Northwood Graduation Project "Show and Tell" Evening

Northwood's 1st Annual Graduation Project Presentation Night is quickly approaching in mid-December and will be here before we know it!  On November 21st I had the wonderful opportunity of witnessing the fruits of our labor at a Graduation Project "Show and Tell" evening at the Chatham County Together Headquarters in Pittsboro.  The "Show & Tell" was hosted by Marjorie Hudson and Gwen Overturf who have matched over 70 of Chatham County Schools students with community mentors who have been guiding our students throughout many phases of the project.

Each student and community mentor was given the opportunity to share their individual experiences with the Graduation Project.  Some of the project products included clay sculptures of charger horses, creating a family recipe cookbook, teaching a yoga class, building a bookcase out of maple wood scraps, learning to hand make Italian food and cater a meal for a small event, and producing two original pieces of music!  The students present were Laura Watson, William Alston, Nate Creel, Taneesha Judd, Samantha Arzate, Noemi Rocha-Trenado, Brittany Holleman and Devin Lucas, all matched with a mentor through Chatham Together.

Following the formal "Show & Tell" the students and mentors were all served an amazing handmade Italian meal of three different kinds of raviolis and Italian desserts by a student, Taneesha Judd, who has been mentored by the owner of the Neighborhood Pizza Company.  She even churned her own butter!

Over our delicious meal, the students began to open up and share their thoughts about the project and the advice that they would give a junior who is getting ready to embark upon the Graduation Project.  Every student felt that the project has been one of the most, if not most, rewarding high school experiences he or she has had over the past four years.  Each of them shared doubts about the project when it was first introduced to them last year, but felt that they had grown and learned so much about themselves, what they are capable of accomplishing, the importance of building relationships with others, how to manage their time, and what the real world truly entails after high school.

These students were willing and jumping at the chance to share their success stories with their struggling classmates and the rising senior class of 2011.  They also brainstormed ways to improve the implementation of the project in the schools and came up with some really awesome ideas.  All of the seniors present at the gathering were in agreement that the Graduation Project has the ability to change lives, be it an honors student or a failing student.  Two of the students present shared that they had considered dropping out of school at one point during this school year.   According to both, the reason they are still in school today is due to this project and their mentor.  The clay sculptor is one of the students who considered dropping out of school earlier this year.  Both of this student's sculptures will be featured at the 2009 Carolina Designer Craftsmen Guild in the High School Exhibit at the NC Fair Grounds next weekend.  What a breakthrough for this young man!

I cannot begin to tell you how much time and effort is necessary in order to effectively and efficiently implement this project into our schools, however, seeing this group of students and mentors has made the entire journey worth every second, and I cannot wait for our community to see just what our young people in Chatham County can and ARE doing!

Thank you to the faculty and staff at Northwood for being such advocates of this project and pushing the students to reach beyond their potential!

Megan Johnson Huber
Business Education Teacher
Graduation Project Coordinator
Northwood High School
310 Northwood High School Rd.
Pittsboro, NC 27312
(919)542-4181