If you happened to attend the most recent varsity volleyball game at Carlsbad High School against La Costa Canyon High School this past Thursday, May 17th, then you would have missed the second annual Genius Project Symposium that was held on Sage Creek’s campus. In comparison to last year, the 2017-2018 Symposium included an increasing amount of people in attendance with more projects showcased in other miscellaneous forms involving being off of the grand stage. The breezy night began with interactions between visitors and seniors allocating the projects that they composed throughout the past two years of their high school careers. From the production of skin care to trimming hair to providing for the less fortunate, there were a wide variety of seniors who took part in the showcasing outside of the Bobcat Arena.
Senior Jordyn Ecoff spoke about her experience when taking part in the Symposium despite not presenting with the other speakers. Through her set-up, Ecoff had the additional space to showcase her project through more interactive and engaging methods.
“Tonight I am talking to anyone who comes up with me with questions. I actually have a student with me from Pacific Rim elementary (Kiera Irving) donating her hair to show everyone what the project is like in action,” Ecoff stated.
Senior Jordyn Ecoff snips 8 inches of volunteer, Kiera Irving (5th grader) to the right of the red carpet at the annual Symposium event. Through the space that was provided within the athletic mall, Ecoff was given a sufficient amount of space in order to fully showcase her accomplishments throughout her Genius Project journey.
Ecoff had the possibility to chop off 8 inches of this 5th graders hair in front of her peers and those interested in all of the work that she pursued through her organization of hair donations. Alongside Ecoff, many others had, “made the cut” and were staggered throughout the athletic mall that grand evening in order to show off the labor they took on throughout the last half of their high school experience. To these students, the Genius Project went beyond their English letter grade, and their inspiration had spread to many that took the time to take part in the event.
With a red carpet walkway and tons of desserts displayed, the gym opened its doors around 6:30 pm, inviting all of the guests to take a seat and listen to the 9 speakers and 8 spotlight interviews that would be presented. The English department was proud to include more and more individuals with all of their hard work during the Symposium in comparison to the previous year.
English teacher Sarah Hunter was extremely satisfied with all of the diversified coverage of students that went above and beyond with the Genius Project assignment that they received their junior year.
“I think [the Symposium is] bigger and better than ever before as compared to last year. We are able to spotlight more of our amazing students and we’re coming into this with experience on how to get it organized, what we loved about last year and what we wanted to improve on so I think we made a lot of positive changes,” Hunter claimed.
Boisterous hosts, seniors Brad Nelson and Maanasee Deshmukh took the stage and presented all of the speakers with light introductions and positive commentary. Maintaining the attention of the crowd while transitioning from speaker to speaker, Deshmukh was honored to take part in the Symposium through the opportunity to enhance her public speaking skills in front of such a large audience of up to 500 people in attendance.
Host Maanasee Deshmukh had extremely entertaining charisma within her transitions between speaker to speaker. Audience members were easily captivated by her public speaking among her fellow host, senior and ASB Vice President Brad Nelson.
“I am very excited to host. It’s something that is a little outside my comfort zone, I haven’t been on stage for some time now so I’m still remembering tidbits here and there but I am really excited to do this. Brad and I are like the duo you have never seen before, but something you have always wanted to see— that’s what I hear from a lot of people— so I guess that must be something good,” Deshmukh vocalized.
The formal TED Talks went extremely well and sparked inspiration and admiration, speaker after speaker, with a large majority of those watching. From on-stage performances, between senior Chloe Easterbrook and elderly members diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease to depictions from Tyler Jung and Daniel Moran describing the mobile phone app that they had produced for their student body, there was certainly a wide assortment of projects that were recognized throughout the night. Through the extensive voting that had appointed those to be showcased at the Symposium, all of these Sage Creek students had effectively depicted both passion, challenge, and impact-all aspects that go into making an astonishing Genius Project.
Within the front section of seating at the event, the previous year’s Symposium speakers were also present among the hundreds of guests. Last year’s Symposium speaker winner, Caly Ball had mentioned her admiration and her positive impression of the improvements that were made within the Genius Project since her graduation last spring on June 15th, 2017.
“I think they have improved in a way that people are more excited about the Genius Project. They have something to look up to; they have last years symposium, they have last years speakers. They have an incentive to go out and do this project whereas last year a lot of kids didn’t know what to expect so they weren’t really willing [to put in a lot of effort] but this year I feel like they were a lot more excited,” Ball stated.
Ball’s lasting touch in the 2016-2017 yearbook with her senior quote by actor Bill Murray, “Education is important. But so are big biceps,” goes to show how dedicated she was to the crossfit journey she took during her Genius Project experience. Her love for training had inspired many and impacted a shift in awareness about the frightening statistics that drinking and driving make up within the United States.
Unlike last year’s Symposium, this past Thursday had included no official “winner,” but those who had shared the limelight under DJ Swell’s contraptions and light fixtures were awarded individualized plaques detailing all of the hard work and dedication that they brought to the Genius Project assignment.
All 17 seniors that were represented on stage throughout the night of the Symposium were rewarded with personalized plaques at the conclusion of the night in order to honor all of the hard work and dedication they had supplied within their project. Seniors that presented at the first ever Genius Project Symposium in 2017 dispersed the panels across the stage and the night came to a close with final words from hosts Brad Nelson and Maanasee Deshmukh.
English teacher Shannon Alberts had been just one of the members of community members, administrators, teachers and parents to make the decision to award more than just a singular project on the Symposium stage. Alberts had been one of many that desired more and more congratulatory measures for those who had successfully accomplished the Genius Project in all its glory.
“[The board] wanted [the Symposium] to feel more equitable in the fact that every project is so different so it was hard to imagine recognizing just one person when we had this whole room full of champions,” Alberts explained.
If you happened to miss the Symposium last week, be sure to visit all of the upcoming coverage of the event that will be displayed throughout our site within the remainder of the week. You can also head over to the Symposium live stream that is hosted on our site if you missed it. Don’t forget to congratulate those that were showcased throughout the night and thank those that aided in setting up and running the event.
It was certainly a night of innovation and an astounding example of the student’s that make up the Sage Creek campus— who never fail to go above and beyond the standards of what a project can be.
An Inside Look on Some of the Genius Projects
