Senior Hero Project Paper
Due Monday April 23, 2007
Follow the directions given to the letter.
Grades will be deducted if you do not follow the directions.

Format of paper:
• Follow MLA formatting to the letter. Refer to your class syllabus for guidelines for written work.
• Your paper must have the Yes Check List stapled to the front. Papers without this checklist will not be graded.
• This paper must also be submitted electronically. We will keep an electronic copy of your paper on file to prevent future plagiarism. Email your paper to mzimmer@fthsdragons.com by 2:00 PM on the due date. Failure to submit an electronic copy will result in ½ credit for the assignment.

Content of paper:
• This paper must be 5-7 full pages in length. You will be deducted for anything less than 5 pages; papers will not be read after the 7th page. Works cited and works consulted pages are not counted in this page total. Any graphs or other visuals are supplementary to the 5-7 pages.

Research component: You need to find out as much as you can about the implications of the service that you are about to provide. Interview an expert in this field. Your research may not necessarily come for the web or a book, it may be best found through interviews, masters theses or articles.
- Example 1: Your topic is “Tutoring an English Language Learner at Project Understanding. You may not know exactly what the specifics of your topic will be until you meet your student. You will narrow your topic as you get to know your student(s). If they have a learning disability, this might become your focus. If they are economically disadvantaged, you may be researching the implications of this and the importance of mentoring and tutoring for these students.
- Example 2: Your topic is “Organizing a Blood Drive”. Your possible paper topics are: “Problems Faced by the Red Cross”, “Blood Shortages and Effective Ways to Increase Donations” or a combination of these two. Again there will be many sub-topics. Be sure to be detailed and specific in your research and your paper.
- Example 3: Your topic is” Helping out the Elderly through Caregivers”. Your paper topics could be “Isolation and its effects on the elderly”, “Changes over time in the family structure that lead to isolation” or “How health challenges of the elderly contribute to isolation”.

Reflective component:
- Evaluate your project based on the project objectives that you established at the beginning of the year. You should answer the questions: who, what, when and where in regards to your service. What did you do, who did you do it for, where and when? Be specific about months, days, time and span of service. Did you go one day for 8 hours or 8 days for 1 hour? Did this all occur in one month or over the span of three months?
- Reassess your project objectives and evaluate your project. Did you meet your goal? How many hours did you serve? Who benefited from your service? How do you measure the success of your project? What changes did you make in your plan and the execution of your plan? For example, you were too lenient in F.I.R.E so you had to become more strict or The Boys and Girls Club was very unorganized so you made a plan to create some kind of organization.
- Discuss what you learned from the service that you did. How did you grow as an individual? What did you learn about society and the people that you worked with? How did this change you? If it didn’t change you, why?
- Reflect on the data that you kept as you worked on your project. Did you see changes? Did what you experienced match the data that you collected during your research. If there were discrepancies, what were they? Why do you think they existed?
- Finish your paper with a strong conclusion that reaffirms the findings of both your research and your own experiences.
- Remember your audience. Your paper will be read by a board of adults who will range from teachers to professors to school board members, parents, mentors and other community members. This paper is the capstone of your high school career. In your wake you want to leave a mature, insightful and technically perfect example of who you are.

This paper is worth 150 points in your English class and 150 points in your Government/Economics class. You do not have to write two papers. 50 points will be given for format and 100 for content. See attached rubric for grading guidelines.