By: Merob Geleto

The Personal Project is a semester-long project completed by 10th graders for IB schools like Highland Park. Students have to choose a topic, create a product, and submit a paper about the process.

The Personal Project is stressful for students due to it usually overlapping with other academic pressures, being more of a self-directed project, and being long-term. The project spans over several months meaning students have to manage their time wisely so they can submit the project on time. Some students have a lot on their plate with school work or extracurricular activities so students usually push off doing their project which leads to extreme procrastination.

Managing your time and doing the project is a challenge but picking a topic is usually what is most stressful and hardest for students. From what I’ve seen from my peers, many students don’t know their topic until December or even January. There are a lot of topics to pick from, too many in fact, which makes it harder for students to choose. A common issue when picking a topic is picking one and it being too broad and actually being three projects. This usually leads to a burnout.

Usually students find a way to deal with the stress and submit their Personal Project finished. Many students, including me, broke down the project into smaller pieces. Some made a schedule to make sure they were on track.

I interviewed a sophomore who had just done their Personal Project and asked how stressful the Personal Project was and how he dealt with it. The interviewee replied with “It was extremely stressful because I procrastinated a lot”. He then said that when the stress was too overwhelming, he went to his PP advisor. His advisor gave him a layout and some advice which helped him a lot. The interviewee ended up finishing his project on time.

No matter what method, most students doing the Personal Project managed themselves well enough to prevent burnout and to pass.