Senior Year Reflection

When I was first assigned the graduation project, I was terrified. Having been assigned such a
long and tedious project seemed very overwhelming at first, but after having completed the junior paper I
felt a lot less anxious. Looking back, the research paper was definitely the hardest part for me to
complete. The SLE, product, and visual aide were all easier for me to complete as opposed to having to
write the junior research paper. I thoroughly enjoyed completing my SLE hours because I was able to
receive experience in a field similar to the one I want to go into. Senior year has most definitely been very
difficult, but it is also the year I have seen the most amount of growth in myself.
I did procrastinate to complete my SLE hours, but I did have them done before the end of 2018.
My topic dealt with special education, so the obvious choice to volunteer was at a school who has special
education teachers. Luckily, I babysit for a young boy with autism, and the school he attends has multiple
special ed. teachers that were willing to work with me. After I had completed these hours, I felt so
relieved; I had heard that completing the SLE hours was the hardest part of the Senior Exit Project. Of
course, completing this project while having to complete assignments for other courses was challenging,
but I have learned a lot about time management and perseverance from it.
During the first few months of my senior year, I didn’t focus on my Senior Exit Project at all. It
wasn’t until I got closer to the presentation date that I decided to start completing the necessary forms.
Although I wish I had started completing the forms earlier, at the time I was very overwhelmed with other
assignments from English. I have now realized how to balance the work from the graduation project with
the work from my other classes. In this way, I have learned to use my time more wisely. As the
presentation day grows closer and closer, I have become a lot more anxious. I honestly feel that I have
never felt so nervous about anything else I have ever experienced.
Overall, I realized that my true passion was to work with children with special needs. I learned
this through my SLE hours and research that I did while completing my product for the senior exit
project. The time that I spent working with the disabled children at McKee Road Elementary allowed for
me to gain more knowledge about how their brains process information differently from neurotypicals,
like myself. Although completing this project wasn’t easy, without it I may have never discovered my
passion for working with children with special needs.
Discovering my passion has also allowed for me to be able to realize that I want to pursue
occupational therapy as a career. All in all, I am very appreciative of this project for allowing me to
discover my true self and passion in life.