Senior Thesis Finalists: 2025
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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 (though a few of our finalists blew way past 20 pages this year!).
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 2024 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- Hayden Bicknell- How has the representation of the female body in feminist poetry changed from the Second Wave to the Fourth Wave of feminism?
WINNER- Alyssa Dempsie- How does ADHD change with gender and what treatment methods are most appropriate? Cecil Hutt- How does speculative fiction influence its readers' opinions and emotions on real-world issues, such as gender identity and sexuality, and how are these topics explored in The Locked Tomb series? Sophia Osmera- What is chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and is a living diagnosis possible? AJ Bonanno- How does the unique position of professional sports in US culture allow sports to have an impact on racial justice, and how can that platform best be used? |
TED Talk Finalists: 2025
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 2024. The talk with the title in BLUE is the talk that was ultimately chosen as the best talk of that year.
WINNER- Gus Close- The Fall of DemocracyCyrus Calderwood- Las Vegas Economics |
Hayden Bicknell- Feminist PoetryNove Tocco- Cognition in Giant Centipedes |
Sophia Osmera- Diagnosing CTE |
Wells Wait- Training Artificial Intelligence |
Action Project Finalists: 2025
For the action project, students design their own project. The guidelines given are that the project should be ambitious, loosely connected to your thesis topic, and that it should have an impact outside yourself. Below are the finalists and winner for the class of 2024.
WINNER- Rosie LeCompte- Animas High School Osprey Mural
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For her project, Rosie built on her past experiences in LINK and proposed a large-scale mural in the Animas High School commons. This mural was designed to capture the school's mascot, the osprey, and to express the foundational concepts that make AHS unique. She built community collaboration in throughout this project, first in seeking community sponsors for materials, then in polling the AHS community for words that would populate the nest beneath the osprey, and finally, in drawing in multiple members of the school community to assist in the painting process.
This project stands out for the exceptional quality of the final piece, the community collaboration built into the process of creation, and the lasting community impact. See her reflection at the following link: Rosie LeCompte 
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Hadyen Bicknell: Feminist Poetry Night
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For this project, Hayden organized and MCed an open-mic feminist poetry event at The Subterrain. This event lasted for two hours, and brought in many members of the community of different genders, backgrounds, and ages. During the event, Hayden served as the MC, read original feminist poetry, and encouraged others to read as well.
This project stands out for the community connections this project created, for the breadth of participation in the event, and for its addition to local culture. See her reflection at the following link: Hayden Bicknell |
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Rose Hinds: Creating Community Connections
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After studying the loneliness epidemic and the importance of community connection for her senior thesis, Rose put her research into practice by creating a series of connection circles at Animas High School designed to strengthen community ties. During these circles, participants separated from their phones and were asked to share their feelings and experiences to create bonds. After the circles were finished, Rose made a documentary of the experience.
This project stands out for the application of research, for the multiple pieces that Rose created to connect students and to document their experiences, and for addressing a pressing real-world problem. See her reflection at the following link: Rose Hinds |
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Wells Wait: AI and Machine Learning
For his project, Wells experimented with multiple algorithms in the context of machine learning. He explored how efficient these algorithms were in different training scenarios, then incorporated his results into his senior thesis.
This project stands out because it is original research that is carefully documented and analyzed in a rigorous way.
See his reflection at the following link: Wells Wait
This project stands out because it is original research that is carefully documented and analyzed in a rigorous way.
See his reflection at the following link: Wells Wait
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