Senior Project Program 2020

THE

George A. Roeper

FESTIVAL OF

SENIOR PROJECTS

PRESENTED BY

The Class of 2020 THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2020 ROEPERSHOWCASE.ORG

Welcome George A. Roeper Festival of Senior Projects!

TO THE 13TH ANNUAL

The George A. Roeper Senior Project is designed to encourage and allow students to follow their personal passions ­— a capstone project, if you will, of their education here at The Roeper School. Each senior is mentored by members of our faculty, and/ or professionals in their respective areas of interest outside the Roeper community.

This event is more than a display of self-directed student work, but a celebration of their lives and our time spent together in them.

The members of the Class of 2020 who are part of this year’s Festival certainly have had an unexpected year, yet they continue the tradition of excellence, having excelled in so many areas. I’m very proud of this group of artists, athletes, actors, writers, scientists, philanthropists, and musicians. They’re a young group with an already long story to tell, full of experiences that have shaped who they are today.

I hope that when they talk of their days at Roeper — and of their days growing up with the many opportunities afforded to them to explore anything and everything — they’ll fondly remember this experience, just as we will fondly remember them.

Thank you for joining us to celebrate their very important work — enjoy!

Jason McIntosh Senior Projects Coordinator Assistant Director & Dean of Admissions Middle/Upper School

Schedule of Events Christopher Ban Cooper Blankenburg Hannah Byrne Kate DeRonne Madina Garvin Anneliese Ingraham Emily Karmanos Richard Li Celia Lipton Avery Long Alexa Miller Steven Raphael Cameron Robinson Chandler Thomas Sam Weiss Tristan Wilson Emma Wine Max Yolles

Christopher Ban DIGITAL LITERACY & CITIZENSHIP

During this year, I sought to develop a digital literacy and citizenship curriculum for the Upper School. This has built on my prior work at the school. As part of this project, I developed and conducted a survey, analyzed the results, and built the proposed curriculum based on the results from the Roeper community, data from prior faculty work, and additional outside research.

Advisor: David Feldman

Special Thanks:

I’d like to thank David Feldman for the opportunity to do this work, the Roeper community for allowing me to pursue my passions, my parents for all the help, perspectives and support they’ve given me, and my friends for helping me at various points throughout my project.

Cooper Blankenburg BEGINNING A CAREER IN BALLET

I spent my last semester of high school in a full-time ballet program at The Rock School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I used this semester as my transition to a professional ballet career. Next year I will be dancing professionally with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.

Advisor: Amy Cova and The Rock School

Special Thanks: I would like to thank Amy Cova for advising me on this project and my family for supporting me and my pursuit of ballet.

Hannah Byrne INVESTIGATION INTO ANIMAL WELFARE

While my initial intention was to host an animal adoption event at the end of year, the project evolved into an investigation into of the realm of animal homelessness, welfare, and how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted animal shelters.

Advisor: Linda Vernon

Special Thanks:

I would like to thank Linda Vernon for her guidance throughout the year, especially as my project encountered drawbacks and shifted focus. A special shout out to my parents as well for their constant support!

Kate DeRonne MAKING MASKS: THE PROCESS OF COSMETIC FORMULATION

Starting from scratch, I designed, formulated, and created face masks along with creating a brand that encompasses them.

Advisors/Mentors:

Wendy Mayer; Tresha Heath, Makeup Artist, founder of Make Me Makeup & Giella Ambassador; Dr. Gabriella Baki, Director of BSPS Cosmetic Science and Formulation Design

Program at the University of Toledo

Special Thanks:

Thank you to Wendy for keeping my schedule in check, Tresha for showing me the world of creating makeup products, and of course Dr. Baki for the amazing advice on formulation, the use of her lab (and her graduate TAs), and giving me the ability to create something that I otherwise would never had the ability to do. I’d also like to thank all my friends who were a part of the testing process and constantly put up with my random brand name ideas.

Madina Garvin SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

During this year, I’ve been working to research substance use disorders in children and adolescents. I had originally set my sights on having a speaker come in, but due to this pandemic, it is no longer a possibility. I feel I have gone through and done my best to explain the background information of substance use disorders, the process of being diagnosed, and explained a couple possible treatment options.

Due to complications with my own recovery, I have decided to turn this project into more of an educational presentation that does not rely on my own recovery.

Advisor: Reanne Young

Special Thanks: I’d like to thank Reanne for helping me with what has been a very long and confusing process of gathering lots and lots of information. Reanne had been my biggest supporter, helping me navigate the scheduling and creation of this presentation. I would also like to thank my parents for

supporting me in my choice to present on a subject that is very close to my heart and very involved in my own day-to day life.

Anneliese Ingraham

A ROEPER ARCHIVE

At the beginning of the year, my interest in student-directed projects of years past was piqued. I began first looking into Senior Projects, and then got in contact with various faculty members and alums in an effort to find out about more projects. As my contribution to the archive, I helped organize and facilitate Philumni Day this year. This archive is by no means exhaustive, but I hope that it allows students like myself to find out more about what the students who came before us were doing.

Advisor: Susannah Nichols Special Thanks:

I want to give a huge thank you to Susannah Nichols for always being there to listen to my ideas and give me advice.

I also want to thank Juliette Olejnik for allowing me to have so much control over Philumni Day and for being open to my ideas. Finally, I would like to thank Marcia Ruff for all of her help in finding things that helped my project.

Emily Karmanos WRITING A PIANO ALBUM

The point of this project was to further develop my skills as a composer. My goal was to write a maximum of 10 compositions, record them , and release them as an album in some capacity — uploading each to Bandcamp and the full album as a YouTube video.

Advisor: Eric Ambrose and Irwin Krinsky, Piano Teacher Special Thanks:

I would like to thank Eric Ambrose for advising me during the process of making this album, along with telling me about Finale which made aspects of the project far easier than they would have been. I would also like to thank Irwin Krinsky, who helped me improve some of the individual compositions significantly. Lastly, I would like to thank my

friends and family who supported me throughout the year.

Richard Li PUBLIC FORUM DEBATE LESSONS

In this project, my focus was to create a lesson plan/curriculum that the school may use in the future to better teach public forum debate, a popular debate activity not only in the US, but in the world. Public Forum debate has taught me how to research, take notes, speak in front of an audience, and think emphatically about the world around me. If there were one activity I was committed to in high school, that activity would have been doing debate. I had the opportunity to travel the country and make friends for life because of this activity, and I want more people to share that experience. I hope to create a nuance curriculum that Dan and fellow Roeper students may use to advance their debate career and knowledge.

Advisor: Dan Jacobs

Special Thanks:

I would like to thank Dan Jacobs for his support the last three years as both a debater and as a student. I would also like to thank my sister, Rose, for being my partner the last two years. Finally, thank you, Mom and Dad, for supporting Rose and me financially, physically, and emotionally.

Celia Lipton

CONSENT & HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS SEMINAR

My project was a school-wide seminar on consent and healthy relationships. I created an activity to be led by myself, two volunteers from Planned Parenthood, and 11 Roeper students. The activity covered different scenarios students might find themselves in, and they had to discuss whether the situation was healthy or unhealthy. I then led a debrief, with the help of the Planned Parenthood volunteers, to see what students learned from the activity.

Advisor: Susannah Nichols, Natalie Elliott (Planned Parenthood), Deborah Roffman (nationally acclaimed author and sex educator)

Special Thanks: I want to thank Susannah Nichols and Aaron Robinson for believing in this project from the beginning and giving me the words I needed to keep going.

Avery Long A VERY LONG CLIMATE PROJECT

I founded the group known as A Very Long Climate Project (AVLCP) to improve the school’s environmental sustainability and the surrounding culture through continuous operational and long-term work. Some of our accomplishments include running the 12th annual Roeper Benefit Talent Show, working with the Stage IV Sustainable Design class, and creating an AVLCP class to be offered next year — check us out at www.avlcp.weebly.com!

Advisor: Dan Jacobs

Special Thanks:

AVLCP crew, thank you. Without each and every one of you, this project would simply not exist. Ellie, thank you for putting up with all my nonsense and agreeing to take this over next year. Dan, thank you for the inciting conversation and all your support this year and in those prior. Julie, Paula, and the Students of the Sustainability PBL, thank you for welcoming me, mentoring me, and brightening each of my days. Alex and Ttari, thank you for your help in making RBTS 12 possible — and thank you, Jamie, for starting it all and continuously inspiring me. Last, to the greatest family and best friends ever, thank you for your love, care, and support over the years. I couldn’t have done it without you.

Alexa Miller

DIVERSITY 101 CLASS

I developed the curriculum for a class on diversity and then taught it to middle and high school students.

Advisor: Susannah Nichols

Special Thanks:

Thank you to Susannah who has stuck with me through this almost three-year journey. Thank you to my parents who acted as test subjects, research helpers, and encouraging fans. And finally, thank you to the students who participated in my class. This project could not have happened without you and would have been pretty boring if you hadn’t committed yourselves to the class.

S teven Raphael

DESIGNING AND TEACHING A COMPUTER PROGRAMMING CLASS

I created a curriculum for teaching computer programming in the Python programming language. I then taught my programming class to Roeper Middle School students during the third trimester. No such class was being offered in the Roeper Middle School at that time. My class, which was called Introduction to Computer Programming, was taught mostly remotely. My goal was to encourage Roeper to offer more technology classes, as well as to demonstrate that middle school students could learn advanced programming languages such as Python.

Advisor: Andrew Blechman

Special Thanks:

I would like to thank Andrew Blechman, Brian Corley, the IT Department, and my family for supporting me.

I also thank the students who took my class; I hope that they continue to pursue their passion for programming.

Cameron Robinson & Ron Robinson REBUILDING A RACE CAR: PROJECT SPEC MIATA

My initial goal was to change the engine and suspension to make this car “Spec Miata” Rules-compliant. I thought this would be a simple job, only changing two essential systems — the engine and the suspension. This project was so far from simple. I didn’t think about the effort it would take to bring the engine to its finished form. And I was not thinking about all the things that might not have been done correctly by the previous owner that we would have to fix.

Essentially, every part of the car was improved upon for a final product Dad and I are really proud of. He has always said to do something right the first time so you don’t have to fix it later. This car is an example of that. With this car we had the opportunity to really make something our own and learn from the mistakes of the previous builder. And this time, to do it right. I can say for sure that I now know almost everything about these little cars and hope that knowledge will help me on the track.

Advisor: Hale Williams, V2 Racing, Advanced Autosport, Amsoil (Nick)

Special Thanks: Special thanks to Ron Robinson (Dad) — this project wouldn’t have been possible without you.

Chandler Thomas THE BEAUTY OF DETROIT

I started this project to show people that beauty of Detroit. People have a thought of Detroit being this terrible place. I went around Detroit taking pictures of buildings, sports arenas, and landmarks.

Advisor: Kelly McDowell Special Thanks: I want to thank my Mom and Kelly McDowell for helping advise my project.

Sam Weiss CHAINMAIL IN HISTORY, IN PRESENT, AND IN PRACTICE

This project consisted of two central elements: firstly, a research presentation on the history of chainmail as a medium as well as its current-day applications; secondly, my personal production of several chainmail projects in multiple chainmail weaves, namely chainmail clothing. Additionally, my personal work with chainmail will be presented alongside the historical and present-day chainmail sections.

Advisor: Janet Szeto, Main Advisor Jason McIntosh, Overseer of my and everyone else’s senior project

Special Thanks:

To Janet Szeto and Jason McIntosh for assisting in the project itself. To my parents and teachers for supporting me both in my exploits into the medium of chainmail and as a whole. And a shoutout to my friends for thinking it’s cool, too.

Tristan Wilson COMPOSITION OF NEW ORIGINAL MUSIC

This project, which began as a way for me to set aside time in my schedule reserved purely for composition (with the added benefit of also giving me time to prepare a portfolio of work for the college application process) has spiralled beyond anything I could have imagined at the outset of this school year. Over the course of the past months, I have revised my cello concerto, written a large-scale work for solo viola (part of which is featured in my video presentation) as well as a few other smallscale works, and perhaps most importantly, a large-scale theatrical work with my collaborator Alex Calderwood.

Advisor: Eric Ambrose Special Thanks:

I would like to thank my family, friends, and teachers (especially Eric Ambrose, my advisor, and my private music teachers Hang Su and Jan Anderson) for always having been supportive of me and my endeavors, even when times were

tough.

Emma Wine

WRITING & DIRECTING A PLAY-TURNED-FILM: SHOT IN THE DARK

I spent first semester writing a play that critiques our healthcare system by focusing on the lives of three (fictional) Type One Diabetics. My intent was to direct the play second semester. I had to adapt the play to be recorded virtually as a film when the pandemic hit, which unexpectedly gave the project a whole new layer of significance.

Advisor: Alex Pedica

Cast:

William Bieneman Alex Calderwood Diego Garcia Clyde Granzeier Alisa Harris Zion Johnson

Kristian LaVeque Lee Must Liliana Schechter Charlotte Silverstein Sandra Smith-Johnson Ava Thomas

Special Thanks: My incredible cast for their remarkable flexibility and enthusiasm through countless changes — and for allowing me a space to be vulnerable in this entirely new experience. Chris Ban for his editing expertise. Alex Calderwood, Celia Lipton and Ttari Hellmer for their help with the script. Kylene Redmond, Qiana Drew, Eli Ribiat, Tamera Middlebrooks, and Maiya Kim for sharing with me their stories to help inform various aspects of my characters. My mom, dad, and sister for their unparalleled support in so many aspects of my life. And finally, Alex Pedica: the person who enabled this experience to be so rich with growth, vulnerability, respect, laughter, and depth. I truly could not have asked for a better advisor, and our conversations in the theater are memories that I will cherish.

Max Yolles

RESEARCHING AND DESIGNING TAROT CARDS

I have researched the history of tarot cards and examined different styles from all over the world. My designs started as sketches and evolved into what is now a group of paintings. I have learned a lot about tarot cards while doing this project, but I have also learned a lot about myself.

Advisor: Janet Szeto Special Thanks: I would like to thank my teachers for being understanding and encouraging throughout this whole process. Special thanks to my friends for always being supportive.

Please join us for

VIRTUAL COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES for the

CLASS OF 2020 Sunday, June 7 Noon

THE ROEPER SCHOOL educating and inspiring gifted students to think as individuals and to engage as a community with compassion for each other and this world

Middle/Upper School 1051 OAKLAND AVENUE BIRMINGHAM, MICHIGAN 248.203.7405 www.roeper.org david h. feldman, head of school karen johnson, upper school director