The Pingry Independent Senior Project

Class of 2024
Refugee Stories: Capturing Narratives Across Time and Place

Reflecting on my ISP journey with "Refugee Stories," I am struck by the depth of knowledge and personal growth it has facilitated. Delving into the narratives of refugees across time and place, I uncovered similarities in their experiences, despite the vast differences in their backgrounds and circumstances. This realization challenged my preconceptions and expanded my understanding of the universal human experience.

Class of 2024
Art in Translation

For my independent senior project, I drew a comic called Dreaming Days about a girl named Vivian Lin who is struggling with burnout and escapes the pressure in her dreams of a world populated by the Chinese mythological figures her grandpa told her stories about. First, I outlined the story and scenes in a Google Doc. Then, I drew thumbnails for each page, sketched out each page on paper, transferred the sketches to my computer to do lineart digitally, and added dialogue (English and Chinese). 

Class of 2024
The Sound of Pingry: An Exploration of Big Blue Musicians Through the Years

I learned a lot about a lot of very interesting people during my ISP. Of all the components of my project, I learned the most from my interviews with musicians. Ashley Jackson had some beautiful meditations on life and how becoming a mother has affected her as a musician. I got to learn about Brandon Rosen’s writing process, and how his childhood experiences have affected his sound to this day.

Class of 2024
Devil in Training

To begin, I have always had an interest in sports and community service so when I heard about this opportunity, I was more than excited to use it for my senior independent project. My motivation for proposing this work came from my passion for hockey. I have a personal interest in the Devils and have been playing hockey for about 10 years, so I appreciate all that it has to offer. Specifically teamwork, collaboration, equality, and empowerment.
 

Class of 2024
Snapshot of Sustainability

I have grown immensely in ways I could not have imagined throughout my ISP. Taking on an ISP related to the arts, I figured that I would develop photography skills and continue to master my craft. While all of this was true from my ISP, it was the other intertwined elements that allowed me to get the most out of my ISP. Whether it was researching striping patterns on birds, or discovering dangers faced by different species due to human impact, things like these truly expanded my learning.

Class of 2024
A Guide to Understanding Healthcare

A career in healthcare is something I’ve considered for the majority of my life. I’ve heard the stories my family would tell of the surgeries they’ve done and the lives they’ve saved, and I would avidly listen to them with the thought that someday I would be in their shoes. Although I had been exposed to the medical field in the past, it had been a more general representation of what it’s like; there were many patients with completely different problems in distinct areas of the body.

Class of 2024
Brine Boys 2.0

For my ISP, I, along with my friend Leon Zhou, assessed the water quality of different parts of the Barnegat Bay. Although we conceived this as an extension of our AP Bio project, our ISP evolved into a totally different beast. We ended up testing for 6 different variables at 23 different sites. Although we had ambitions of a grid-style sampling style that would cover almost the entire bay, this turned out to be unfeasible. Without actually ever going out on the bay, we had no clue how long it would actually take to collect data.

Class of 2024
Tiny Thinkers and the Power of Play

As I completed my ISP of volunteering at St. John’s Nursery School, a daycare in Bernardsville, I found it to be incredibly rewarding and enriching. Working with two classes of four to five-year-olds, my daily activities included planning and facilitating educational games and crafts that incorporated basic numeracy and literacy skills. This experience taught me valuable lessons about patience, creativity, and most importantly, the significance of empathy as an essential part of education.