As most seniors head into the home stretch of high school, a select few will be taking off for Senior Project.

Most seniors will be staying at school for the rest of the year, but others will leave and do Senior Project.

This year, 142 students, roughly 7% of the senior class, will be pursuing a project of interest during New Trier’s fourth quarter.

Although the number of students participating in Senior Project is down from last year’s 150, there remains a relatively consistent amount of students going each year; the average is around 140 students a year. Only once in the last nine years has the number been below 100, which was 97 people in 2011.

With continuous student interest in this opportunity, the Senior Project staff has not made many profound changes in these last couple of years.

“We start early in September and encourage students to take the time they have to search for a community sponsor,” said Senior Project Coordinator, Susan Thorngren. “We want students to find something they’re passionate about as their topic before they select their community sponsor.”

To help students find their sponsors, the Senior Project staff organizes workshops to guide them through the process of committing to their project. Often, the most daunting part of the process is finding a sponsor.

At the beginning of this year, roughly 300 students expressed interest in Senior Project. “We usually start with a number, and about half of those students end up turning in proposals and eventually going on Senior Project,” added Thorngren.

With the option to drop out of the project at almost any point, a large handful of students decide not to go after previously showing interest. One of those students is Michael Williams, who wasn’t able to find a community sponsor for his project. “I feel like for such an individual project, it can be kind of hard to find a person or business that fully understands and helps your project,” said Williams.

However, for the students who do decide to participate, Senior Project has proven to be memorable and helpful for their future.

In a survey of former Senior Project students, 93% of alumni agree that it was an important transitional experience from high school to the world beyond.

Along with that, 94% agree that Senior Project enabled them to learn new skills that will be helpful to them in the future.

Last year, certain projects included working with the U.S. Coast Guard and interning with ABC News.

This year, projects include filming the NBA Combine, marketing at Discover, building a drone, and creating culturally influenced cookbooks.

Some of the most common projects usually fall in the departments of elementary education, nursing, music, and photography.

Although those are common topics, Senior Project delivers endless options.

“We have people working in all levels of education, and a lot of people who want to go into nursing,” mentioned Thorngren. “But there is always a wide range of projects each year.”