Written by Kylie Akins
Before senioritis can fully set in, seniors must complete a project that represents the culmination of four years of education in their major. The projects use real-life situations and often provide resume material for the student.
The end product symbolizes the student’s use of the skills acquired in his or her field in a practical application.
For engineering majors, the product must actually be functional. Mechanical and computer engineering majors are required to design and build in groups from their senior design class a prototype that would be acceptable to future clients.
Computer engineering major Harrison Cobb, and mechanical engineering majors Misael Marriaga and Casey Christensen combined their skills in programming and building to create a self-balancing, self-propelled skateboard. The prototype will resemble a Segway in that it propels itself but lacks a handle, and will resemble a skateboard with two wheels.
“It’s really more like a real job than it is a school thing because we decide what we use,” Cobb said. “It’s really taught us to be independent and think outside the box. The biggest thing I’ve learned is how to problem-solve without professors being right there beside me.”
The Harding art gallery dedicates a week at the end of every semester for graduating senior graphic design majors. Graphic design major Lequernaque reflected on her pieces throughout the years she has learned at Harding as she laid them out to be hung on the wall in front of her. She said she sees now how each project has shaped her personal style.
This year the theme for the gallery was “In Transit” with colored signs similar to a subway’s color-coded map to guide the viewer through each student’s gallery space.
“[The gallery] is about us going in different directions after graduation and our tracks turning different ways,” Lequernaque said. “I really enjoyed seeing how all of us have really different designs, but yet we can put a show together.
Early education major Laura Lovett presented her first and second grade senior unit a few weeks ago to a group of her peers and teachers. To her this was a reminder of why she wanted to become a teacher. As she painted vases for the walls and created fun activities for her students to learn from in her unit on Africa, Lovett said she finally felt like a teacher.
“I think that doing this unit is one of the most beneficial projects I have ever done,” Lovett said. “It’s an application of all four years of college.”
Long nights in the computer lab is what it took for senior computer science majors David Farrow and Brett Jones to complete their video game programming projects. The seniors are students in the software development class and must spend an entire semester creating a computerized version of a board game in teams. The game is based on Nine Men’s Morris, and each project is tested for 10 days by more than 100 professors and students.
“Unlike all the other assignments we’ve had here…, this is supposed to prepare us for the workforce because it takes months to complete,” Farrow said. “We have had to put a lot of time and effort into it and work closely as a team.”
As seniors prepare to enter the work force, they rely on professors to challenge them to a standard employers would expect. Gathering all the skills and knowledge acquired from their departments, seniors prepare for the real learning experience: employment.
