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THS seniors show off community projects

By Emma Crawford Kent, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo on

Published in Senior Living Features

TUPELO -- For Tupelo High School senior Emery Anthony, the senior culmination project she and her classmates were required to complete was eyeopening to the needs in her community.

All Tupelo High seniors must complete a culmination project in order to graduate. Students work in groups, and projects are required to be service-oriented.

The project gets senior students outside of the classroom and into the community when they would otherwise be occupied with homework, college and scholarship applications and ACT prep.

"There's a lot to do in our community," Anthony said.

Anthony was one of a group of THS seniors who presented their senior projects to the community Thursday afternoon in the THS gymnasium.

Groups also work with mentors from within the community and partner with local service organizations to complete the projects.

Awrittenpaperandmultiple presentations, including Thursday's, cap off the often months-long endeavors.

Anthony and her group partnered with the Tree of Life Clinic and local company ReDesign to create T-shirt quilts to be donated to those in need this winter.

The group held a T-shirt drive, learned to sew and made the blankets themselves.

Anna Coburn, THS senior, said the project was a good opportunity to do some good in Tupelo.

"It's a great ending note to our last year here," Coburn said.

Another group of seniors worked with Safe Haven on their project. The group organized a church league basketball tournament fundraiser to buy materials to build a basketball goal for the children at Safe Haven.

The fundraiser collected $600, and the students had money left to buy some Christmas gifts for children in need this holiday season.

 

Lexi Pund said the project was time-consuming, but worth doing to know she had helped those in need.

"Building the basketball goal from scratch -- that was a lot more challenging than we expected," Pund said.

Overall, 62 service projects were completed by THS seniors this semester.

April Friar, English teacher who heads up the senior project committee at THS, said she was proud of her students' work on the projects.

"The projects are important because they allow them (students) to move beyond the classroom and experience the highs and lows of the real world," Friar said. "Most importantly, it gives them the opportunity to invest in and give back to the community."

A new group of seniors will complete another round of projects during the spring semester.

emma.crawford@journalinc.com

Twitter: @emcrawfordkent

(c)2016 the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (Tupelo, Miss.)

Visit the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (Tupelo, Miss.) at www.djournal.com

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(c) Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo

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