Take the idea and run with it. Well, first you need approval, but then put on your track shoes. The idiom “it takes forever” does not apply to Senior Projects. 

Students are given two weeks to move from idea to execution, which includes a half-hour presentation with time at the end of each for questions. This year there were 19 projects by 28 students with presentations May 19–21 in Gilchrist Auditorium. 

Students interested in pursuing Senior Projects must submit project proposals. If their projects are approved, they work about eight hours a day for the last two weeks of classes to bring the projects to fruition. Students are excused from classes, but the program description notes that these projects “are as challenging and substantial as completing the typical work of a regular course load — but usually a lot more fun.”    

Neil Chaudhary ’05, head of the Science Department and a member of the faculty team that supervises Senior Projects, mentioned during the first night of presentations that the projects started 30 years ago.  

This year’s projects ranged from a podcast that showed the personal side of teachers by Katelyn Kim and Jordan Russell to an exploration of black hair — from stereotypes to unhealthy products on the market — by Kika Ebie, Zaryjha Harrison, and Fatou Samb.  

Two student-athletes, Abby Congdon and Jaime Patton-Martin, spent time at the Renbrook School in West Hartford working with students there and, as the name for their project suggested, “empowering young athletes.”  

Rachael Lantner created a porcelain tea set, including a teapot and six cups. Amy He, also a ceramics enthusiast, created large porcelain vessels in the style of Qinghua vases, a style that originated centuries ago in China. 

Penelope Struthers, who has studied ballet since she was 4, designed lesson plans for and taught three basic ballet classes to students, faculty, and a faculty child. Idil Turkmen created an A.I.-powered language learning app that helps expand the user’s vocabulary in eight languages using a phone camera to identify objects and learn the words for them in the target language.  

“The 2025 Senior Project program was robust and diverse,” said Ed Pond, a science teacher and the faculty lead for the projects. The students involved were passionate about their work and grateful for the opportunity to conclude their Loomis careers in this special way. The energy at presentations was palpable as the students were supported by friends, family, faculty, and fellow [students].  Senior Projects has been a wonderful, positive spring tradition here on the Island for 30 years.” 

The projects indeed combined passion, desire, hard work, research, and outreach. Kika, Zaryjha, and Fatou visited a local nursing home, where some residents had their hair braided courtesy of the students. Said one 99-year-old resident at the end, “Pretty, pretty.”  

2025 SENIOR PROJECTS 

Lives Beyond the Syllabus – A Podcast | Katelyn Kim and Jordan Russell 

Empowering Young Athletes | Abby Congdon and Jaime Patton-Martin 

Patterns in Preferences: A Statistical Analysis of Course Enrollment Trends | Sara Feged and Jessica Mulligan 

Biophilic Architecture: A Tranquil Library | Liv Westfort  

Black Hair: History, Stereotypes, Resistance, and Liberation | Kika Ebie, Zaryjha Harrison, and Fatou Samb  

How Computers See: A Photo-Astrometric Deep-Learning Pipeline for Detecting Novel Asteroids | Bryan Chung 

Vocam: Where Language Meets the Real World | Idil Türkmen 

Capturing Chinese Culinary Creations | Lucia Zhang 

Back to Ballet Basics | Penelope Struthers  

Fusion of Cultures: Exploring Culinary Crossroads | Olivia DeJesus and Nathan Lam 

Mapping Misrepresentation: Exploring a Distorted Past | Sydney Hallowell 

Developing a Lymphoma Treatment Using Targeted Drug Delivery | William Chun, Eli Krasnoff, and Eric Zhou 

Turning Old into New | Victoria Kenton  

Pinned and Prodded – A Sculpture | Syd Robinow  

Animated Loomis | Cara Dai and Eugenie Kim  

Tea for Six | Rachael Lantner 

A Visual Archive of Campus Plants | Michaela Howe 

Hugging Porcelain: Reshaping Qinghua Vases | Amy He 

The Muse Pinwheel: An Homage to the Arts at Loomis | Ellen Chen