Junior Reflection Paper

As junior year approached, I was anxious about beginning the senior exit. Not necessarily about
the topic I would choose for my graduation paper, but about finding a primary source for documentation.
The graduation project or better known as the senior exit project, is a formal project that I would complete
over the course of my junior and senior year of high school. The graduation project includes multiple
parts; the paper, service learning, a product, and a final presentation. The senior exit project is a
requirement for students to graduate high school. The project accounted for 20 percent of my final grade
in English during junior year. It’s normal for students to be skittish about the graduation project-- I was.
However, by time management it made junior year English much more bearable and less stressful.
The hardest part about my graduation paper was narrowing down a broad topic like forensic
science. It was difficult because forensics involves many different aspects that involve a mathematics
side, a science side, and a law side. What I decided to do was research the side of forensics that has
negative consequences to both victims and suspects. I decided to go this route because I believe that it is
important to have knowledge of both the positives and negatives of your career field. While researching
the negative side of forensics, I found that the most common form of collection of evidence gets
contaminated easily. This helped me become aware of what steps I need to take with caution in order to
prevent contamination of DNA once I begin in this career field.
Overall, writing the junior paper was not as stressful as many people made it out to be. For each
month, I would plan out certain aspects of the paper that needed to be completed and time limits in order
to complete them. This allowed me to have better time management on the project and therefore less
stress. It was important for me to get all aspects of the junior paper done on time because this project is
what has me graduate from high school, and not completing the project correctly and on time could
prevent my graduation progress. The lesson of time management learned during this paper is allowing me
to begin the senior aspect of the project with little to no worries.
In conclusion, I do not have any regrets about my topic for the graduation project. I do not have
any regrets because I am dedicated to this career field and very passionate about it. In writing the paper, I
learned crucial facts that will aid me once I start laboratory work. For example, being cautious with the
way I handle evidence so that it does not get contaminated. My advice to rising juniors is to pick a topic
that they are truly passionate about because they will be working on that topic for two years. Finally the
most important advice I can offer rising juniors is to not procrastinate in order to save stress cries.
Overall, I am proud of my graduation topic and ready to begin the senior year aspect.