Seniors in Jamie Donohoe’s English 4 class are testing their values and perhaps conquering their fears with the Values Challenge Project, where students each choose a word that represents their ideal self and undertake a challenge to develop this value. The project must include a creative element, such as artwork, poetry, or performance, that will be shared with the class.
According to Donohoe, the students pick a word that they admire in someone else, but doubt they have in themselves.
“It’s something hard for you to do, whether it’s coming out for the first time or expressing yourself in a way you’ve never expressed yourself before,’ said senior Nikitha Kodali. Senior Bailey Wu concurs. “It’s doing something you’re not comfortable with, stepping outside your comfort zone,” he said.
Senior Jacq Guelfi thinks that Donohoe’s objectives for the project are numerous. “He wants us to learn before we go to college that we can become something else, that we don’t have to be the person that everyone thinks we are,” she said.
Wu agrees that developing values is especially important for seniors. “Before we go off to college we have to identify ourselves and know who we are, we have to take risks in life,” he said.
Although Donohoe realizes that this challenge will be incredibly difficult for his seniors to fulfill, he believes that it will help them realize that they have the power to do anything. “If they could own it, it would change their life for the better,” he said.
Although the project is unnerving for Kodali, she is also excited to try something new. “I think [Donohoe] wants us to learn more about ourselves, who we are, what we want to do in our life, and come out knowing more about ourselves,” she said.
Senior Arrada Karmonphet’s truth word is “confident.” She trusts that this project will help her conquer her fear and become more courageous. “[The project] goes to another level of finding who you are,” she said.
However, Kodali believes that initiating this assignment will only aid to a certain extent. “If you do it once it’s not going to do much, but if you keep doing stuff like that over and over, you will become more like your word,” she explained.
Kodali appreciates Donohoe’s creative assignments, and the thought he puts into them. “Most teachers are like ‘read a book, write an essay, read a book, write an essay’, whereas Mr. Donohoe really brings you into the class,” she explained.
