Trailblazing Seniors

2 I N T E L L E C T UA L A DV E N T U R E S Trailblazing From architecture to theater, research and filmmaking

In senior projects, each student pursues her deep curiosity about the world in a unique way. Her project often reveals the breadth and depth of what she knows and her appetite for continued discovery. The internships, research and volunteer projects she designs give her an experience of impacting individuals, organizations and institutions. Collectively, the range of senior projects over the years captures the intellectual vibrancy that runs through the School not just during senior year but in every grade throughout the student body.

E L L E N “I’ve been working at an NYU neurogenetics lab, researching lysosomal storage. I really wanted to use my Senior Spring to work more on the experimental side of science. I have always loved science in school, but I wanted more experience in the scientific process. I thought the lab’s experiments would be more conclusive and that the process would be much quicker. But now I’ve learned how constructive failure can be. I’ve learned how important it is to wade through the uncertainty that comes with the scientific process.” G A B R I E L A “For my Senior Spring I’m interning at the American Museum of Natural History, learning how to drive a car, learning to swim, and taking mini courses in Greek, Anglo-Saxon literature and philosophy. It’s been super fun. In my internship I’ve been working mostly in the Hall of Ocean Life. It’s been interesting, because I’ve been learning how to teach two different age groups of kids and learning how to interact with large groups of older kids to keep them engaged.”

N O R A “I’m doing this really amazing internship at The American Reader, which is a literary magazine. They have about six interns. The rest of them are in college or out of college, so I am definitely the youngest, which is a little intimidating, but I’m really lucky to be there. Because the program isn’t that well established, it’s meant they let me do more than I might otherwise have gotten to do.” J U L I A “I decided to do a lot of things for my senior project because I have a lot of different interests. I took a couple of mini courses in ethics and ‘fab lab’— creating things out of math. I’m also teaching first-grade music with Ms. Joaquino, a teacher here. I did an independent study in science. And I’ve been doing more crafting and baking because I’m not a very skillful person when it comes to the visual arts. I have been trying more of those projects and blogging about it—even the failed efforts. Those failures still teach me. I still put them on my blog. Brearley has taught me how to roll with the punches.”

A N N A “I’m doing four mini courses— Anglo-Saxon Literature, Constitutional Law, Russian Literature, and Modernism as a Philosophical Problem.”

N I A “I studied abroad last year in China. When I came back I wasn’t really sure how I could translate what I’d learned in terms of culture back to America. I joined a program where I could help people who live in Chinatown learn English. I decided to devote my senior project to learning more about Chinese immigrants. They have these really amazing stories about their lives in China. What better way to document them than to film our conversations and also tell my audience about the things I learned while I was in China?”

SY B I L “I designed my project around the topic I want to study in college, which is architecture. I created my own independent study, where I would do a lot of urban exploration in New York, going to neighborhoods I don’t usually go to and finding buildings that really interest me. I picked five buildings that I thought were interesting, and I would sit nearby and just observe and draw them. The years at Brearley have helped me do things for myself. With my independent project I don’t have a teacher giving me a schedule or assignments. It’s interesting working things out for myself.” C A M I L A “I’m doing a photography project based on the photographs of Charles Jones, who is seen as this kind of master of food photography. His photographs are longexposure shots of vegetables and fruit. They are really captivating to me because they are so simple and beautiful. He took them on a very old-style camera in the 1880s. I’ve always loved to cook, so for me it made sense to do a photography project about food. Inspired by his setting and manipulation, I constructed a box in my backyard with a flat overlay on the top that allows me to let in more or less light as well as change the size of the area being shot.”

F U N M I “My senior project represents what my interests have broadened into these past 13 years. I took an internship at the Manhattan Theatre Club. I evaluate scripts by aspiring playwrights to say whether or not we should produce them. I also discovered that I have a passion for dramatic arts. A huge part of my project was memorizing a monologue from The Two Gentlemen of Verona to perform for an audition for the Shakespearean Young Company summer program.”

K AT H A R I N A “My project is working for the Academy of Art preserving, hydrating and mounting insects using pins and wax paper into a three-dimensional position so that they look animated and alive. It’s a combination of science and art. I helped give a lecture and tutorial to graduate students on the process. I think Brearley teachers do a really good job of weaving disciplines together—writing creatively in science or understanding the mathematics of art.”

M AC K E N Z I E “Music has been a huge part of my life since I was little. I’ve been going to Juilliard Pre-College since sixth grade, so I knew that when it came time to choose a senior project it would be musicrelated. I participated in Young Arts Week New York, during which I got to work with Mikhail Baryshnikov and a bunch of amazing young artists from around the country. They came from all different types of art forms, so I worked with fine artists, dancers, jazz musicians and cinematographers to create a multidisciplinary show. That approach tied into the interdisciplinary way we learn at Brearley. What we learn in math might also tie into what we’re learning in English or history. I’ve been learning that there is a lot of interaction between math and music that I had never even considered.”