Hoping to alleviate anxiety and enhance confidence in the junior class, 24 Morgan seniors, led by Mr. Carroll and Mrs. Luther, entered junior advisories last Thursday, March 6th, to help prepare students for the upcoming Junior Portfolio presentations.
Background on Junior Portfolio:
Junior portfolio is a continuation of the Freshman Experience course offered to all freshmen. It asks students to reflect on their academic growth by highlighting their work over the last three years. According to the Intro to JP presentation given by Assistant Principal Mr. Luther, the presentations for the juniors will take place the day before April break, on April 10th.
Junior Portfolio Presentations are performed in front of two staff panel members and four fellow juniors. The JP presentations are a graduation requirement at Morgan.
In the past, the school has informed students about the JP process through a school-wide assembly, and a series of lessons in Advisory.
However, there are rising concerns among staff and students about whether there is enough guidance provided prior to the presentations.
“It’s a good idea to help students to not be as stressed,” said senior, Hannah Sharp. “At first I was stressed [before the presentation]. But it was not that bad.”
About the Mentorship Program
This year, teachers Carroll and Luther created a mentorship program to allow the juniors to feel more at ease with the Junior Portfolio. On March 6th, 24 seniors will be separated into groups of two and divided into each junior advisory. They shared their experiences, shared their presentation, and answered any questions that the juniors had. Then on March 27th, the seniors will return to help the juniors work on their Junior Portfolio. This experience will hopefully give students the confidence they need to pass.
According to the Head of Junior portfolio, Mr. Carroll, “I will be happy if I have one or two kids, who get real anxious about presentations, and they feel like they have met with someone, and they have an idea of how it might benefit them.”
Benefits of the program
According to Mr. Carroll, students tend to take advice from other students more, so the impact of having a senior mentor can be beneficial. He hopes that getting clarification and help from the student body could ease junior’s anxieties and even save some kids from failing.
However, not all juniors are anxious about the experience. As junior Briana Norman approaches the presentation day, she is looking forward to, “getting to reflect on all my improvements since our freshman year.”
This program is helpful for juniors because hearing from someone who’s already experienced Junior Portfolio could lower their stress. Senior, Sharp, who presented her portfolio last year, expressed, “I think it is a good idea; especially to help students not be as stressed. I wish I had that,”
One aim of this program is to obtain a higher passing rate in the future. Mr. Carroll is sure that having someone who has been through the Junior Portfolio helping with the presentations will alleviate the stress for someone who is nervous about it and ensure a solid future for the program.
“We can save some kids from failing. I think students will take advice from other students,” said Mr. Carroll.