Senior Thesis Finalists: 2019

In the senior thesis, students are tasked with a true academic challenge--develop a research question on a topic they are interested in, research that question using academic sources and techniques, and report their findings in a 10-20 page paper.

In this paper, students are expected to be writing at the college level or beyond, and they are challenged to think deeply about their topic and critically analyze the evidence and arguments they are using to answer their question.

The papers linked to the right are the best examples of the 2018 papers, and were chosen as finalists for the Senior Thesis Award in that year.  The name that is linked in RED is the paper that was ultimately chosen as the best thesis.

WINNER- Sarah VonTersch- What is the most effective way to reduce drug cartel power and minimize their negative effects?

Caeley McClain- What are the most effective methods to get uninvolved people to take initial action on climate change in the United States?

Joe Thomson- How effective are extreme sports at inducing flow state and how does the resulting flow state impact long term happiness?

​Alma Wolf- What were the global political factors during the Reagan Administration that contributed to the end of the Cold War, and to what extent was it these factors, versus Reagan’s policies, that lead to a rapprochement?

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Senior TED Talks: 2019

For their TED Talks, students are tasked with transforming their thesis topic into a 15-18 minute presentation in the style of a TED talks.  Talks should be informative, inspiring, and above all, leave the audience wanting to know more about their chosen topic.  Below are the finalists for the TED Talk Award of 2019.  The talk with the title in BLUE is the talk that was ultimately chosen as the best talk of that year.

WINNER- Nat Prugh
What is linguistic relativity and where can we see it manifested in the world?

Ethan Holst
Why should you buy an electric car?
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Caeley McClain
What are the most effective methods to get uninvolved people to take initial action on climate change in the United States?

Amaya Holliday
​Why are minority and low-income students underperforming and how should public schools address this?

Henry Haggert
How can an aircraft be designed to be marketable to the average person?