BonnerSprings.com

Editors note: This begins a series that follows a group of Bonner Springs High School students as they work throughout the year on their senior projects, which are required for graduation.

From aspirations of someday becoming a nurse to digging a foundation and constructing a playhouse, Cali Hackney is learning that from every job comes a lesson.

In between juggling such activities as volleyball and cross country practices, Hackney, 17, can be found in her back yard, shovel in hand, laying the foundation to what will soon be a new playhouse for her 14 younger cousins.

“They’re really excited to have a place to hang out,” Hackney said. “Our family is big on being together, so when I have it done, they’ve already planned a sleepover in it.”

The playhouse isn’t just any hobby or family chore, however. Hackney’s construction work came about as the Bonner Springs High School senior started brainstorming ideas for her senior project.

While most of the Bonner Springs-Edwardsville community has likely heard about such senior projects and may be aware that they’re a required for graduation, many people don’t understand just how much work goes into each project’s year-long process.

“I’ve never had to do something when you have to get all the measurements exactly right,” Hackney said of her project’s struggle thus far. “If you’re off even a little, you have to start all over.”

Hackney chose her project because she wanted a way to give back to the youths of the community. With a large number of cousins, all of whom have many friends, Hackney said she hoped her project would give them a place where everyone could play together.

“It feels like I’ve actually done something and accomplished something,” she said. “It just makes me feel good knowing that I actually gave back to someone and that means a lot to me.”

With that motivation in mind, Hackney understands she has a long road ahead of her. Since entering high school, all BSHS students are aware of the fact that senior boards face them all during the last month of their high school career.

With the beginning of their senior year already a couple of months in, each senior has faced two deadlines when it comes to their senior project. Form one and form two, just two of many that will follow as the year moves on, were due to school officials in the past weeks. These forms require students to explain their projects in detail, including materials, cost, purpose and goals. These forms are designed to keep the students on track and prepared for the presentation they have to make come May in front of teachers and Bonner Springs residents.

For Stephen Call, 17, the forms aren’t necessary for keeping him on track. After completing his project during the summer and then with advice from a girlfriend who has gone through the process herself, Call has finished every form except for the final two.

“I feel pretty confident,” he said of his project. “I’m a lot more laidback than most students would be. I got done in the summer, which helped relieve stress and lets me focus on other stuff I’ve got going on now.”

For his project, Call decided to volunteer to paint the Church of Christ in Linwood, where he attends. Through the end of June into the first week of July, Call and couple of friends he recruited painted the outside of the church and stained the wheelchair ramp.

“It was very hot and tiring and I also had baseball on the same nights,” he said. “But it felt real good. It was a long process, but in the end I knew it would be worth it because it was a really good cause.”

While he said the actual senior project process was not necessarily hard, he admitted that it took a lot of time management and organization to get to a finished product. He’s made a notebook, another requirement of everyone’s project, and included every single piece of information about the project that would fit, including pictures, receipts and email transcripts.

Before everything is said and done and he’s ready for the presentation, Call still has the research paper to write. For the paper, students must pick a topic that relates to their individual physical project.

While fellow senior Teran Holter, 17, hasn’t quite nailed down the topic of her research paper, she said she’s been enjoying the projects process so far. This is most likely because she chose a topic that is of great interest to her, she said.

During the summer, Holter shadowed three cadets from the Kansas City, Kan., Police Training Academy. Since she was a young girl Holter has known she wanted a career in law enforcement, and this was her chance to get an up close look at her future.

“I wanted to do it so I could get a good feel of what they go through every day,” she said. “Had I picked something that I didn’t like, then it would be stressful to come up with all the time and make your hours. I really enjoyed the opportunity to get to shadow the cadets.”

Overall, Holter said she is not worried about her project. She said she’s trying to stay on top of the work and not wait until the night before to finish her forms. Her nerves do kick in, however, when she thinks about the presentation portion of the project. She’s never liked speaking in front of others and she said she just hopes she has the right answers when she’s asked a question.

“It makes me kind of nervous to know that if you do bad, you won’t graduate senior year,” she said. “It’s really not as bad as kids make it sound. I just have to make sure I keep working hard.”

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