In defense of senior defense...

TWENTY NINE DEGREES. 

Ugh.

Mother Nature is still in charge. I hope my plants are not all crisped up and frozen. We got the two new honeyberry bushes in yesterday, but G put them in the shed, just in case. Likely, the petunias are a little irritated, but the herbs should be okay. I have not planted basil outdoors yet. This, after several days of 80s and 50s at night. So be it.

Today is Senior Defense day-- the seniors all have to do what is basically a form of exit interview. They present their portfolios and discuss the guiding questions, all of which should reflect what they've learned in high school. Not class or course by course, but the overarching things, such as, what is your internal model of good work? 

There are nine guiding questions, but they all lead to that sort of thing. And they have to have a slide show (ergg), but their oral presentation is what matters most. I hope they are good; we advisors sit on panels, and we watch/listen, then, after the student is done and he/she leaves the room, we chat about their presentation and assess it, using a rubric. This is for graduation requirements, and is assessed for credit. 

While most of the seniors just grin and bear it, precious few understand that this meta-project is useful. I try to tell them this is the sort of presentation they may have to do, without the slide show, if they are interviewing for a job or graduate school. Those guiding questions should be probing, and are much like the ones good interviewers ask. In short, Why should we admit you? or Why should we hire you? What do you bring to the organization? Clue: "I'm a people person" doesn't cut it. I hope they understand, eventually, what a gift we are trying to give them, by asking them to reflect and compile their experiences into a whole that can represent them far better than a grade. We'll see.

We'll be done by 11 am, I suspect. But then... a cybersecurity presentation after lunch. In short, I'll be at work all day. 

Happy Friday, folks. 

Hold your loved ones close.

C