Conclusion & My Letter
This is the last blog post for my project. I have my presentation on Friday and although I’m sad it’s coming to an end, I’m so grateful that I had this opportunity. I spent last week working on my final project which is a letter to Arizona state legislators and Arizona boards of education outlining what I’ve found in my project. For this blog post I want to summarize what I’ve found during this project and I think the best way to do that is to attach the first few paragraphs of my letter:
Dear Arizona State Legislators and Boards of Education,
My name is Elizabeth Ventura and I’m a senior at BASIS Phoenix high school. BASIS education gives the seniors at its schools the opportunity to do a senior project at the end of their senior year. The project lasts about three months and allows students to explore or research a subject or topic they’re interested in. While short in length, the project is a chance for students to gain knowledge and experience from a young age.
My project is titled “Exploring the Effects of Different Aspects of School Counseling on Students”. Originally, the purpose of my project was to act as evidence that individual schools should prioritize mental health resources and put more funds into positions like school counselors. As my project expanded, I began to learn that individual schools don’t have as much control as I thought over these positions. I learned that schools don’t have the money to hire more mental health professionals. I discovered the bill HB 2400 that prioritized school security guards and officers over counselors, psychologists, and social workers. This is when I found out how political this subject is.
The final part of BASIS senior projects is our final product. For every project, each student must come up with a physical product that envelopes the research they’ve found and data they’ve collected. In past projects this has meant anything from clothing lines to skin care serums. When I learned what needed to be changed to help the issues surrounding mental health in Arizona school systems, I decided the most effective product would be this letter. In this letter I hope I can use the research I’ve done combined with studies and articles I’ve looked at to add evidence to the idea that more resources need to be dedicated to mental health systems in schools as well as social emotional curriculum taught to students.
Thank you all for sticking with me through this journey. If you want to read the rest of my letter it will be on display this week during the senior project presentations.