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(Address) Senior Board Panel Judges Dear Judges: Throughout my fourteen years of education, I have had many struggles and successes. A huge struggle was learning to work with my learning disabilities. Even as a little girl I was never really good at reading and writing skills. Over fourteen years of education I have worked hard to improve my weakness and have learned how to use my strengths to compensate. I would have been lost without the knowledge from great teachers. Many teachers have impacted my life academically and personally. This Senior project has made me work at over coming some of my fears such as speaking in public and writing long papers. Before selecting my Senior Project topic I knew I wanted to start early. The reason for starting early was I did not want to have tons of things to worry about my Senior year. Also I wanted to make sure I did not procrastinate. First I thought about glass blowing, but I had trouble finding a mentor that was close enough. Then I thought about doing something with interior design. I had always been interested in interior design and had fun redoing rooms. The trouble was not being able to get a mentor. I guess you could say that I had trouble finding a topic I would enjoy and a mentor I could work with. My final topic was outdoor recreation. I have always enjoyed the outdoors and the excitement of the adventure. I was working at an outdoor recreation store, Ocean State Adventures, and found a mentor that I already got a long with. I know that I could learn a lot from her and could not wait to start my field work. Throughout the Senior Project experience I have had two big learning stretches. The first learning stretch was when doing my field work. I was working with teens at the same time as learning new skills myself. I had to balance what I was learning at the same time when teaching the children. At times when I was having trouble learning the new skill I would get upset and want to give up. From watching the children I learned that you can not give up and that you must embrace new situations. The second learning stretch was writing the eight to ten page paper. While I found plenty of research on the benefits of outdoor recreation, I struggled to organize it into a readable paper. It took several drafts and a lot of help before I got it right. Now that it is almost over I am glad I experienced the Senior Project. I enjoyed the field work and learned new skills that I hope to use in the future. While I did not enjoy writing the paper, I know it gave me more skills that will help in college. Before doing this project I knew outdoor recreation was fun but now I realize that it will be a part of my life. I want to thank you for taking the time to share my experience with senior project. I have worked hard and hope you enjoy my presentation. Thanks again. Sincerely,
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