NDP SOPHOMORES SHOWCASE IB MIDDLE YEARS PROGRAM PERSONAL PROJECTS

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March 4, 2025

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here.

The hard work and creativity of Notre Dame Prep sophomores in the school’s International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program are on display this week as NDP 10th graders present their personal projects.

The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program's Personal Project is the culmination for many sophomores of their time spent with the MYP curriculum. In 2020, the school changed its approach to this IB component by offering it as an elective to sophomores vs. a requirement, and this year is the fifth under that policy. 

Monday evening, Mar. 3, 2025, the Notre Dame Prep sophomores who are participating this year celebrated their hard work and presented their projects to parents, friends and fellow students in the school's St. Peter Chanel Library. 

According to the International Baccalaureate, it says it places “great importance” on the development of each student’s unique talent and the personal project provides a critical assessment of how that talent has manifested itself over the course of the MYP. Each personal project is monitored by a teacher/supervisor, but it is the student’s responsibility to complete all its components.

The personal project also encourages students to learn to manage and direct their own inquiry and further develop the skills they have learned through the MYP. Each student leads the process of developing the personal project and assessment stands as a summative review of their ability to conduct independent work using the areas of interaction as contexts for their learning. 

What is the IB-MYP?

The MYP course of study consists of eight subject groups integrated through five interactive areas providing global contexts for learning. Students are required to study at least two languages (as part of their multilingual profile), humanities, sciences, mathematics, arts, physical education and technology. In their final year in MYP, students undertake this independent personal project to demonstrate the development of their skills and understanding.

When Notre Dame Prep changed the basic requirements of the Personal Project course in 2020, the approach was designed to reaffirm the school's commitment to helping students better manage stress in general and the rigor sometimes associated with the Personal Project. 

The IB-MYP Personal Project is an independent project task that allows students to achieve a goal or dream while also developing valuable project skills of time management, critical and creative thinking, research, collaboration, and more. Students are able to show principled action as a result of sustained inquiry and critical reflection over an extended period. 

In short, students involved in the Personal Project act upon a natural curiosity in a topic of self-directed interest.

FOR MORE ON NOTRE DAME'S IB PROGRAM, CLICK HERE.

While Notre Dame Prep cannot change the basic requirements of the Personal Project course, the elective approach that more fully supports participants reflects the school's commitment to helping students better manage stress. 

Megan Rochon, who works as a librarian at Notre Dame and is the IB-MYP personal project coordinator, was once again delighted to see such talent from the students.

"The Personal Project is a one-semester, independent project course that sophomores can elect to take," she said. "It's part of the IB Middle Years Program and each year, the students end the project by presenting their projects to freshmen who will have the same opportunities next year."

The sophomores who participated in the elective Personal Projects component of IB-MYP this year are listed below with their projects, including both learning and product goals:
_________

Gabby Brook
Learning Goal
Learn what makes children uncomfortable in hospitals.
Product Goal
Create a hospital room that includes things that make children comfortable.
 
Aniyah Daniel
Learning Goal
To successfully complete my first summer job and gain useful social skills.
Product Goal
To finish my job on August 2nd and use the skills I learn along the way to successfully complete my job.

Rodrigo Encinas
Learning Goal
To learn about renewable energy, and learn how to use electrical components.
Product Goal
To make a working small scale wind turbine to light up a light or lights.
 
Hanna Gappy
Learning Goal
How smoking, vaping, and other substance abuse affects different age groups. Additionally, what people’s stories are as far as their experiences with substance abuse.
Product Goal
An informational yet entertaining book.
 
Maya Hajjar
Learning Goal
My learning goal was to learn more about the dental industry. I also wanted to improve my organization and planning skills.
Product Goal
My product goal was to learn how to create a podcast and a website!
 
Gemma Hofley
Learning Goal
My learning goal was to find out more about people with different roles in sports. I wanted to know how they got into what they are doing, what made them want to do it, and what are some highlights and obstacles of their careers.
Product Goal
The intended product was to have a website with interviews of 3 people with roles in sports. I wanted the website to be clear and include a picture of each person.
 
Demiana Ibrahim
Learning Goal
I wanted to learn about automotive engineering, specifically how cars worked.
Product Goal
I wanted to build a working remote control car.
 
Anna Lis
Learning Goal
Learn how to make friendship bracelets through multiple stages, and create a bracelet patterned and made by me
Product Goal
Multiple bracelets of different difficulties (basic / shape, patterned, self patterned)
 
Sofia Neubauer
Learning Goal
The learning goal for my personal project is to inform myself and others and raise awareness of the common injury, ACL tears, which has heavily impacted many female athletes.
Product Goal
The product goal for my personal project is to develop an informational website that informs viewers about ACL tears in female athletes by incorporating various forms of research and creativity into the website.
 
Flora Ramos
Learning Goal
My Learning Goal for the MYP Personal Project is “What precautions can we put in place to ensure the safe use of AI in healthcare?”
Product Goal
My Product Goal is to develop a website.
 
Liv Serra
Learning Goal
My learning goal was researching and improving my knowledge about various mental health disorders.
Product Goal
My product goal was creating a public, informational website on various mental health conditions.
 
Chloe Smith
Learning Goal
My learning goal for this project was to improve my communication and time-management skills while doing something that mattered to me.
Product Goal
My product goal for this project was to fundraise for and host a food packing event, while furthering my communication and time-management.
 
Lillian Stolzenfeld
Learning Goal
My learning goal was to learn more about bogs and why they’re slowly disappearing.
Product Goal
A pamphlet/info guide to raise awareness and inform people
 
Zara Tiberia
Learning Goal
To understand why parents prefer their children to have in-office anesthesia versus hospital-provided anesthesia.
Product Goal
A thorough and concise survey that lets parents fill out answers about their children's procedure.
 
Mateo Vargas
Learning Goal
Make a healthy, enjoyable product to sell to friends and family.
Product Goal
Sell fifteen containers of the protein balls.
 
Finley Wise
Learning Goal
To learn how to make a commercial for a local business
Product Goal
Make a professional level commercial that can be put on the company's social media.
 
FOR MORE ON NOTRE DAME'S IB PROGRAM, CLICK HERE.

 

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org

About Notre Dame Preparatory School
"At Notre Dame Prep, we inspire our students to become the best versions of themselves. We challenge them through an experience of academic excellence, focused on active, project-based learning. We invite them to explore a world of opportunities beyond the classroom. We guide them as they grow in spirituality within a community strong in its Catholic and Marist identity."

Notre Dame Preparatory School is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School's upper school enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame Prep's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDP is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the National Association of Independent Schools. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School, visit the school’s home page at www.ndpma.org.