struggle with their academic performance, and families facing socio-economic difficulties turn to fast, cheap, and unhealthy food options. Our project will provide a healthy breakfast program for the Bridge kids, nutrition classes to impart healthy eating habits, and simple and cheap recipes that will transform family eating habits. Specifically, kids will learn to eat nutritious fruits and vegetables and become educated about the fast food industry’s unhealthy practices. Preparing nutritious and tasty breakfasts for the Bridge kids will create healthy eating habits and fight obesity.
Teenage Wasteland (of Unrepaired Cars): Helping Teens Gain the Knowledge and Confidence to Maintain Their Cars
Doug MacEwan, Alex Reid, Eric Theis
Cars are an important part of many people’s everyday lives. Despite this, most people don’t know how to maintain or fix their car if something goes wrong. To solve this problem, we have decided to teach teenagers basic car maintenance and repair. We will use a car donated to us as a teaching aid in both the videos we are filming and the seminars we are holding. We hope that this instruc- tion will give them more confidence in their car skills and help them in the future.
Rediscovering Cacao, the Ambrosia of the Aztecs: Epicatechin and it’s Applica- tions in Endurance and Health
Kat Gregory
Imagine if, with a few caveats, you could eat delicious dark chocolate... and not only increase your endurance but combat your chances of contracting the most common lethal diseases. You’d think a nation that consumes 3 billion pounds of chocolate a year would seize upon such an op- portunity, but there’s something special about cacao that modern society, with its emphasis on sugar and processing, has forgotten. It’s called epicatechin. I am trying to bridge the communica- tion disconnect between the scientific community and the general public to facilitate the integra- tion of this knowledge into individual lifestyles.
SENIOR PROJECT SPOTLIGHT