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Senioritis is no match for a well-planned, engaging senior project! From written journals to community service plans, the right senior year project ideas can inspire any high school senior, no matter how “over it” they feel.
Designed to address the digital and critical thinking needs of 21st-century learners, these senior project ideas let students reflect on their high school years and demonstrate what they’ve learned. Best of all, they come with straightforward grading rubrics, making it easy for you to wrap up grades before the last bell of the year rings!
What is a Senior Project?
A senior project is a long-term capstone project that allows students to showcase their interests and skills in unique ways. It can last as long as a semester or as short as a few weeks, depending on the project and the flow of the school year. Some schools include senior projects in their graduation requirements.
These projects tend to focus on how seniors relate to their community. This can be their school community, their neighborhood, or the community of their future career — anything that resonates with them. These projects cater to student needs, meaning they may not be as academic as previous school assignments.
Types of Senior Projects
When it comes to senior year project ideas, the options are as unlimited as your students’ imaginations. Inspire their creativity with a few high-quality senior project resources that come with everything you need for a low-prep, successful assignment.
Written Senior Project Ideas
A written senior project is a good option for students who express themselves best through writing. Aligned to CCSS and designed for critical thinking, it can also double as a final project for an English language arts or writing class and become a beautiful keepsake for students to treasure long after graduation.
Novel Study FINAL Projects | 20 Hands On Projects for ANY Novel + Rubrics
By The SuperHERO Teacher
Subjects: Creative Writing, English Languages Arts
No matter what your last novel unit is, this senior project idea is the perfect way to end it. Students choose one of 20 ways to reflect on the book, including a cartoon strip, costume design, a podcast, a sales brochure, and more. The resource includes prompts and graphic organizers to help students manage the project and a grading rubric to help you with assessment.
Desiderata and Wear Sunscreen End of the Year Writing Senior Project Graduation
By Fuller Teaching Resources
Standards: CCRA.R.9, W.2, 4, 5, 6
Subjects: English Language Arts, Reading, Writing
Compare graduation messages from the beginning and end of the 20th century with this literary senior project. Aligned to Common Core State Standards for literature, writing, and speaking and listening, this in-depth project invites students to compare Max Ehrmann’s 1927 prose poem “Desiderata” and Mary Schmich’s famous 1997 essay “Wear Sunscreen.”
Book Trailer Project – End of Year Movie Trailer Assignment for Any Novel Study
By Mondays Made Easy
Standards: CCSS RL.6.1, 2, 5, RL.7.1, 2,5, RL.8.1, 2, 5, RL.9-10.1, 2, 5, RL.11-12.1, 2, 5; W.6.2, 4, 6, 8, 9; W.7.2, 4, 6, 8, 9; W.8.2, 4, 6, 8, 9; W.9-10.2, 4, 6, 8, 9; W.11-12.2, 4, 6, 8, 9; SL.6.1, 2, 5; SL.7.1, 2, 5; SL.8.1, 2, 5; SL.9-10.1, 2, 5; SL.11-12.1, 2, 5
Subjects: Close Reading, Literature
Turn your class novel into the movie of the year with a creative book trailer project. It comes with a student planner and checklist, storyboard graphic organizer, reflective writing assignment, and everything else seniors need to demonstrate their understanding of the book with a one-of-a-kind visual presentation.
Community Service Senior Project Ideas
For your final lesson, teach students that they are part of a bigger community with these community service senior year project ideas. Seniors can organize and implement projects that serve the community through research and reflection assignments to let you know what they have learned.
Be the Change: A Service Learning Research Project for Grades 7-12
By Mud and Ink Teaching
Subjects: English Language Arts, Informational Text
You’ve taught students that they can make a difference in the world, so here’s their chance! Focus on researching an issue and giving back to the community with these inquiry-based projects. Students choose their own issues, use provided YouTube playlists to brainstorm ideas, read related nonfiction or memoirs, and present their final projects to the class or school at the end of the year.
Career Community Action Project {Printable and Digital Option}
By Experiential Learning Depot
Standards: CCSS WHST.9-10.7, 8, 9; WHST.11-12.7, 8, 9
Subjects: Career and Technical Education, Problem Solving, Vocational Education
This no-prep career exploration project provides you and your students with everything you need to learn more about their future careers. After choosing a real-world issue connected to their desired career, seniors conduct research and explore solutions to the problem. It’s a great option for any class focused on career options or as an interdisciplinary project for students to complete in several different classes.
End of the Year Senior Project Ideas
Looking for sentimental high school senior project ideas? Look no further than these year-end projects designed for seniors to look back on their secondary years with fondness (or any other emotions that come to mind). They can also look to the future with resources focused on giving advice to future seniors based on their own experiences.
Senior Year End Project: End of the Year Activities for Seniors Graduating
By The Supported Teacher
Subjects: Classroom Community
Celebrate and reflect on the end of a momentous year with this final senior project. Students reflect on various aspects of their high school life, including friendship, dating, and family, and present their impressions of their senior year with creative project templates.
Senior Memory Book for End of Year
By TG Inspired ELA
Subjects: English Language Arts
Whether they had the time of their lives or they’re counting the days till graduation (or both), your seniors will love this opportunity for nostalgia. They create their own memory books with pages inspired by yearbooks, such as “Senior Moments” and “Best Friends.” Provide binders or other ways for students to bind the pages together for a memory assignment they’ll never forget.
Senior Bulletin Board: Dear Underclassmen
By Counselor Clique
Subjects: Back to School, Character Education, School Counseling
What would your seniors have wanted to know as freshmen? Help them pass the baton of upperclassman knowledge with a reflective senior project. With a six-page template of 36 different prompts, seniors display sage advice on a bulletin board for freshmen to see on their first day of high school.
End of Year Senior Survival Guide
By Dr C Spills the Tea
Subjects: English Language Arts, Writing
High school is full of real, authentic moments. Help students channel the true emotions of their high school journeys with a low-prep senior project. This one comes with a project requirement checklist, PDF and digital project templates, and a teacher’s guide to make the assignment run as smoothly as possible at the end of the school year.
Benefits of Senior Projects
Even though their entire senior year was valuable (thanks to you and your colleagues!), a senior project can be a distinctly rewarding experience. If you’re on the fence about assigning a senior project this year, consider these benefits for outgoing high school students:
- Senior projects help students focus on their goals, whether they’re headed to college, a full-time job, or another option. They help them prioritize what they really care about.
- Well-designed senior projects provide career exploration opportunities for seniors. Career-minded projects may include internships or volunteer experiences in students’ chosen fields.
- As they complete their senior projects, students use the critical thinking and project management skills they’ve been honing throughout their entire education. They can also demonstrate subject-specific skills in their projects, including writing techniques and research abilities.
- Students who lead their own senior projects develop intrinsic motivation for doing a good job, an imperative quality needed in the next steps of their lives.
Most of all, a senior project lets students reflect on their year, their education, and themselves. It can be a gratitude activity for high schoolers to thank previous teachers, an introspective assignment to learn more about themselves, and a future-facing project that lets them narrow down the many paths and opportunities ahead of them.
Use senior project ideas to say goodbye and to start again
A senior project may be your students’ last official assignment, but it’s also their first step out of high school. Let them express themselves with one last hurrah and look toward the years ahead with these senior project resources for any subject. They come with everything you need — except tissues, which you’ll need to dab away proud tears as you say goodbye to another senior class.
