THE
George A. Roeper FESTIVAL of SENIOR PROJECTS
A Retrospective 2008 – 2015
Introduction I am driven to work with gifted children … they are not limited by what they see. George A. Roeper In May of 2008, The Roeper School hosted our first George A. Roeper Festival of Senior Projects, and the tradition has continued ever since. One of the core tenets of the Roeper philosophy is that students must be given the opportunity to “participate in the shaping of their own destiny and to consciously prepare them for it.” Throughout their school careers, Roeper students are handed the reigns and encouraged to explore their own paths — to shape their own destinies. Senior Projects at Roeper are not compulsory; rather they are viewed as capstone projects that students choose to explore. Providing this freedom for students coupled with appropriate support and resources permits them to share their creative energies with the community and inspires future students to believe in themselves and their potential. In 2013, Mara Jaffe contributed all of the proceeds from her pop-up restaurant, “The George,” to support future senior projects. She observed that, although her project culminated in something that made money, she needed “seed money” to get started. She wanted to be certain that students in the future could be guaranteed the advantage that her parents afforded her. We extend our special thanks to the Classes of 2013 and 2014 who made contributions to this fund. This retrospective includes every senior who shared his/her work at the George A. Roeper Festival of Senior Projects from 2008-2014. Their collective work is breathtaking and speaks to the power of a school that helps students chart their own course, and where they are valued, cared for, and challenged.
Lisa Baker
Upper School Director
The Class of 2008
Nicholas Skardarasy THE TANGLED SNARL
The Tangled Snarl is whirlwind tale of deception and danger. A mock film noir piece that highlights the hilarity not often shown in this genre.
Nick Hurwitz-Goodman REPOSITION:
a series of paintings and drawings of an urban society
My project consisted of immersing myself in Detroit’s arts culture by volunteering at Artists Village, a community arts center dedicated to revitalizing Detroit by way of public art. I also worked with Steve Magsig, a local urban landscape painter. I learned basic painting techniques and gained insight into the business aspect of art through my sessions with him. On the whole, my experiences with Steve and Artists Village were extremely educational. I have learned that art can be used as a tool to improve the environment around us.
David A. Lauer CULINARY ARTS STUDY
I have worked at two different stores and kitchens: Simply Good Kitchen and Bonnie’s Kitchen. For Simply Good I did mostly prep work and was taught proper techniques (knife skills, food storage, proper kitchen etiquette) and learned how to prepare many recipes ranging from Marshmallows to Duck Confit. At Bonnie’s Kitchen I assisted Bonnie with her cooking classes and gained experience teaching cooking classes.
Jake Conley Mickley CHILDREN’S EDUCATION STUDY
During my second semester I have been assistant teaching in Elisabeth Lawrence and Dee Blankenburg’s Roeper Stage III classroom. I have been working with the second and third grade class on a number of activities including reading groups, math games and many other daily homeroom assignments. Throughout the semester I have completed a number of studies on the topic of elementary education that include a child study and a lesson plan based on the results of my study.
Scott David Kaser A.D.D. GUY A.D.D. Guy is a documentary that explores the methods of A.D.D. coach, Kevin Roberts. The film investigates Roberts’s “alternative” way of helping students with A.D.D. and other learning disabilities. The film shows that sometimes students need more help with motivation than with homework. Interviews are conducted with current and past students, a parent and teacher, an assistant, and Roberts himself.
Michelle Eileen Resnick POINT OF VIEW A series of disconnected scenes exploring faith, politics, sanity and the power of belief. An original work inspired by the script of the PBS interview of Joseph Campbell by Bill Moyers and the poem One Voice by Billy Gilman.
Alicia RoseVanOverbeke BEGINNING THE SUMMER 2008 COLLECTION I’ve spent this past semester gaining inspiration from my vacations to tropical places (such as Cancun) and anticipating my upcoming summer months in Europe and New York City. I wanted to create pieces that would be both fun and functional and put a twist on the classical style I have grown up being inspired by.
Tom Hickey DIRECTED STUDY OF MODERNISM IN POETRY French Modernist Poet Charles Baudelaire For my directed study I’ve read two translations of modernist pioneer Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal, Selections from The Complete Work of Arthur Rimbaud, T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and various works by Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams and Ezra Pound. I used historian Peter Gay’s book Modernism as a type of guiding textbook, and I often used the lawn outside of Roeper to lay down, take off my shoes, chill out and read some good poetry. My directed study culminates in my senior thesis, which explores the concept of ennui in the poetry of Charles Baudelaire and its connection to the psychology of thrill kills. Scary sounding, I admit, but the goal here is to dig up some explanation for even the most abhorrent human behavior. The research for this thesis consisted of a lot of reading, not only about Baudelaire, but also about psychology and criminology. As an extension of my senior project I have also started the Pop Poetry Project, a student-run art project that attempts to introduce readers to new and novel ways of encountering poems. The first project in the series is an outdoor walk through an exhibit of Wallace Steven’s modernist classic, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.
Edwin S tevenson Baker “Ned” THE EDGAR ALLAN POE PROJECT A series of performances pieces based on selected stories and poems by the 19th Century author, Edgar Allan Poe, and performed by members of the Roeper community.
The Class of 2009 Jessica McGlory UP IN SMOKE — THREE PSAs My project was to take something that most people think of as “bad,” but to present it in a way that’s interesting: so I got involved in the production and shooting of three anti-smoking Public Service Announcements, to be shown one-per-evening at the Festival of Senior Projects.
Amelia Hefferon
THE FUNNY WOMEN PROJECT An oddball combination of staged interviews and whacky sketches, The Funny Women Project seeks to question and explore the “funny potential” of the female gender and the role of women in comedy throughout the past century. The dialogue for tonight’s performance was drawn from a series of actual interviews and research conducted throughout the semester. The sketches are the products of some of the greatest funny ladies of our time.
Danny Burnstein HYPERLITE PRO MODEL BOARD SHORT DESIGN AND CERAMICS My senior project was to graphically create designs for pro model wakeboard shorts. Then Hyperlite’s production team and I would narrow down these mock-ups to a few easily manufactured designs, and from those the company would pick the one pair they liked best, and mass-produce them to be distributed throughout the world under the Hyperlite brand. The second part of my project was to take a double block of Ceramics every other day, thus allowing me to work with a different medium, one that has taught me valuable three-dimensional skills that I can incorporate in future computer designs.
Hale Williams ENVIRONMENTAL PUPPETRY My project involved teaching Lower School kids how to make puppets out of re-used and recycled materials and using the skills I learned at PuppetArt in Detroit to create puppets of my own.
Ben Fallert THINGS THAT MOVE This past semester I taught “Things That Move,” a Lower School Stage III elective that presented physics concepts using toys as examples. I also taught science to Stage II students during their free-choice activities.
Garth Allen PK: THE FIRST TALE A Novella
A novella written by Garth Allen follows the day-to-day life and momentary adventures of a young man who’s found himself in a dangerous and confusing situation while living in a city of warring, god-like megacorporations, a bustling nightlife, anime fanatics, mad artists and, last but not least, a society of ESP-ers hidden from the rest of the world. With the aid and guidance of a surly and cynical veteran of the ESP-er secrecy enforcers, a childish club-rat, and a secretive girl who’s a little too old for her age, this young man must adapt to dealing with the secret world around the city and try to survive his first week as a citizen within it.
Lauren Paige Walkiewicz VAGINAS HAVE TEETH AND OTHER CHILDREN’S CLASSICS This two-part project uses art and theatre to communicate ideas about female sexuality and gender roles. Throughout the semester, I gathered information about female sexuality and other women’s studies. The books Virgins: A Cultural History by Anke Bernau, Women’s Studies: Essential Readings edited by Stevi Jackson, and The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, played a large role in shaping the project, the first part of which is entitled “Going Down The Rabbit Hole.” It’s a one-woman theatrical performance that I created with the help of my advisor, Shannon Kennedy, and mentor, Tari Hellmer, and is comprised of five different scenes with original and adapted texts. The second part is a gallery exhibition of works in various media: oil, acrylic, water-based ink, spray paint, wax, stencils, rubber stamps, pencil, fabric, string, wood, wax, rose petals, glass beads, newspaper, wire, glass, vellum, and more. The subject matter of the art varies greatly from piece to piece. My sketchbooks from the semester will also be on display to provide further insight into the thoughts behind the works in the exhibition.
Matt Gerendasy SUCKLING A Novella
For the past semester I’ve been working on a novella that I’ve called Suckling. It’s written in a down-to-earth, relatively uncomplicated style, because this is the first time I’ve written a lengthy narrative, and I thought it would be best to avoid trying anything flashy. In preparation for this project, I read two books written in the minimalist style that I sought to emulate: Raymond Carver’s story compilation Short Cuts, and James M. Cain’s pulp crime novel The Postman Always Rings Twice.
Brett Kline SCARFACE! THE MUSICAL*
Adapting and editing down the script written by Oliver Stone from the movie Scarface, Brett Kline put his own twist on the 1983 Brian De Palma film — writing new musical numbers with lyrics — to create the greatest May 19th musical in the history of Roeper.
Liam Kirby MY SENIOR PROJECT Rather than a definite set of goals and creations, I decided to approach my senior project by working normally. The senior experience has allowed me to invest a greater degree of responsibility in my process, while still in high school. By this I mean, that, as an artist, I would have most likely come to many of the same conclusions and worked in a similar manner had I not been involved in a “project.” It merely allowed me to progress faster and with better support. This is why I don’t want to aggrandize my work by presenting it as a cohesive project. Similar threads and streams of ideas connect everything I do. I do feel that examining a body of work has many benefits, but presenting my art as a product of a project is detrimental. The truth is that most of the art I completed is done, and almost no one has witnessed it. Much of my work is at its most present while it is being worked on, meaning only the few people who were in the art room on that particular day witnessed it. There is a great value to talking about and investigating past events and sequences, but the fact remains that most of the work presented here is no longer active. By saying this, I don’t mean to devalue the work that is on display, because it is a clear representation of what I have been doing. I just want to urge any audience to seek out experiences, such as visual art in different stages, rather than only allocating our consumption of culture to the end of the creative
Mika Thewes A series of sculptures showing a transformation through different levels of moral degradation, supplemented by a suite of drawings and photographs representing my work from both the fall and spring semesters.
Hale Williams CLUE
(a play in one act)
Tricia Haslinger EXPLORING THE DEPTHS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS AND ADVERTISING Part of this two-part project involved interning for Ed Glass (Class of 1995) at his real estate magazine and organizing a monthly calendar of local seminars and workshops. This integrated research, organization and correspondence with businesses holding the various seminars. The other half of my project was working with Carri Hammers at the Lower School in Roeper’s Public Relations Department. I worked two days a week organizing articles that featured Roeper in the newspapers, doing research for press releases, writing press releases, and sometimes even getting them published. Through both of these internships, I strengthened my organizational skills, became more accustomed to meeting deadlines, got better at talking to people outside of my comfort range, got to expand my creativity through writing and coming up with advertisement ideas for the school, and got a preview of what I’m interested in doing as a career.
Richard Cruz CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE Over the past year I have written over 15 songs and recorded a few of them with Dan Silverman (’09) on guitar and vocals, Donivan Abraham (’08) on drums, and myself on bass and back-up vocals.
Devon Parrott My senior project has been a year-long process; it has been said that it sort of started last summer, when I interned at the Detroit Institute of Arts in the Photography Department. I photographed artwork, events and many other things for them. During the first semester, I crafted a book of poetry and drawings, entitled Transmigration. I created artwork centered on the idea of transmigration and started an internship at the Susanne Hilberry Gallery in Ferndale. This past semester I’ve been focusing my energy on exploring the principles and emotions behind mourning and loss. The work I’ve created is an attempt to define the rhetoric of mourning. I am currently still interning at the gallery and have plans to continue there during the summer.
Josh Jacobs SORRY A play devoted to showing human interactions in unusual situations.
Adela Jaffe
SOMETHING IN THE RAIN PROCLAMATIONS and
THREE SISTERS My project was inspired by a playwriting contest at Stagedoor Manor, a theatre camp in the New York Catskills. I had never written a play before last summer, but I decided to give it a try (after all, how hard could writing a 10-minute play be?); after a couple of hideously bad first attempts, I got stuck in the rain, which ended up being the inspiration for Something in the Rain. It won and was subsequently produced at Stagedoor and then published in an anthology by OnStage, a very small division of Samuel French. And that is how I discovered my talent for writing awkward, fumbling plays about awkward, fumbling people. When I decided to write two more 10-minute plays for my senior project, I have to admit that I didn’t know what else would tie the shows together. Watching my incredibly talented cast work has given me a minor insight: I am not primarily interested in awkward characters, but in earnest ones. Okay, maybe they’re awkward, too, but that’s not the point. It’s hard to share true feeling, whether out of a fear of rejection or even a fear of the truth. In all three of my shows, characters express feelings that scare them — perhaps they don’t do so elegantly or eloquently, but at least they’re doing it. Roeper has empowered me in so many ways; perhaps most importantly — and most recently — the school has helped me learn to be myself. That’s probably why I’ve written plays which force my characters to be themselves. And if any of the awkward/fumbling moments make you chuckle or squirm in cringing reminiscence, then that’s just an added bonus.
The Class of 2010 Patrick Brautigan AN EXPLORATION OF ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC This project was focused on researching and understanding multiple genres and styles of electronic dance music, and the learning of different production and live performance techniques.
Chase Gorland HISTORICAL ESSAY My senior project is a long historical and analytical essay which covers the Irish “Troubles” — the series of conflicts which have arisen as a result of the British Conquest and occupation of Ireland. I cover in particular detail the Irish Republican Army and Sinn Fein, organizations which have sought complete separation from Britain and the establishment of a Republic through the use of force. I have given specific thematic focus to the Republican practice of abstaining from Parliaments they regard as illegitimate, and the means by which Unionists have maintained political supremacy and the British connection.
Austin Mueller CHATROOM 3D An NVE (Networked Virtual Environmental). Built from scratch with Java, the total amount of code sums up to about 2500 lines to make a simplistic environment with an Avatar for each person who logs on.
Anna Nowinski ABBATISSA ET REGINA A staged reading, Abbatissa et Regina is the culmination of several months of historical research spawned from my love of the Middle Ages. The play focuses on the lives of Abbess Hildegard of Bingen and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, two powerful women from the late 1100s.
Jackie Carozza CREATING GIOVANNI:
A Study in Children’s Literature
An illustrated children’s story that chronicles the tales of Giovanni, a young squirrel who explores his backyard home. After researching children’s literature, I grew to appreciate the amount of detail that must be incorporated in order to both captivate a child and to hold the attention of the adult who will read the book aloud. To gain a real understanding of what children look for, I turned to Michele and Patti’s Stage II Homeroom. Not only was their excitement contagious, but their many valuable insights contributed significantly to the final story.
Carter Glenn Sims 4 PEOPLE. FOUR SHOES. This is a video documentary based on homelessness in Detroit, using the shoe as a symbol. It includes the creation of four sneakers that are a representation of four people’s lives.
Brittani Lynn Holsey MOVEMENT FROM STUDIO TO CITY
This project is a creative interpretation of a mixture of modern dance styles celebrating the art of movement for all people — not only trained dancers.
Grace Krysinksi OUTDOOR EDUCATION For my project, I have been going to the Lower School every day to work with Dianne O’Connor’s Stage II and III Science classes with a focus on outdoor education This has included survival skills, plant identification and team-building activities.
Carolyn Resnick GRIFFINS, BASILISKS AND UGJUKNARPAK, OH, MY!
An Exploration of Comparative World Mythology This project examines a body of 30 mythological creatures by looking at their geographical and historical breadth, their roles in mythology, and the features that make them unique and memorable.
Jacob Saslow STUDENT-LED DISPUTE RESOLUTION:
Creation of The Roeper Peer Mediation Panel For my senior project, I have followed my interest in law to create and set up a student-led mediation panel at Roeper. The panel of mediators will consist of high school students as well as faculty members, all of whom will be trained as mediators. The mediators will help to resolve real conflicts in our Upper and Middle School. The conflicting parties will meet with a selected panel of mediators to talk through their problems. The mediation will help resolve conflicts, provide our students with a safe, impartial forum at which they can talk through their problems and teach students about leadership and organization.
Patricia Anne S ta. Maria Baron COLLAGE: A Short Film on Children and Diversity Collage is a collection of children’s perpectives on cultural and ethnic diversity. Comprised of over 20 interviews of seven- to nine-year-olds, the short film attempts to discover what children really think when they see people different from themselves.
Travis Marmon THE TRIALS OF MAKING A BAND — LIVE IN CONCERT I’ve wanted to be a live musician for years, so for my project, I assembled a group of Roeper musicians to help me perform some of my favorite songs in a live setting. We will play songs by Primus, At the Drive-In and The Who. Over the course of the experience, I kept a journal of the process to document the ups and downs of trying to lead a band in preparation for a show.
Christina McDaniel CODAS
My 200-page novel, Codas, addresses the undercover psychological and physical consequences of chemotherapy: post traumatic stress disorder, depression, infertility, social isolation, etc. The story follows a 23-year-old woman’s journey from diagnosis, through treatment, the resulting depression, and to her eventual suicide. The novel is told in posthumous (post death) narration. Throughout this process, I’ve learned a lot about character consistency, perspective and plot development. I’ve experimented with a poetic voice, and have worked to find the balance between lyricism and reliability.
Andres Villafane TITLE PRESENTATION When I first decided that I was going to make an album for my Senior Project, I was expecting greatness. There would be artwork, long booklets explaining the songs, and each track would be polished enough to make Rick Rubin smile. George and Lisa were both polite enough to yank my head out of the clouds and situate it back on my shoulders while I was dreaming all this and tell me the following: write six songs, record three, graduate without having a stroke. They were right. The fruits of my labor this year, three recorded songs and three unrecorded songs. Although there are no artwork, no booklets and no record deal, present in each and every one of these songs is something much cooler — me. I identify with every one of these songs lyrically and musically; they are not perfect, but they are mine, and that is what makes them so good.
Marcel Hite ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES Endless Possibilities is the story of three teenagers discussing the successes of four AfricanAmerican entertainers, such as Nikki Giovanni, Whitney Houston, Tyler Perry and Stevie Wonder, and how their multiple accomplishments and various occupations inspire others to do the same. After having this idea for a year, it is exciting to see it all come together.
Sarah Trigger AN OVERVIEW OF NON-PROFITS My senior project has been a year-long adventure! The initial plan was to study the history and current operations of a variety of non-profit organizations in the tri-county area (Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties). This evolved into investigating several other aspects of running non-profits, including the ways in which socioeconomic factors influence operations and how the emerging trend of collaboration with other organizations impacts efficiency. I could have never imagined how much I have learned throughout this experience. I had the opportunity to meet with, and interview, CEOs, presidents, and/or founders of 16 different organizations within the tri-county area. I also had the chance to immerse myself in the non-profit sector by volunteering on the crisis line at Common Ground, at HAVEN on several activism-related committees, and at Alternatives for Girls in their Prevention Department. I was also able to work with HAVEN staff to write a grant proposal for a “teen room” at their shelter, which was approved and funded by an outside foundation and has just finished completion! I am planning to continue my involvement with non-profits and hope to learn even more in the future!
Lindsey Watters THE MAN. THE METHOD. THE MADNESS. “We serial killers are your sons, we are your husbands, we are everywhere.” — Ted Bundy
The Class of 2011 Melissa Golden BREAKING FROM THE TRADITION “How can I creatively advocate for social change?” was the question I asked myself months ago that got the ball rolling on my senior project. I decided to combine my love of theatre with my human rights interest to write a play comparing women’s rights in the Middle East to here in the United States. The dialogue in the production is unique — everything that the cast says on stage, they have said before in a discussion. The cast and I met and discussed topics of women’s rights. Each discussion was recorded and transcribed, then reconstructed to make the script.
Tauryn Moten AWAKING! We as people sometimes experience long periods of sleep, and then the time comes, but only when you are ready, your body suddenly awakes. Similar to earth as long winter ends and the land warms and life emerges!
Daniel Hurwitz-Goodman & Adarsh Shah THE KINGDOM OF DIDD A theatrical adaptation of The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss.
Alex Marmon MUSIC WITH ALEX
I helped Laura Ambrose, the Lower School Music Teacher, teach drum patterns and such to Stage I, II and III students.
Ben Oztalay DESIGN OF A STACK-BAND PROCESSOR The designing of a 32-bit, stack-band processor and the comparison of its architecture to that of another processor I designed a year ago, which is register-band. Lingo to be explained in my talk.
Eleanor Gamalski TAKE A WALK ON THE WILDE SIDE My passions for literature, English and human rights issues inspired me to take on a year-long study of Oscar Wilde for my senior project. I distilled my discoveries into three lessons, which I taught to 6th, 7th and 9th grade in early May.
Jeremy Gloster AT PLAY A solo art show.
Joey LoCascio THE ART OF SATIRE: A CRITICAL REINTRODUCTION The project surveys satire in depth and includes the composition of three satiric essays.
Alia Raheem INTERNING AT METRO TIMES I intern twice a week at Detroit’s Metro Times.
Andrew Romano BENCH! A WOODWORKING PROJECT In my project, I learned to work with wood. I built a bench without screws or nails to go in the senior hallway.
Breeana Blackmon LOSING STUDENTS IN “GIFTEDNESS” A speech that addresses the issue of how a focus on giftedness is causing educational communities to lose sight of the important role that the humanistic approach to education plays, and how students and schools should focus on humanitarian education and action.
Duncan Burns PEEP HOLE (PEOPLE) Armed with a vague grasp on a vaguer still concept, one man tries to find how we shape the world as a society of voyeurs.
Cachet Colvard ➔
S 4D: STAND UP FOR DIVERSITY A montage of individuals and their stories. Diversity is key in our society and important to our Roeper Community. I want to shine light on people who are considered “others” in our society and give them a chance to share their story.
Gus Schlanbusch THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNESTINE I decided to take Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, swap all the characters’ genders, rewrite Act I and direct it. It’s ostensibly a study in gender roles, but really it’s a trivial comedy for serious people.
Chris Torres DOCTOR HORRIBLE’S SING-ALONG BLOG A stage adaptation of Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. The adventures of anti-hero Dr. Horrible as he battles his “super-hero” nemesis Captain Hammer (corporate tool) for love and rule of the city.
The Class of 2012 Jack Gorland & Roland Holloman III TALL GUYS, SHORT FILM We wrote and directed a short film. We studied what makes a short film unique and the art of storytelling through film. We did this project because we wanted to apply our creativity to something we don’t get to do in everyday school life. We learned various film-making techniques and how to better manage our time while implementing those techniques.
Sarah Skoropa SKELETAL ANALYSIS USING FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY METHODS I am fascinated that it is possible to tell so much about a person from their skeleton, who they are, how they lived, what they ate; that it is possible to give someone back their identity, that even time and decay cannot take away who they are or the fact that they once existed. After I receive my PhD, I want to go to sites of mass graves and genocide to identify the victims and return them to their families, collecting evidence to prosecute the people responsible for international war crimes. I want to help stop genocide. I want to change the world. The summer between my sophomore and junior years, I attended a course at The University of Tennessee in Forensic Anthropology Laboratory Methods where I learned techniques to determine age, sex, stature and ancestry of human skeletal remains. This past year I used the methods I learned in the course to analyze the school-provided skeleton.
Maggie Mae Shelton I DON’T FEEL REAL ENOUGH My project is an art exploration of the human perception of reality and how we define identity, reality and truth. I was inspired by the works of author Chuck Palahnuik and psychology experiments such as the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Theory Forms.
Ruth Lane AN EXPLORATION INTO THE APPRECIATION OF LIFE Relationships are both the mechanism for and the product of understanding in our world. We must promote discourse and contemplation of our surroundings in order to build connections in all aspects of our lives. Over the course of this last year and, informally, for most of my life, I have become increasingly interested in the consequences, connections and processes that our consumer meat goes through. During this last semester I have begun to explore these topics that so interest me, learning much but realizing, as well, that there are still endless lessons to learn on the subject, and that I will be hard at work for years to come in order to reach a more complete understanding and awareness. The purpose of my presentation is to communicate both my personal findings and to offer up a thought-provoking experience to share with everyone. I hope that people will walk from this evening with a deeper appreciation and sense of respect for the food that we eat, the energy that it supplies us with and the lives that have been affected in order to bring us our meals.
Alessandro Pacifici AN ADVENTURE IN WRITING SOME MUSIC I am writing a collection of songs to be performed in the project showcase with a few other people. I am drawing influence from songs by many different artists, most notable Chris Letchford, John Petrucci and Tool.
Ryne Murray BICYCLE CONSTRUCTION AND THE PROMOTION OF BICYCLES AS AN ALTERNATIVE MEANS OF TRANSPORT I am building, then for one day, riding to school on a bicycle that I ordered the parts for online. There are two goals for this project. The first goal is to gain experience from the project to give myself a useful skill. The second goal is to make a point about the practicality of inner-city biking as a cheaper source of transport than automobiles. By building the kind of bike that most people in the Detroit area would be able to afford, I would learn about the necessary maintenance required for upkeep.
Sydney Schaefer CONVINCING AN AUDIENCE Hey everyone! My project was about my learning how to create an advertisement from start to finish. I was given a mock client, in which I had no say, and I gained the experience of making a product. I had to learn all about my client. I researched things like their target audience and background information. This project has given me the opportunity to see if advertising is what I want to do with the rest of my life; it is also a chance for me to experience a new medium.
Rainjana Haynes UNDECIDED I have played the violin since the third grade, but I have always played music for which every note has already been written. As much as I enjoy this, I have always been interested in finding a way to further personalize the music I play so that it becomes less about reading notes and getting it right, and more about self-expression and original interaction with other musicians. So, I took the George Roeper Senior Project opportunity to develop improvisation skills. This past semester I have worked on weaning myself from sheet music and studying the practical techniques required to have a coherent voice in the music I create with
Patrick Yee ANIME LIVE! What does it take to adapt something? This was the question that was asked during the creation of Anime LIVE, a collection of scenes from anime and manga adapted for the stage by Patrick Yee. The show serves as a sometimes funny, sometimes dramatic, and sometimes creepy look at a segment of another culture and how it translates to our own culture. The scenes come from both famous and not-so-famous works from Japan, each offering a unique take on the culture while also illustrating aspects of our own culture by how things are changed. Anime LIVE!
Katie Saslow THE MALE BRAIN VS. THE FEMALE BRAIN For the past semester, I have been researching psychology and human behavior, and more specifically, the differences between the male and the female brains. The presentation I have put together is an overview of the most interesting things I have learned from this project and a small psychological insight as to why males and females behave so differently.
Erik Burbulla MAGIC: THE GATHERING WITH ERIK BURBULLA
Magic: The Gathering is a complex card game based on fantasy and role-playing elements. The game involves strategy, logic and competition. It even won the Mensa Select Award for a game that requires a lot of brain power. My senior project was to teach this game that I love to middle school students. I had two classes that each met every other day during eighth block. For the students, the goal was to learn strategy, competition and cooperation skills. The goal for me was to learn what it’s like to be a teacher and to build a sense of community between the middle school and high school. So far, it has been going great!
Lorenz Mager A MAKER’S EQUILIBRIUM A Maker’s Equilibrium is an exploration of the balance between an artist’s creative integrity and the vision of his client.
Aaron Appel ROCKIN’ IN THE VALLEY I’ve been writing songs for the last two years, particularly the previous summer, and I eventually decided to center my senior project on performing and recording a handful of them. First semester was devoted to finalizing the writing, and second semester was all about recording. The album itself is titled In the Valley after two of the tracks which depict a concert festival and act as bookends. There are a few more connections between the songs, but generally this is a collection of work over a certain period of time. I learned a great deal throughout the course of this project about the writing process; musical discipline in playing in time for recording; and a bit of leadership and organization, which was required to get the band folk in to record their various parts. It was a long and tough project, but it was worth every minute.
Derek Rocco THE TWO FUZZYDUDES My project was to write, illustrate and test an educational children’s story on Darwin’s Theory of Evolution through natural selection.
Emma Kirby WRITING PROCESS: TWO YEARS, MANY DRAFTS My senior project is the creation of a novel. I have written and re-written many drafts of a piece of writing which reflects the style I have developed through the last two years. I have met with published authors regarding process and style to help define the way writing serves as a melding of science and emotion. I represent this collision through climate change, gutter punks, filthy ice, astronauts and, most of all, siblings.
Holly Cox STUDIES IN BREAD BAKING I am exploring bread baking techniques and options by using different flours, rise times, flavorings, etc. My goal is to drastically improve my own bread, and make a small compilation of my favorite recipes with detailed instructions so anyone could prepare the bread as if they’d been practicing for a semester.
Gavin Buckley THE BREAKING STRING: A ONE ACT I wrote and directed an exploratory dramatic piece entitled, The Breaking String: a one act. The goal was to allow myself, and my cast and crew, to experiment in the dramatic process. I, especially, wanted to practice directing (as it is a career aspiration of mine) and apply some of the theatrical theories I’ve read about.
The Class of 2013 Maxwell Raimi THE ROEPER SHOW
I made different videos and learned several film-making techniques in cinematography, editing, writing and directing.
Aaron Bernard & Garrett House INTERNET SOCIOLOGY IN VIRAL VIDEOS Viral videos are a recent cultural phenomenon that appeared with the widespread use of email and the internet. While these videos are fun to watch, they also have much to teach about social networking, psychology and the internet as a medium of distribution. We studied viral videos and read papers related to the subject and began to make our own videos in an attempt to “go viral.�
Mara Jaffe THE GEORGE: A Pop-Up Restaurant An exploration into the restaurant business culminating in a pop-up restaurant on May 5th. Creating a business plan, hiring employees, budgeting, preparing the food and analyzing the results were all a part of this project.
Samantha Heiman THE BEAUTIFUL DAYS I decided to finish the story I had in mind from the piece I submitted to THE MUSE last year and write a novella about an executioner in Iran and his reflections on his own life.
Zoe Demko IN MY OWN LITTLE CORNER: A Seamstress’s Tale For my senior project, I designed, organized, and constructed the costumes for the RTC Middle School production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella this past February. For the cast of 33, I compiled over 120 costumes.
Amy Romano TEACHING PRE-ALGEBRA I have been teaching pre-algebra to two 5th grade students at the Lower School campus since the start of the school year. I have been creating my own lesson plans and grading their assignments.
Abena S tone THE ROOMBA BOMB The Roomba Bomb is a comedic play about a man who decides to stay in the Amsterdam airport and gets into wacky hijinks. It’s a tale of communication — but more so — miscommunication and the human experience.
Maxwell Gordin PHINEAS & FERB: Directing a Multiple I have competed in four multiples over my life, and I always enjoyed it. For my project I directed a multiple. I scheduled practices, blocked and tried to get kids to memorize.
Mikayla Konst GIRLS MENTORING For my senior project, I created a mentoring program for sixth and seventh grade girls. They met monthly and addressed topics such as coping mechanisms and conflict resolution skills through activities and discussions and under the guidance of their high school mentors.
Miles Eddy EXPLORING THE MUSIC OF OTHERS The point of this project was to make full-blown songs out of other people’s ideas. This went from coming up with parts for different instruments to assigning chord progressions to melodies to creating an entire musical atmosphere around a poem. In recording these four songs, I hoped to give the creative work of every participant new life that it may not have been able to achieve on its own, as well as to push myself creatively while still indulging my soft spot for arranging and production.
Matt Wagner SAILING BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE Since birth I have always had a passion for the water, going on my first sail at two weeks old. This passion developed into a love, primarily a love for sailing. The feeling that you are one with nature, no motor, just Mother Nature gliding you across the water. The more I am on the water, the more I love it. I bought my first boat junior year, it needing a full restoration; I was able to transform this broken piece of fiberglass into a sleek race boat. This is where I discovered what I wanted to do my senior project on. The sailing is challenging, the restoration is challenging, the logistics are challenging. But that’s probably what I love about it the most. As we like to say, “The water’s in our blood;” once it’s in you, you can’t get it out.
Rosie DeSantis YOUNG DETROIT SOLUTIONS Young Detroit Solutions is a youth outreach program I began in service to the campaign of Detroit mayoral candidate Mike Duggan.
Jacob Dalton THE ART OF PERFORMING The goal of this project was to take people who aren’t experienced in acting or being on stage and train them to perform on stage at the end of the year.
Dan Thibodeau TEACHIN’ AIN’T JUST FOR TEACHERS I taught a pre-calculus class for two months.
The Class of 2014 Rebecca Benedict NEUROBIOLOGY AND ART Art has always been an impulsive behavior for me, and as I realized that it was becoming more than that, I decided to figure out why. I used this project to learn about the relationship between neurobiology and creative expression, looking at what happens in the brain when painting and drawing. My project included a research paper on the neurology of art therapy and artistic expression and a personal reflection on the art I found myself creating.
Clara Bird INTO THE DEEP: A STUDY OF THE OCEAN’S ENVIRONMENTS For my senior project I got to share my love for the ocean by teaching a Stage IV elective called Into the Deep: A Study of The Ocean’s Environments. I taught two classes every other day for six weeks. We learned about the various ocean environments and the animals that lived within them. We talked about the physical properties of the environments, why the animals live in their environment, and what adaptations they have made for survival. I worked to develop a teaching style that helped the students find the answers themselves with some guidance from me along the way. My challenge was finding a way to teach them without lecturing too much and finding fun and engaging activities that they could learn from. I had to find the question that gave them a push in the right direction without giving the answer away. I quickly discovered what activities they liked and didn’t, and I learned to be flexible with my lesson plans. There were more than a few classes where a single question took us in an unplanned, but fascinating direction. There was nothing more rewarding than seeing the look on their faces when they figured out the answer, or their excitement when they got to touch a shark jaw. Teaching has been the most stressful, difficult, rewarding and amazing experience of my life. I only hope that the kids had as much fun learning about the ocean as I did teaching about it.
Liam Gloster GOOD WIVES, GAY HUSBANDS: GENDER & SEXUAL IDENTITY ON CONTEMPORARY TELEVISION I’ve spent the year watching, analyzing, and writing about television. My project focuses on the changing ways in which gender and sexual identity influence the television landscape and how we watch it. Drawing from queer and feminist theory and keeping a critical eye on both, I examined a range of topics including the Oprah-approved Lindsay Lohan reality show, the perverse protagonists of Bates Motel, gay conservatism on The New Normal, and more.
Marie Carozza SOCK HOP, LLC: A STUDY IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP Sock Hop, LLC is a cosmetics company that I have been working on establishing throughout this year. I did much research and work on the formulation of my product. My work included experiments with a range of all-natural ingredients and methods, including dehydrating beets for red pigment. Although the product formulation experiments fell victim to many mishaps (such as a nasty microwave explosion involving the charcoal I was using for a mascara pigment), the research process proved to be a great learning experience. After many prototypes, I decided to manufacture a lipstick. I tried many different pigments and decided to use a mixture of iron oxides, micas, minerals, and clays to achieve my desired color. I am proud that my lipstick doesn’t contain any parabens, propylene glycol, or any other toxic and harmful ingredients. The lipstick was also not tested on animals; I tested all of the trial products on myself. I have named my company “Sock Hop,” after the popular 1950s’ school dance. The packaging, logo, and name of my product are centered on this 1950s’ theme. I worked with Bonnie Schemm, and we created a logo, an outer box, and labels for the lipstick tubes. I also worked to comply with the FDA’s labeling standards. I selected a lipstick tube that fits the product image I was seeking and also purchased a professional lipstick mold. In addition to the tubes and packaging, I completed the Articles of Organization for Sock Hop and filed them with the State of Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. I received a federal tax ID number for Sock Hop, along with a State of Michigan Sales License. I have been maintaining a company records book, in which I keep all the relevant documents for my business entity.
Eric Roennecke DEAD END JUSTICE: A NARRATIVE SHORT FILM Ever since I was in 8th grade, I knew I wanted to create a short film for my senior project. I didn’t want to make just any short film though; I wanted to create something I was proud of. I wanted to put my blood, sweat and tears into it all — and that’s exactly what I did. Join Blake Wilson and Olivia Banks on their twisted journey in my noir short film, Dead End Justice.
S teven Saham THE STATE OF MICHIGAN V. ROBERT MESSER I’ve been shadowing/interning with defense attorney Jonathan Jones for the duration of his case defending Robert Messer. Mr. Messer has been accused of six counts of Criminal Sexual Conduct in varying degrees as a result of his ongoing relationship with Emily Lalinsky, a 15-year-old family friend. In observing this case, I have focused my attention on different aspects of the case, including but not limited to: how constitutional concepts, such as the right to an unprejudiced jury of peers is applicable in the day to day court system, and the moral compunction and/or obligation of the attorneys in a morally conflicting case such as this.
Nadia Salman LETTERS TO THE LEFTOVERS For the past few months, I have been collecting letters and testimonies from Roeper alumni, interviewing current Roeper students and faculty, editing millions of words worth of content, writing a bit of my own, and crying. All of this has (somehow) come together to be Letters to the Leftovers, a sort of living time capsule in the form of a book that contains Roeper stories that may make you laugh, shudder, blubber over a pint of ice cream, or pass out. Who knows?
Farid Al-Sabeh EXPERIMENTS ON MAGNETIC HYPERTHERMIA-INDUCED DRUG RELEASE Magnetic hyperthermia, or heating using a magnetic field, is a promising new method of cancer treatment. I joined some graduate students at Wayne State’s physics lab to investigate the possibility of coating small magnetic nanoparticles with certain drugs and allowing them to be released when subjected to an alternating magnetic field. Our research expanded on previous experiments and publications, and hopefully, it will be one of many which aids our understanding of this emerging field.
Francesca Bennett EXPLORING EDEN GARDENS A collection of stories and photography, this project originated when I began volunteering through an organization called PeerCorps Detroit. Through the organization, I spend time bi-monthly at Eden Gardens, a small community garden on the east side of Detroit. The garden is the product of a partnership between the Downtown Synogogue, a conservative synagogue in Detroit, and the Eden Gardens Block Club, a group of community members who unite to help improve their neighborhood through projects and discussion. The wonderful people I met inspired me to start documenting the meaningful work that I continue to witness. Through a series of photographs and writings, I hope to offer a glimpse to others of this special place in my life, and to encourage the idea that oftentimes it is the most unlikely partnerships that truly make a difference in the world.
Alyssa Flynn & CeCe Watry ROEPER CHARITY MINI-MARATHON The goal of our project was to raise funds and awareness for Dance Marathon, a charity that funds alternative therapies for children with disabilities. To raise awareness, we hosted two “Awareness Days” — one at the Lower School and one at the Middle/Upper School. We also hosted our own “minimarathon” where the students were encouraged to raise money by participating in a five-hour long event where they were required to stand the entire time.
Jeffrey Fox THE RED VELVET CURTAINS: A ONE-MAN CABARET STARRING JEFFREY FOX This project began in September when I was first beginning to look for materials to perform at my college acting and musical theatre auditions. I looked for songs that would both work as audition songs and that were appropriate to help me tell a story in my senior project one-man cabaret. For months, I would prepare for my auditions with Ttari and Alex alongside researching and watching famous cabarets. My goal was to find a story worth telling and from there learning how to put materials together to help assist me in turning it into a oneman cabaret performance. The story needed to be specific and important to my life; the key was to make it all entertaining. I knew this would be my last time performing on the Roeper Theatre Company stage, so I had to go out with a bang.
Rachel S tamler-Jonas MAKE IT POP: FOR THE RECORD, SCREEN AND STAGE We all have that one idea, that one dream we want to achieve. We know we can do it with the right resources and enough time. Ever since I started writing songs, I’ve wanted to create a song and explore it to its maximum potential, growing it through writing, composing, dance, fashion, recording, video, and performance. In addition to performing in the scenes, I also took on all of the behind the scene roles. I immersed myself in the technology, techniques and theory. In addition to the new skills I had to learn, I had endless possibilities to choose from. It was overwhelming and challenging, but ultimately thrilling. I gained much more from this project than the actual, finished products. I am much more confident and knowledgeable now. It’s one thing to walk the walk, but to do all of this, I had to sing/choreograph/stage/act/film the performance. I found out that pop is the ideal genre to work within when transforming an idea from paper into video and stage. With this project I developed one song through many forms of media, but this is just my jumping off point. I am amazed by all of the avenues I travelled down with this song. I can’t wait to use my new found knowledge and experiences to create even more.
The Class of 2015 Liam Rybicki-Kler AN INTERNSHIP IN AND EXPLORATION OF BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH This project has been a year-long internship at Wayne State University’s Physics Department, following a junior year independent study in Biophysics and a summer internship at the same lab. The goal of the internship was to apply various skills in biology, chemistry, and physics, while learning how to conduct professional scientific research in a functioning lab. The research itself was focused on the study of the muscle fiber, Myosin, whose physical properties were examined through the application of Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy (or TIRF Microscopy) and Actin Motility Assays.
Armani Lee THIS IS DETROIT This project is an exploration of both photography and poetry centered around Detroit and my life in Detroit. I took this opportunity to not only find myself, but to broaden my horizons in the arts and to push myself to my creative limits: diving into two artistic mediums that I have never before explored.
Julia Eddy CLASSISM KILLED THE CAT: WRITING THE SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS SCREENPLAY This semester, I have been bringing a story about a lost feline princess to life. I wrote a short screenplay, gathered voice actors, and coordinated with Elena Bakaluca to create illustrations. My goal in this project is to tell a story about social issues usually deemed “sensitive” in a way that is accessible to all age groups: the animated animal movie. Although this is not my first screenplay, it is the first that I am presenting to a large audience. I owe so much of my creative inspiration to senior projects of the past, and I hope that my presentation can inspire others to write their stories and share them without fear or censorship. Representation is a huge step toward acceptance and equality, and I hope that someday soon words like race, class, sexuality and gender identity will not be considered “PG-13” in the media.
Ethan Rosenberg THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF TEACHING FILM Film is among the world’s favorite art forms, and yet, the majority of filmgoers don’t know basic film theory or how a movie is made. In taking on this project, I sought to democratize film studies and make it palatable for beginners. In doing so, I hoped to learn how to teach and to share my passion for an incredible medium.
Adam Alpert NOT A WORD: CREATING MUSIC WITH A RHYTHM After years of producing beats and writing lyrics, I’ve always wanted to make an album. This year has been the perfect opportunity to do so. With the program Propellerhead Reason and a microphone, I thought I’d go for it. As an abstract concept album, I tried to create an album filled with uninhibited exploration — from the beats to the lyrics to the artwork. For every sale of the album, 50% of the profits will go to Stop Hunger Now, a charity dedicated to feeding the world, along with giving medical supplies and vitamins.
Rachel Keteyian STRAIGHT FLEXIN’ Despite their incredible stamina and strength, dancers are often not considered “athletes.” Through the study and research of human muscles, I’ve learned how the bodies of dancers function. In addition to my research, I’ve photographed a dancer, my good friend Anika Hunter. These photographs show the muscles that I researched, in use. Finally, I’ve combined my research and photography to make an informative piece of artwork. I hope that my artwork will educate and inspire.
KendraWatkins CONFUSING OURSELVES: A CRITICAL LOOK A T MULTIRACIAL IDENTITY IN ACADEMIA, LITERATURE, AND INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS In my project I wanted to focus not only on personal identity, a topic that is at the center of mixed race literature, but also explore the way our identities affect our relationships and the larger implications of what it means to be mixed race in an academic setting. I am particularly interested in the emergence of mixed race studies as part of academic discourse and the function of mixed race characters in literature as a new kind of Bildungsroman. For my research, I studied a wide range of topics spanning the development of individual and family identity, the history of minority studies in universities, Black feminism and numerous works of literature by Black and multiracial authors. With this project I hope to celebrate these new developments in the mixed race community while still examining them with a critical eye and honoring our unique and often painful histories.
Courtney Paige Fox LEAVING MY MARK Throughout my four years of volunteering at an organization called Friendship Circle, I have grown incredibly dedicated to working with mentally challenged people. I decided that I wanted to give back to the community of Friendship Circle, and what better way than to incorporate my passion for dance with my passion for volunteering? Through a series of volunteer lessons I got the opportunity to run the dance portion of a performing arts program by myself. I had the chance to do what I love and leave my mark on an organization that has taught me so many lessons and helped me grow into a better person.
JoanneOgundipe THE DETROIT EXPERIENCE: URBAN TO SUBURBAN CONNECTION As a 2014 Bank of America Student Leader and Focus: HOPE Community Development intern, I embarked on a transcendent journey that afforded me the opportunity to practice my political efficacy, develop my personal leadership skills, and make a positive, lasting impact on my community through a multitude of community service projects. Throughout the course of the eight-week internship, I was exposed to the inner workings and operations of one of Michigan’s largest non-profit organizations. Not only was I deeply immersed in a culture of service learning, I was simultaneously exposed to the business of charity. I was taught about the many trials and tribulations of running a successful operation; I learned about the facets encapsulated in successful nonprofit and business structures; I gained many entrepreneurial skills; and most importantly, I became hooked on the satisfaction of giving back to a community that has given me so much. Day in and day out, I watched myself discover a new deep-rooted passion for both entrepreneurship and service. Each day I left Focus: HOPE, I left motivated and inspired. This inspiration has led me to create a class that focuses on critical junctures in Detroit history, service learning and social justice work, exploration of physical space, and understanding of current happenings, challenges, and plans for the future.
Riley Joliet PHOTOGRAPHY I worked as an intern for photographer Robert Bruce multiple days every week this semester. I took the Introduction to Film class at Oakland Community College.
THE ROEPER SCHOOL
Middle/Upper School 1051 OAKLAND AVENUE BIRMINGHAM, MICHIGAN 248.203.7405 www.roeper.org
david h. feldman, head of school lisa baker, upper school director colleen potocki, middle school director