Week 10: Finishing Touches
Maleea m -
This week, I finally wrapped up the biggest part of my senior project: a 32-slide PowerPoint and an 11-page script. I know—maybe a little overkill. I probably spent way too many hours hunched over my laptop in the Cline Library, but honestly, I was so excited to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The resolution to my 10 weeks of hard work and accumulated days spent in the library.
Looking back at the past 10 weeks, it’s kind of wild how far I’ve come. There were so many moments where I felt like I hadn’t really learned enough, or that I somehow faked my way through the technical stuff. But writing everything out—slide by slide, line by line—made me realize those were just thoughts. I learned so much, I did so much, I accomplished SO MUCH. And it was a lot more than I gave myself credit for.
When I first presented to Mrs. Cohen and Dr. Winslow, I completely blew past the time limit. The presentation ended up being over 23 minutes long, and I only had 15, with a loose rule on maybe 16 minutes if you must, but definitely not 23. I just had so much I wanted to say. Every part of my project felt important, and I didn’t want to leave anything out.
The next day, I went back to the library, reworked the whole script, cut down my slides, and tried again. But this time, I went a little too far. I had stripped out a lot of the explanations just to make it shorter, and suddenly all the technical terms I used sounded like a foreign language to my test subjects listening. That mistake actually made me proud —it reminded me how far I’d come. All those feelings of not being “good enough” for CS or feeling just average? Turns out, I do know my stuff.
So I kept adjusting. I added diagrams, labeled everything, drew arrows, and made it way more clear and visually engaging. I cut the script down to 9 pages and started practicing with flashcards.
My final test run was in the car, presenting to my friends as we drove to Goodwill. Honestly, not the most professional setting—but it felt real and gave me a good confidence boost.
Now, with just a few more tweaks left, I’m ready. I’m proud of what I made. And most of all, I loved doing it.