As a senior, you might get a chance to delve deep into a topic or area of expertise that will help you narrow down your career goals or build the experience you'll need for the future. The best senior project ideas offer tons of room to dive in but also build on things you already know or are good at.
The key here is starting with an idea that you really want to explore. If you find the topic interesting, it's going to be way easier to put the work into making it happen. These are some of our favorite senior project ideas, plus tons of tips to make them your own.
Senior Project Ideas About Building Community
Is your community important to you? If you love being connected to other people, this could be a great type of project for you. There are tons of opportunities to make this work:
- Create an organization that pairs elementary kids with seniors for reading practice.
- Pair with a local food pantry to set up a food drive at your school.
- Build an online community surrounding something that interests you.
- Pick a local charity or non-profit and help them build their social media presence.
- Organize a drive for gently used coats for those in need during the fall months.
- Work with a local hospital and people in the community to make blankets for babies in the NICU.
- Pair up with another senior across the country (or internationally) to help elementary classes in your district exchange old-fashioned letters with each other.
- Organize volunteering for a local non-profit that doesn't yet have a volunteer program set up.
- Meet up with a senior in your area and help them write the story of their life.
Education-Related Senior Projects
If you're thinking of going into teaching or love helping people learn, there are some great senior projects that can help you make a difference and build your skills at the same time:
- Build and install a little free library (with you family's permission) and keep it stocked with books.
- Think of something you do well (like cooking, photography, or anything else) and teach a class for people who want to learn about it.
- Job shadow a teacher at an elementary school one afternoon a week and help them in the classroom.
- Ask a teacher at your school about stepping in to teach a lesson to their class.
- Help newer immigrants practice their English skills by volunteering with an ESL program near you.
- Tutor someone in your school in a class you're good at.
- Every week, meet with an elementary kid to work on their reading.
- Volunteer at a senior center to teach older adults how to better utilize their phones.
- Pick something you know a lot about and give presentations to different elementary school classes on that topic.
As you're choosing a senior project, think about your values. What matters most to you? There's a project idea that will match up with what's important to you.
Ideas for Senior Projects About the Arts
The arts offer all kinds of opportunities when it comes to senior projects. From writing to fundraising, there are lots of ways to make your passion into a really cool school project:
- Write a play for your school and work with other students to perform it.
- Teach your chosen art to younger kids.
- Write a novel or collection of short stories, working on it a little bit each week.
- Create a poetry chapbook with poems about the senior experience.
- Make a sculpture or painting to be displayed in your school or a local business.
- Do a photo series on some aspect of your life or community.
- Write and illustrate a book for kids, or a graphic novel.
- Organize a talent show at your school if there isn't one already.
- Create a fundraising campaign for a local gallery, museum, or arts nonprofit.
Think about what inspires you to create and then build on that with your senior project. You'll be energized and have tons of ideas to personalize your project to your own personality and school.
Senior Projects About the Environment
If protecting the environment is your passion, there are tons of ways to get involved and make this your senior project. There are large- and small-scale options for just about any situation:
- Work with your neighborhood to start a community garden.
- Start a garden at school so some of the school lunch ingredients are grown right there on campus.
- Measure water quality in your area and work with local experts to make a list of steps people can take to improve things.
- Organize a clean-up day each month to pick up litter around your school and town.
- Start an initiative to reduce food waste at your school and compost the food that's been going in the trash.
- Work with an activist group to improve their social media presence and help them get more members.
- Use your graphic design skills to make signs and marketing materials for an environmental nonprofit.
- Make a list of ways your school can reduce energy consumption and then give a report to the school board.
- Create a bucket list of great outdoor destinations in your area where people can hike and enjoy nature.
Is there a specific environmental cause that really motivates you? Choose that for your project, but think about ways to make it your own with unique elements that fit your community or your school.
STEM Projects for Seniors
If you love science, math, engineering, and technology, you'll have no shortage of senior project options. Try one of these fun ideas:
- Volunteer in the computer lab or work with the IT professionals in your school.
- Come up with a plan to help educate seniors about technology scams they might encounter.
- Work with a local clinic to bring attention to a medical concern the community faces.
- Design an imaginary new wing for your school and build a model to scale.
- Come up with a design for a renewable energy source to power something in your school.
- Research how artifical intelligence can make a positive impact in the medical field and write a report.
- Learn a programming language you don't already know and create something with it.
- Use a 3D printer to create a miniature version of your school.
- Take apart an old rotary phone and write instructions for how to reassemble it.
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Senior Project Ideas About Social Studies
Whether you love history, are super into government, or are all about geography, your senior project can focus on social studies:
- Research the history of your town and create a diorama.
- Organize a postcard-writing campaign to help elect a politician.
- Use the techniques of the past to make a meal, build a project, or sew something.
- Work with your teachers to organize a class trip to your state capital.
- Write a local history guidebook about important places in your community.
- Compare maps of your state from different periods in history.
- Become an intern for a local politician.
- Organize a get-out-the-vote campaign especially for high school seniors who will be 18 at the next election.
- Volunteer at a history museum in your area.
Let Your Passion Guide Your Project
Your senior project doesn't have to just be an assignment you're required do, it can be something you really, really care about. Let your values and your interests guide you, and you'll choose the perfect topic.