AROUND THE POND
The Latest Adventures in ISP In its first year, three decades ago, Taft’s program for Independent Studies was considered a high-risk venture. First, the question: would an upper-school student risk failure through extra work for no academic credit? And, second, the fact that no other school or college had anything like ISP as a formal organization. Now, nearly a thousand completed projects later, this special opportunity perpetuates itself. Moreover, it is a prototype for a new senior year plan on the drawing board. Both programs will depend on a structure of controlled freedom balanced by close support—not unlike an aviary. In any event, ISP will continue in its present form: selected participants with project proposals guided by faculty volunteers and monitored by the ISP Committee, which oversees their progress and evaluates the final displays. In fact, little has changed since 1964 when John Esty and Lance Odden
originated the Independent Studies Program—only its size and influence. Last year, for instance, over half the faculty became involved with seventy-seven projects. While a few participants withdrew or fell short of their vision, the vast majority arrived at the ISP Banquet and received certificates for completed work. After many years of student production, in addition to course work, it is now obvious what generates ISP: creative spirit; tradition, or continuity; and community attention. Then, too, each year the new participants benefit from the cross-pollinating among projects. Finally, these special students become aware that the invisible rewards—pride, confidence, and self-knowledge—will be the most durable. —Barclay Johnson ’53, program director
Barclay Johnson confers with ISP participant Damon Cortesi ’98
Photos by Peter Finger
Independent Studies Program Participants Adam Aronson ’99 Model sailboat Mooney/Zuehlke
Nefertari Brown ’98 Poetry Phipps
Tim Carter ’98 Advanced clarinet Nagy/Fifer
Adrian Cheng ’98 Japanese calligraphy Li
Willy Cheung ’99 Classical guitar Romao*
Amy Baltazar ’98 Pottery Wynne
Jessica Buckingham ’98 Drawing/poetry Beasley
Daniel Chak ’98 Russian correspondance Phipps
Sonia Cheng ’99 Keyboard with band Fifer
Ben Cirillo ’99, Basel Kitmitto ’99, & Jay Mann ’98 Snowboarding video Doyle Taft Bulletin
21