by Priya Cheema
As last year’s juniors enter their senior year, one primary question occupies their minds...“What is my SLE going to be?”
Every year, seniors are required to design and execute an SLE, or Senior Legacy Experience. An SLE is a purposefully open-ended project that can be personalized to fit each senior’s hobbies, passions, or concerns for the community. This year marks the ten-year anniversary since Minarets first implemented SLEs into the senior curriculum and has since become a huge part of the Minarets culture. Previous SLEs have included breast cancer awareness volleyball games, recycling fundraisers for environmentally friendly water fountains, and even agriculture education days for the elementary schools in the district.
This year, however, will be a little different for seniors. Especially with COVID-19, there are a lot of unprecedented challenges that seniors have to consider as they move forward in the planning stages of their project.
Senior Grace Hansen plans to take a different approach. She has been helping through this pandemic and this is her side of the story “When I volunteer the office has limited staff and we are required to wear masks. And as for fundraising and events, I’m looking at doing those later on In the year.” Hansen plans to partner with Helpings Hands in Oakhurst, an organization that helps pregnant women and provides parenting support. She will be doing volunteer work at the organization and helping coordinate activities to bring more community awareness to what the program promotes.
Despite the limitations set in place by COVID-19, seniors are still demonstrating creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, an indicator that perhaps this year’s SLEs will be the most unique projects the school has ever seen.