With enrollment going on there are a lot of conversations among juniors on whether or not to sign up for English 12 and take on the dreaded senior project.

As a senior who went through senior project fairly recently, I believe the project is no big deal. In my opinion, it’s easier than junior project.

You get to pick your own topic and are given a packet with all the information you need in it. The packet includes due dates, a how-to on things that will need to be turned in, such as i.e. outlines and source cards, and the rubric you are graded on so you can make sure you have everything you need.

If it weren’t for other assignments you could basically come in to class the first day and not come back again until speech day — having turned in source cards, note cards, outline, etc on time — and still get a good grade because everything is included in the packet.

Honestly, the only thing you learn is how to follow deadlines for a long-term project, which, hopefully, most people already know how to do by senior year.

Taking speech for college credit would be a much better choice, both in price and information learned. Obviously, taking college classes in high school is much cheaper, and the class is held at the high school, so there’s no extra costs in transportation.

First semester in English 12 is mostly senior project — with the exception of two short stories from the book that have a couple assignments with them.

I feel the preparation of many speeches that cover different types of speaking with various topics that one might not enjoy would be much more beneficial than one informative speech and presentation over a topic you enjoy. Speech provides a more real-life experience because there is no way you are going to enjoy every topic that you’ll have to speak about, plus you can get a college credit.