Senior Projects Celebrate Curiosity, Creativity, and Critical Thinking
On Monday, May 19, the SHAC buzzed with excitement as Concord Academy seniors presented their senior projects—semester-long, independent explorations of topics they’re deeply interested in. A longstanding tradition since the 1960s, this year’s showcase featured the work of 27 students, much of it interdisciplinary, ranging from creative production to scientific research.
Among the presenters was Reyan Kassam ’25. Her project, Permission to Bleed, is a bilingual poetry collection addressing the reproductive health care crisis in Nicaragua. The book features 25 poems in English and Spanish. Through personal research, she has woven the voices of women, health care workers, and activists into her creative writing.
Reyan, who has studied Spanish since kindergarten, was inspired by current events and guided by her advisor, Modern and Classical Languages Department Head Carmen Welton, on Spanish poetic forms and rhyming structures. She also drew on skills from CA’s Poetic License course with English teacher Nancy Boutilier. Her presentation included a powerful reading from her collection.
For students considering a senior project, she shared this advice. “Do the project out of passion. Choose something you love or are deeply curious about—something you’ll be proud of at the end.”
Abbie Deng ’25 explored fiber arts as a historical mode of communication. Focusing on the Incan khipu system—a method of knot-based accounting—she created a garland representing every graduating class at CA since 1923. She researched these numbers by diving into the school’s archives with help from the Library Director and Archivist Martha Kennedy.
Abbie also studied Chinese knotting, a practice historically used for storytelling. Abbie created traditional motifs including a “lucky knot” representing good fortune and a “Pang Chang” knot, which symbolizes the cyclical nature of life and death in some Buddhist traditions.
In college, Abbie plans to major in linguistics. She said her project was inspired by a lecture she attended on fiber arts, whose presenter described the loom as the first computer—used to code patterns and share information. Abbie is interested in symbolism through art as it is a means of communicating beyond words.
Inspired by her experience in the Feature Film Program, Gitanjali Belleau-Bhowmik ’25 reimagined The Odyssey by crafting a full-length screenplay of over 100 pages. Told from the perspective of Penelope and her maids, her three-act script reflects themes of loyalty, voice, and agency. To deepen her narrative, she drew from scholarship including The Distaff Side: Representing the Female in Homer’s Odyssey and Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming.
Working closely with her project advisor, Visual Arts Department Head Justin Bull P’25 ’28, and English teacher Laurence Vanleynseele P’22 ’28 for thematic and editorial guidance, Gitanjli has developed the screenplay through multiple drafts and conducted a table reading with student actors. “I’m really grateful for the kind of teachers we have at CA,” she shared.
Andrew Wood-Sue Wing ’25 used his project to navigate the full process of music production. A guitarist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, he wrote and produced four original music tracks this semester using a digital audio workstation.
Guided by his project advisor, Chris Gagne, the director of CA’s jazz ensembles, Andrew studied the principles of song creation, from initial songwriting and conceptual development to arranging instrumentation, recording tracks, and producing polished final mixes ready for music streaming platforms.
Through this hands-on experience, he not only gained technical knowledge of the recording process but also developed a deeper appreciation for the creative complexity of crafting a finished song. The project serves as a springboard for college, where Andrew will study music.
Avi Cariens ’25 conducted field research on Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, just a few miles from CA. Inspired by an American environmental history class with former CA history teacher Ed Rafferty P’19 ’21, Avi spent months observing wildlife in the meadows and writing place-based journal entries.
Drawing on the works of Henry David Thoreau and Susan Fenimore Cooper, Avi plans to expand his journal entries into essays with support from his project advisor, science teacher and Environmental Sustainability Lead Chris Labosier. Through his research, Avi learned that the meadows were purchased and donated to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation by Samuel Hoar, a co-founder of Concord Academy.
Avi also studied the species native to the meadows and created scientific artwork. His subjects included the red-winged blackbird, the endangered Blanding’s turtle, and a keystone species, the North American beaver—each chosen to explore their unique role within the ecosystem. “I wasn’t planning to paint at first,” he said. “Allow your project to evolve and lean into that. It’s part of the discovery process.” He hopes to study ecology in college and plans to expand his artwork and research wherever he travels.
Concord Academy’s senior project program remains a testament to the school’s commitment to independent thinking and intellectual curiosity. This year’s student participants used their final semester to explore what matters most to them, and in doing so, they inspired other students to chart their own educational paths.
