The 17th annual presentation of the Senior Boards occurred this past Wednesday where all the Riverbank High School seniors present their senior projects to a panel of judges. The panel of judges is comprised of several members in the community. First time participants this year included Riverbank City Mayor Richard O’Brien and City Manager Sean Scully. There were several volunteers that participated on Senior Boards including City of Riverbank staff members, local teachers, business owners, and residents.

The senior projects are a requirement for seniors to graduate and consist of research, a presentation, a 10 hour minimum job shadow experience, and a portfolio. Each senior must share their senior project in a presentation to the panel of judges.

Seniors can select their senior project so that they can explore that interest as a possible future career. Although the project is a huge endeavor that most seniors work on throughout their senior year, it is also a good tool that is used to help them decide whether they want to pursue that particular career in college or their future.

The volunteer judges are treated to a lunch and then report to a classroom where they grade each student in a few different including timeliness, appearance, eye contact and organization of their project. After the presentation judges are allowed to ask the student questions about their overall experience regarding participation in the project.

Senior Peter Garcia has enlisted in the United States Navy to become a Seabee with a goal to become a contractor. He did his project on being an architectural engineer.

A career interest in Computer Animation and Visual Effects was senior Andres Mora’s senior project. He was able to job shadow a person from Stickman Ventures in Oakdale.

With an interest in becoming a Psychiatrist, senior Cobie Alanis did her senior project on mental illness.

Presenting the judges with a senior project of becoming an English Language Learner Teacher, Magdalena Tapia decided that she was going to go a different route. She may pursue becoming a tutor but said after her research, she may be looking into a job in computers.

These are just a few of the senior projects that were presented. There are many other projects that the students presented; some ultimately deciding that they will be pursued and some that resulted in the students changing their mind on a possible career. Either way, the seniors, with graduation just around the corner, are looking to the future and their path beyond high school.