Senior Projects & Field-Based Learning
2007 marks the launch of the Bay School Senior Projects and Field-Based Learning Program. It offers a meaningful opportunity for every senior at the Bay School to pursue his and her personal and academic interests inside and outside of the classroom with the close guidance of an experienced mentor. The field work outside of the classroom may have many forms such as internships, future career experiences, or working with mentors who provide expertise and resources related to something that the student would like to accomplish or create. The time associated with these field-based experiences is a minimum of 65 hours for each student and is considered an integral part of the education of all students at Bay. Senior projects can be scheduled during regular school hours, outside of regular school hours, or even during the summer between the junior and senior year based upon each student’s schedule, desire, and opportunities.
Some of the many topics that the senior class of 2008 have indicated as areas of interest so far are music production, politics, community service, fashion design, accounting, medicine, anthropology, theater and performing arts, building an electric car, sports, working at an environmental start up company, race car driving, working with special needs children, architecture and construction, engineering, medical research, the legal profession, the FBI, psychology, literature, history, and international diplomacy.
The Bay School’s goal is to make the senior project an in-depth, culminating learning experience for all seniors. In addition to hands-on experience, students learn in-depth research skills as well as how to write a project proposal. They learn how to make contacts with individuals and organizations that can help them pursue the study of their field; they will learn how to make a formal presentation and will produce a deliverable from their work. Their study will conclude with the writing of a paper or presentation of a project that reflects on their thoughts, experiences, and accomplishments.
The Senior Project Program is directed by Dr. Eugene Mizusawa, whose academic and professional background, as well as personal interests and travel experience, make him the ideal person to launch and implement such an experiential learning program. Having earned both a bachelor degree and doctorate in Chemistry, Eugene has extensive scientific research and product development experience through his work at universities, in industry, and at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He has taught at UCLA, at the Cal State East Bay School of Business, in the Dublin Unified School District, and most recently at Athenian School in Danville where he has served as head of the Science Department and was the founding director of the Center for Innovation and Applied Technology.