What is SSP?

SSP, or Senior Spring Project, is an eight-week program at the end of each BB&N senior year in which students design a personalized schedule based on their own interests. During this time, students complete activities that total at least 40 hours and are required to engage in experiences that fulfill four designated pillars. In addition, each student selects a book of their choice to read and completes two reflective essays based on their experience.

Intellectual Engagement

To fulfill my Intellectual Engagement, I took a BB&N seminar called Beyond Our Echo Chambers with the purpose of learning how to have conversations with people who have differing political views that I do.

Wellness

In order to fulfill the Wellness pillar I chose to do a combination of yoga with Charlotte Garrity '26 and going to the gym with Amanda Berlin '26 .

New Experience

For my New Experience, I chose to collaborate with a small group of peers to create a documentary focused on the senior class. Over the course of two months, we interviewed more than half of the grade and worked collectively to film, organize, and edit the project from start to finish.

Community Engagement

My Community Engagement was fulfilled by volunteering at Perkins School for the Blind. I chose to dedicated a large amount of my hours there and ended up loving it.

My Book:

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

I chose this book because Ms. Sloop thought I would really like it and I was drawn to both the mystery and coming-of-age elements of the story that she described. I especially appreciated the way Delia Owens combined these ideas of loneliness and resilience. I enjoyed how the novel explored what it means to grow up feeling isolated while still finding strength and independence, and I also thought the writing was amazing.

As I prepare to leave for college next year, I found myself relating to the ideas of newfound independence and navigating unfamiliar environments. Although my experience is very different from Kya’s (the protagonist), the book made me reflect on how growth often comes from uncertainty and learning to trust yourself in new situations.