Saturday's Internet Edition, May 17, 2008.
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“I had tried to learn, but I never really had the patience to sit down and learn how to play,” he said. “This gave me an opportunity to sit down and play.”
All of that changed this year when Davidson County Schools (DCS) implemented the future graduation requirement of senior projects for more than 1,300 students. On Thursday night about half Ledford’s seniors — including Pietsch — presented their senior projects in front of local judges.
The state is requiring that all schools implement senior projects for the 2009-10 school year, but DCS decided to get a early jump on the requirement.
As a huge part of the student’s English IV grade, the project has two parts, which makes up the student’s exam grade. There are four parts of the graduation project: a research paper, a presentation, portfolio, and a product. One of the requirements is finding a mentor.
“We decided last year that we wanted to prepare our students, staff and community for this state requirement,” said Marty Tobey, DCS high school director. “We worked diligently last year on putting information together for implementation this year for our students.”
Faced with the task of choosing a senior project, Pietsch decided to take on the challenge of playing a guitar. Don’t question his work ethic; he went way above the minimum of 10 hours required for seniors to work on their project. The senior, who also plays golf, worked on his project for more than 20 hours with his mentor and local musician Brian Manns. Pietsch said he worked even harder at home, spending numerous hours at home to perfect his project.
Showcasing a success story in front of three judges, Pietsch played Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” His project lasted eight minutes, three minutes above the minimum.
Dressed in a tie and khakis — the senior project requirement for students to look professional — Pietsch performed about two minutes of the song, talked about his success and failures and answered questions from judges.
Greg Wray, a judge from Wallburg, commended Pietsch for his efforts. The other two judges also seemed to be amazed.
“There is some technique that you have done that is very hard to do,” Wray told Pietsch. “You did really well. You can tell you did this as your project, but you put your heart into it. It shows.”
Other Ledford students spent a lot of time and effort to meet the senior requirement.
Amanda Johnson chose to do the ins and outs of breast cancer. Will Smith picked child literacy
Johnson, who wants to attend Forsyth Technical Community College to be a nurse, worked with a nurse practitioner at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital.
“It let me see how the patient and the nurse practitioner were dealing with each other,” she said. “It’s just phenomenal, and I loved it.”
Smith, meanwhile, traveled to the Forsyth County Health Department for the past two months. He said his mentor, Mayte Grandseth, taught him how to work with children.
Ledford principal Bill Butts was proud of his seniors.
“A lot of our students, who were really dreading it early on, have put together some great projects,” he said. “They are very proud of their work and we’re proud of them. They have done a great job with it.”
Fred Mock, DCS superintendent, thinks senior projects prepares students for real-life experiences.
“[Students] ability to engage in projects successfully gives them an opportunity to know what their world is going to be like in the future,” DCS Superintendent Fred Mock said. “We are very proud of the 1300 projects that have come about in the last six weeks.”
Staff Writer Darrick Ignasiak can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 231, or ignasiak@tvilletimes.com.