Kara Menck

Professor Lynn Raymond

UWRT 1104-002

1 February 2017

Junior year: the dreaded hardest year of high school that comes with the dreaded start

of the ominous senior project. At my high school, everyone talked about how junior year had

the hardest work load, the busiest schedule, and the most amount of stress. Having experienced it

now, I can attest to all of those claims. A good 25 percent of the stress came from the junior

research paper. I and most of my classmates had never been assigned such a large research and

writing assignment before. It was a 12-page research paper that required 15 sources and had to

follow a strict format. When I think about it now, the assignment doesnt seem as daunting, but it

was the process of the paper that made it so intimidating. You would start out by choosing your

topic. Choosing the topic was the most important step because you had to find a topic that you

could gather a lot of information about and then connect that information to a project that you

would carry out your senior year. The senior project was based off the paper and had to produce

a physical product in the end. Writing a 12-page paper over a year seems like an easy task given

that much time, but there was so much research and editing done that we needed that long to

finish. For my paper I decided to research animal abuse: what it was, how it happens, where it

happens, types of abuse, how to prevent it. I had never done so much research on one topic

before. I did really enjoy it because although it is quite a sad topic it was something I was

passionate about which made me more interested in doing so much research and learning more.

After months of researching I produced my first rough draft. I remember feeling confident in

what I had written and proud that I had actually finished a first draft of such a long project. I
followed the format, had the correct amount of pages, and had enough sources, but I got the

paper back with what seemed like every other word marked up in red ink. I glanced at the top

and stamped in big bold writing was Needs a lot of help. I now understand that my teacher was

doing her job and was only offering helpful criticism, but at the time I was not only confused, but

a little upset. Needless to say my first large literary project took some blows at my writing and

research confidence. I ended up doing 4 rough drafts with the 5th being the final draft and every

time there was a little less red rage on the pages. Fast forward, through summer and onto senior

year when I had to start my senior project. I had to use my research about animal abuse to come

up with a physical product. In my findings the previous year I had come across a dog named

Noah in my hometown that had experienced abuse, but was saved by the Blue Ridge Humane

Society. They monitored him for about a month during 2015 in his home where he wasnt fed,

contracted multiple diseases, and had to live outside chained to a pole in a hole of mud in the

dangerous weather. I contacted the Blue Ridge Humane Society and decided to take a course so I

would become a certified volunteer. As soon as I was certified I would go help take care of the

dogs, learn their stories, and just give them some company and love. I had taken the initiative to

do this, but I still hadnt come up with a physical product for my project until one day when I

talked to Paul, the director of the humane society. He was telling me about Noahs

malnourishment before entering the humane society and how he would eat his food way too

quickly to the point he would make himself sick. This information prompted me to go home and

research this behavior in dogs and try to find a solution and I did. I came up with a slow-feeder

made of PVC pipe that would allow Noah to receive the right amount of food per meal but at the

right pace. My plan was to make one for my product, but with the help of my dad, I ended up

making fifteen for Noah and the rest of the dogs at the humane society. After a lot of effort and
work I came to the conclusion that this two-year project was very beneficial and greatly

improved my literacy learning. There were many different components that helped me in many

different ways. I conducted extensive research, compiled it together in a paper, connected the

research to my life, and produced something that benefited my life and others lives.