As part of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program, sophomores must complete a personal project. Students choose a topic they’re interested in and learn to take initiative while researching and planning to reach their goal. This goal could be learning a new skill, improving on a pre-existing one or even starting a volunteer organization.

This project is designed to encourage students to embody the IB learner profile traits and to foster both their organizational and executional skills, which will remain critical to their success throughout their entire lives.

The Class of 2026 recently began the project development process, but many students’ ideas are still in their early stages. 

“I’m thinking of doing a duet with my friend,” sophomore Emilia Murphy said. “I’m going to play a song on the guitar while my friend plays it on the piano.”

However, other students are certain of exactly what they want to do. 

“I’m going to make a cover of Karma Police by Radiohead, which is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while,” sophomore Clara Charpentier said.

Each MYP project is personal to the student creating it. While they foster some similar skills, the areas they address are varied. 

“My personal goal is to improve my piano skills and learn to collaborate with others musically,” Charpentier said.

Some sophomores have seized the opportunity to explore future career paths while others prefer to stick with what they know and love. 

“I’m going to do mine on snowboarding because it’s fun and cool. I’m already familiar with the sport,” sophomore Josephine Nguyen said. “I want to learn some new tricks.”

Similarly, Murphy seeks to gain skills that will be useful to her in the future through her MYP Project. 

“[It will] put me in a space where I have to work with others on music, which is something I want to do when I’m older,” she said.

Each student works with an advisor who supports them throughout the months-long project. Students must practice taking initiative and are advised to schedule meetings with their advisors if they need help.

The advisors, who select their advisees themselves, offer advice based on their experiences and knowledge of the task. However, their specialties do not always align with the students’ project ideas. 

“My advisor is an art teacher,” Nguyen said. “My project is on sports, so I don’t know how that’ll work out.”

Some sophomores believe this assignment is valuable and will train them to develop new skills, while others think that it’s just a waste of time. 

“I think it’s so unnecessary and nobody cares,” Nguyen said.

Charpentier, on the other hand, sees the value of MYP projects. 

“I think this project is interesting in the way it talks about viewing progress and achieving goals. It really helps us learn to set obtainable ones,” she said.

Some sophomores have tips for ways in which the MYP Project process could be improved. 

“I really wish we didn’t have advisor meetings during our lunch period,” Nguyen said.