Headmaster Stephen Repsher, Board President Anita Marmaduke, and Sue Nellis, head of high school, stood up at morning meeting.

The sophomores waited apprehensively for the results of the sophomore research project. 

“And the winner, for his presentation on the Russian Resurgence, is Daniel Edgren!” Marmaduke announced excitedly. 

The research project was new to not only the sophomores but also their teachers.

Students wrote double-spaced, 15-to-20 page reports and each had a faculty adviser, who was a specialist on his or her topic. The advisers assisted students with their work and periodically checked on the students’ progress. 

Before writing, sophomores took notes using 10 different sources, and transferred the information into an outline.  

English teacher Brooke Wells graded the written report, while history teacher Bruce Baird kept track of students’ notes and science teacher Matt Peck graded the presentations. 

 “We wanted to integrate this project with the tenth-grade curriculum,” Wells said.

Students began picking their topics the first day of school and turned in drafts on March 2.

Before turning in the first draft, sophomores had a “moratorium” work day in the library to complete their outlines.  

Shanna Ballesteros, who wrote about global warming, said she spent about four hours per week working. She felt that sticking to the deadlines was an issue because many sophomores had time-consuming commitments. 

“As sophomores, we usually don’t manage our time very well,” Ballesteros said. 

Despite these obstacles, 15-minute final presentations were due on March 23, including a Power Point arrangement with pictures.

C.K. Keiner brought in models of buildings from all over the world, including the Empire State Building and the Bank of China for his presentation on 20th-century architecture. 

Sarah Smerling prepared a hands-on activity to demonstrate the effects of conflict diamonds in society. 

The top ten competed in a “Battle of the Presentations” during lunch on April 13 - 14. 

Of those who participated in the “Battle of the Presentations,” the top three winners were Daniel Edgren, Brian Crush, and Alex Graves.   

Graves said that he became interested in his topic (on “Pachelbel’s Canon”) after Baird recommended the movie “Ordinary People” about musical history. 

He was surprised that he was chosen to compete in the “Battle of the Presentations.”

“My topic wasn’t as serious as a lot of the others,” Graves said.  

However, Graves does believe that he did well during the presentation. 

“My topic wasn’t boring, so I thought everyone could connect to it and really understand what I was talking about.” 

He said that answering the audience’s questions made it easier to focus because he could openly interact with the people watching him. 

Second-place winner Brian Crush won a $25 gift card to Borders after presenting his topic “The Armenian Genocide.”

Crush discovered it was the second largest genocide ever to take place, and that not many people in the United States know about it. 

“In fact, this genocide is often not officially recognized by the U.S.,” he said. 

Like Graves, Crush was surprised to be selected for the “Battle of the Presentations.” 

“I wasn’t confident during the original presentation because I hadn’t practiced enough,” he said. 

Daniel Edgren won the first-place prize—an iPod shuffle and a $15 iTunes  gift card. 

Edgren said he was intrigued by the Russian resurgence after he heard that Russia had invaded Georgia during the previous summer. 

Edgren said that he panicked before presenting.

Fortunately, he calmed down before he started the presentation. 

“As I got down to work, I became more focused and could stay more relaxed,” he said. 

Edgren believes he would have done better on his presentation had he been warned when he would be presenting. 

Edgren received notice that he was going to participate in the Wednesday “Battle of the Presentations” only on Monday. 

“It wasn’t enough time for me to look over my speech thoroughly enough again,” he said. 

Crush said the skills he learned are going to help him in the future. 

“If I can learn to put the same amount of effort in a smaller amount of time, I’ll be more prepared to write college papers,” he said. 

Baird believes the project taught sophomores how to prepare for a long-term assignment. 

“Managing your time efficiently is really important, especially when you go on into college and have so much other work to do,” Baird said.

Peck said that he and the other teachers held “high standards” for the students’ projects. 

The final reports were due on May 22. 

Recognizing the pressure on the students, Wells dropped his final, and expanded the end-of-the-year project on “The Joy Luck Club.” 

“It gives them a day off to reward them for all the work they’ve done,” Wells said.