ABOUT EXHIBITIONS AT MHS
Sophomore year marks the commencement of the MHS exhibition process. It is a key step in the school's mission to prepare students for college. By promoting high expectations, exhibitions also encourage all students to develop themselves as learners. MHS staff support students though this rigorous, independent study project each year in 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. In order to graduate, students must complete three exhibitions, one per year.
For an exhibition, students must write a term paper and present their ideas before a committee. The paper is based on a question the student chooses to answer and includes evidence from a variety of sources. The presentation offers the student an opportunity to share with a committee his/her reflective process for conducting the research and developing the written piece. Students created their own research questions based on their experiences in school. Each student will complete one Math or Science and one Humanities (English, Spanish, History, Art) exhibition before preparing a final project in 12th grade.
Each year, students are assigned a sponsor who will support him/her through the research, writing and presentation phase of the exhibition. Students are expected to conduct their research outside of school time and to negotiate a schedule to meet with their sponsors. Interim deadlines will be provided so that students can complete components of the project at different times. No student will be allowed to present until s/he meets standards for the written portion of exhibitions.
10th graders begin to prepare their first exhibitions in their spring semester. Because it is their first experience with the exhibition process, we have created some special systems to support them.
- Advisors serve as sponsors, meeting with students regularly and closely monitoring student progress.
- Several Advisory sessions are be devoted to teaching and reviewing skills students may need to meet the standards of the project.
- Students complete a modified version of the paper that is much longer in their junior and senior years.
We expect students to feel a great sense of pride throughout the process as they become experts in their chosen field of research and as we celebrate their topics in school.
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