Right now, the sophomores are working on their Middle Years Programme (MYP) Personal Project. The Personal Project is required by 10th graders, as North Atlanta is an IB school. The point of the project is meant to develop the students’ personal interest and to show and apply their skills in their subject of interest. This year,  a large number of the members of the Class of 2021 are getting downright creative.

Many sophomores are doing their project with an instrument. Some students are learning, and others are teaching. Coincidently, sophomores Lucy-Grey Shields and Elise Roman are both doing pieces by the popular singer Ed Sheeran. Shields is teaching herself how to play the song “Perfect” on the ukulele and Roman is teaching another student how to play one of his songs on the piano. “His songs are just so perfect, no pun intended,” said Shields.

Several sophomores that play sports are making their projects sports-based. Virginia Moses is on the varsity girls soccer team and is co-coaching a soccer team of 5-year-old girls. Charlie Ferguson is learning how to bat left-handed from his older brother who is a college baseball player.  Colin Smith, who is five feet nine inches. is seeking to learning how to dunk a basketball. “I want to learn because a short person dunking is way more impressive and interesting than someone who is six feet six who is dunking,” he said.

Others are taking a more intellectual turn on their projects. Grace Thomason is learning how to have a basic conversation in sign language. Izzy Lawter is digging into her Colombian roots and teaching her friend how to speak Spanish. Tyler Hankin is creating his own radio station to talk with his friends on, play his favorite music, and discuss things that are happening at North Atlanta.

There are a plethora of great ideas that are being done this year as Personal Projects. Whether the projects are athletic, artistic or intellectual the projects are due sometime in March of next year. It is going to be exciting to see all of the hard work sophomores put into their projects and how they come out. Maybe we’ll see some end up in the MYP Project Showcase, the annual event where the top projects are featured.

So, sophomores, push yourselves and procrastinate no more. Some of your peers are doing awesome projects so learn to love Managebac, come up with a spiffy idea and get to it.