End of Year Narrative Pilot Grace Wilcox 5/30/17 I was compelled to join Pilot because it sounded like a cool way to do things that interest me and get credit for school. It turned out to be a great fit for me and helped me transition into thinking about what I want to do for college by being able to study what I would want to pursue in the future. It also motivated me more than it would with normal school work because it was what I chose to learn about. In a regular classroom I wasn't able to do my own research in a different direction than the class and get credit. It's been fun directing myself in my research because I can learn about almost anything I want to for school. Its also good practice seeing what I like doing and what I would do well learning in college. Over the year my ideas have stayed basically the same but evolved and changed a lot at the same time. I started out the year not knowing what direction I wanted to go in and now I can say I like where I ended up at the end of the school year. In my project for Genealogy I have learned so much about my family history and preserved valuable papers that I can look back on in many years from now. I have taken it in many different directions and learned a lot about history at the same time. I liked learning about the Civil War during the time period my 3rd great grandmother lived, World War 1, historic events in New England, Immigration to America, photography during the time it was invented and how deeds in the 17th century were written. I think I am on track for all my credits because in each area I said I would study, English, Health and ASL, I have worked hard to learn as much as I can from my mentors, find resources and study. I have progressed in each study and learned new things about each one by looking at it from a different point of view and thinking of news ways to explore it every quarter. For English I think I deserve an A+ because I have spent a lot of time doing genealogy, doing write ups about family members, articles about historic events in different countries, organizing a binder to have more information about genealogy that was not just online, transcribing letters, putting generations of family members from resources on my family tree, drawing up a family tree on a poster, transcribing many pages of a diary and more. I think I should get an A in Sign Language because I have truly learned a lot about the language and the basics of how to speak in sign language. It is a skill I want to continue in the future and I think I deserve this grade because I have devoted so much time to meeting with my mentor and learning new words. I believe I have made so much progress from the beginning of the year to now and I am grateful for what I have learned. In Health I think I should get an A because I have done research on different topics and I got to do this with a more one on one approach with the health teacher that taught me alot and I am glad I decided to pilot health. I felt that I learned just as much as I would have in class and more because I got to work with Meaghan individually which was really helpful. I have learned about basic health and wellness, drug abuse and sexual wellness As a student I have grown a lot by taking my learning into my own hands and thinking more about what goes into teaching yourself. I taught myself way more things than I had the previous year in school and outside. Before I didn't know anything about geography and didn't know any continents, know I do. I learned so much about my family's history that I couldn't have done last year. I have learned that if you give up you won't achieve your goal anyways so you might as well try to. I have learned this because with some projects I have started I was thinking about giving up but I didn't and that has led me to greater things. When I was doing my Geography project I wasn't sure what to do next but I didn't give up and came up with new ideas and I completed the project. I have learned to be curious about everything you come across because it might take you in a different direction that will teach you a lot. I did this in pilot by going with the flow of things and following the direction my study was taking me. That's how most of my studies come along and I find this an effective way to stay engaged and have everything have a common theme. To have time management because that is a very important to skill in any environment. I think I did well with time management. I always knew what I had to be doing and tried everyday to stay on track. I think not relying on a notebook made me remember better by myself. Demonstration was key at the end of every quarter at exhibitions because you had to show what you did. You had to be accountable for finding valuable resources and being on task. I did this by taking pictures, making slideshows and writing papers. I also noticed most of my genealogy was online so I made a binder of important papers and articles. I also learned self advocacy because if you have a problem it's very helpful to be able to talk to your advisors or mentor so they can help. I relied on my mentor to lead me in the right direction and he could always help when I was feeling stuck or not knowing where to take my projects. The highlight of this year for me has been the end of the year putting everything I have done for my family tree together. I have enjoyed learning everything I can about my ancestors and I realize how much I have accomplished and having something to show for what I've done. A disappointment would be not continuing on my photography study because I think it would have been interesting to shadow a photographer. Photography is something I like doing and would like to do more of it. This year has been a great learning experience for me for all these reasons and I have accomplished a lot. Studying ASL, genealogy and history has worked well for me this year so I would like to continue it next year in pilot.