Senior Spotlight: Senior Projects Fair

Anika Madan ’24 Lead Features Editor Eric Roberts ’25 Assistant Features Editor

“I designed my own coloring book using Procreate and Adobe Illustrator. I’m currently publishing my coloring book through Amazon, as the goal for my project was to provide a relaxing activity for others.” — Rachael Huang ’23

“For my senior project, I was an intern at the Downtown Cabaret Theater and followed their production of Cabaret. This was my first dive into the world of professional theater, but also the behind the scenes aspects of a show! I had the opportunity to work in all production departments, getting a crash course in lighting, costuming, stage management, and sound. I kept a journal of my time as an intern and documented how every rehearsal ran and what the accomplished. I also compiled a video of the first ever run-through of a dance number next to the final dress rehearsal performance of the same number. The side by side comparison is such a cool way to see how the show progressed over time. After my internship had finished, the wardrobe department asked me to come back and hired me as a backstage dresser for the rest of Cabaret’s run! Overall, it was such a wonderful experience” — Charlotte Cocozza ’23

“The objective of this project is to investigate how changes in pH and temperature affect the decomposition rate of plastic waste by mushrooms such as Pestalotiopsis Microspora. By optimizing these variables, we aim to determine the most effective conditions for breaking down plastic waste and converting it into a biodegradable material. This project addresses the urgent need for sustainable solutions to plastic waste pollution and aims to contribute to the development of eco-friendly methods for waste management.” — Rebecca Joseph ’23

“For our senior project, we’re making a cookbook of vegan versions of Hopkins lunch items. Some dishes
include pizza, pasta dishes, and baked goods.” — Krishna Scholand ’23, Julia Fok ’23, Lera Strickland ’23

“I made an animated film. It can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgfcN1LlbPY” — Nao Tomita ’23

“We created a cookbook for complete novices at cooking, targeted at high school seniors and college freshman. Because we couldn’t make an exhaustive list of every recipe someone might need, we instead thought it best to create a sort of textbook that explains a variety of basic cooking skills with recipes to hone one’s skills at the end of the unit, so to speak. Working together, we combined scientific and artistic perspectives to explain concepts. We hope our cookbook prepares readers to tackle any recipe.” — Caterina Cassin '23 and Nicole Yan '23

“My senior project was an exploration of AI, both from a coding perspective and a community perspective. I

started with learning how to implement some AI algorithms in Python, such as minimax and breadth-first-
search algorithms, through an online course called CS50 AI. Then I spent the second half of my project talking to community members and experts about different types of AI and the implications AI might have on our society. I compiled all of my interviews into a short video linked here: https://youtu.be/nFX-japKtME.” — Joy Xu ’23

“I made a few claymation scenes as my project. I took clay and set up a camera and would move the clay figures slightly as I took pictures to create frames.” — Sydney Matthews ’23

“Over the years, I’ve noticed that a lot of my most vivid memories involve food; whether it’s me making it or eating it. So, I did a bit of research on if there truly was a connection between the foods we eat and the memories that we have, and I found out that we can use neuroscience to prove that this relationship does indeed exist. I wrote a cookbook, grouped by my four years of high school, that documents what I’ve eaten over the course of those years and how each recipe (which I all came up with using inspiration from others around me and recipes online) reflects a certain memory that’s important to me. My ultimate goal was to inspire others to think about the foods that they’ve eaten and connect them to various memories, and it was certainly interesting to hear from my peers that their food memories were truly more vivid and significant than others since food involves so many senses.” — Amanda Wang ’23

“I created a podcast as a platform for the upperclassman to connect with underclassmen and J-schoolers, and for others in the community to learn from those conversations. This allowed students who may not normally get a chance to interact with each other to connect, bond over similar interests, and learn from each other’s experiences. It also allowed older students to give advice to younger students based on what they have learned from their own experiences: whether it was about surviving in notoriously difficult classes or navigating social aspects of high school.” — Harini Thiruvengadam ’23

“Dev and I are building a physical Wordle board. Users will place wooden tiles, each attached to their own unique RFID tag, into slots on a 5x6 board that will read the tiles and light up LEDs accordingly. The project has involved a bit of everything: computer science (writing the code to run Wordle and interact between the RFID sensors and LEDs), electrical engineering (the program runs through a pair of Arduino micro controllers with 100+ different wiring ), woodworking (designing and producing the board and tiles), etc. The hope is to eventually have the board permanently installed on campus for students to play with well past our time here at Hopkins.” — Savan Parikh ’23 and Dev Madhavani ’23

“My senior project was to explore adolescence through an oil painting. In addition to teaching myself how to oil paint, my final project was a 36” by 48” oil painting with a variety of fish swimming all around the canvas to symbolize different roles children play. The cartoon style and bright colors further emphasized the young nostalgia.” — Abigail Murphy ’23

“I organized and ran Hopkins Wellness Center Pop-Ups (WPops), each about an hour long, three or four times a week during free blocks, usually toward the end of the school day. The WPops were often held in T108 earlier
on when it was colder outside, but as it got warmer I ran more outside on the quad on blankets. My purpose was to create a space for Hopkins students to go during their free time to de-stress and play with activities including coloring (with a massive poster to work on collaboratively), board games, and crafts. Some special events included a WPop for Faculty and Staff in the Weissman Room and a free slime-making session. Over 50 different people from all different grades have attended my WPops. Additionally, I created a proposal/presentation for the Hopkins administration to consider the potential benefits of continuing some form of a Hopkins wellness center.” — Miko Coakley ’23

“A cultural cookbook with desserts from around the world.” — Sophia Neilson ’23

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Senior Spotlight: Senior Projects Fair