We want students to be able to leave TEA and survive and thrive no matter what life throws your way and regardless of their college and career path. A successful Senior Intensive is a graduation requirement, but more importantly, it is an opportunity to demonstrate their highest level of learning at TEA. The Senior Intensive is about learning through their interests and building their skills as independent learners. It’s about choosing a field and defining a problem, a concern or an idea that is of importance to them, becoming a budding expert in their chosen field, and creating solution-driven final products. With guidance from teachers, mentors, and crew leaders, they endeavor to show their ability to solve problems, conduct research, meet and overcome adversity, organize time and resources, communicate well, and reflect on their efforts. They will require all these skills as they move into the world of adulthood. Each senior proposed a project and produced the following items:

1) Short narrative video that shares the overview of their project

2) Research paper demonstrating their background knowledge on the topic they chose

3) Final product that seeks to help solve the problem they identified and make a positive impact on the world

In addition, seniors are tasked with presenting passage presentations that demonstrate mastery of TEA’s learner outcomes, the growth they have achieved over the last four years, and their readiness to tackle their next adventure.