Every year at PA, International Baccalaureate (IB) sophomores take on the Personal Project, an independent research-based assignment to explore their passions. While some students share they found the process rewarding, others encountered difficulties with time management, research, or unexpected setbacks during the process. For many, the experience offers valuable lessons beyond the final product.
With the Personal Project, students investigate an area of interest either through hands-on experiences or through research. Their processes were recorded with logged journals which helped keep them on track with the project’s research and report. Once the project is completed (with the help of a teacher advisor), students are required to summarize and reflect on their journey in a 15 page report, which was due on Jan. 12 of this year. This year, some students chose to pursue projects like: training for a 10k, the psychology behind fashion, writing and illustrating a children’s book, and learning the political data of PA.
According to MYP Project Coordinator, Katelyn Smith, the project is “a meaningful milestone for IB students in the final year of the Middle Years Programme.” Smith expresses how the project helps students explore their learning skills and design an “independent learning experience.”
Considering that the Personal Project is the most significant requirement IB sophomores have yet to face, many students have their own views and opinions on the process. Out of 15 IB sophomores, 60% of students rated the project a three on a scale from 1-5 (1 least difficult, 5 most difficult) and 73% believe the project helped them grow as learners.
Sophomore Monte Monette is one of the many to acknowledge self-growth after completing the Personal Project. Monette’s project was to train his body to do difficult tasks such as a handstand and backflip. While he shares that the active part of the project was entertaining, Monette said he still found the project as a whole difficult, rating it a four on the difficulty scale. He stated, “I had a pretty hard time learning and working out for my project…I struggled with how to truly measure any growth in a manner suitable for the report. In the end, after some long nights, I figured out how to track my fitness and relate it to my growth as a learner as well.”
While some students say they did not meet their product goals, Smith explains that the project has benefits outside of the classroom, like encouraging MYP students to use critical thinking and perseverance in every aspect of life. “These skills are all valuable for future academic and career pursuits,” she said, and highlighted specific abilities students gain such as research and creativity. She states further how some of the largest parts of this project required great dedication and focus as a student, and IB Approaches to Learning skills used along the way.
After completing the project, IB sophomores were asked to participate in the Personal Project Exhibition, in which they were able to showcase their projects to the school community. The exhibition on March 21 included both IB sophomores and seniors, who were presenting their Creativity, Action, and Service projects, which students complete later on in the program. Each student was required to show some sort of evidence of their project along with a trifold of information on their process, inspiration, and criteria fulfilled. Students throughout the school were invited in order to review the projects, and IB freshmen had the task of learning about the projects in preparation for their own next year. Teachers nominated as judges walked around the gymnasium providing insight on projects which resulted in students receiving awards at the end of the event.
One student at the showcase was IB sophomore Suniva Bhattarai, who created a video-editing project. For her project, Bhattarai described how she captured videos to post on a YouTube Channel using the software iMovie, Capcut, and VLLO. After researching tips on video editing, she says she experimented with the tips to incorporate them into three videos. The videos included a “Day in the Life” of her family’s celebration of the Hindu tradition of Bhai Tikka, and a video including advice for other YouTubers. Bhattarai explains she now understands that online creators have it hard, as she always aimed for perfection in her video creation.
