In April, they got to make new memories with Ellis Lower School students when they returned to Ms. Sledge’s classroom, 这次是读《澳门官方老葡京》,这本书是他们为自己的高年级项目写的，并配了插图. It was a full-circle moment for the girls and their teacher; Ms. Sledge现在在幼儿园教书, but was also the Pre-K teacher for Sara and Sarina’s older sisters: Lowrie Woodside ’21, and Hannah Pretter ’23.

“Ms. 雪撬一直和我们大家保持联系, and what’s special about Ellis is that I still see all my teachers from my whole Ellis career,” Sara said. “他们记得你在特定年龄真正喜欢的具体事情. At Ellis, you get to build such great connections with our teachers and feel so much kindness and encouragement. It was fun to go back.”

Sara, 灵感来自她小时候喜欢的图画书, 很长时间以来一直想写一本自己的书. The senior project gave her and Sarina—an artist and fellow Ellis Lifer—the chance to do one more project together before graduation. 去年夏天，他们开始构思故事并绘制插图, and they each worked with a local mentor in their respective industries throughout the year who helped guide them through the drafting and publishing process.

最后的结果是一只名叫弗里达的猫的冒险故事, who loses her favorite ball of yarn and embarks on a journey filled with perseverance and imagination to find it. 高年级学生通过巴恩斯自助出版了这本书 & Noble Press. 萨拉说他们从这次经历中学到了很多, 包括如何让故事情节集中，让孩子们感同身受. And, she said, holding the book in her hands at the end of the process was extremely rewarding.

“我想做这件事已经很久了, and with the senior project we were able to have deadlines and criteria so it was easier to stay on track,” Sara said. “We were grateful to have the flexibility to do something that was both going to impact the community and would be fulfilling for us.”

After her research showed a general lack of mental health support for young women of color, Nadia wanted to give back by providing a place for students to be able to release stress and learn about how to incorporate mindfulness into their lives. Working with Amazing Yoga Studio and mentor Karen Conley, 并借鉴了她自己的串联瑜伽练习, she developed and taught yoga classes at both Amazing Yoga Studio and at Ellis for young black women.

利用她对艺术之间关系的兴趣, science, and engineering, Natalie created workshops to help children explore the painting technique known as pointillism by building art with LEGO bricks. 她的导师是诺埃尔·韦伯斯特和霍普·吉莱斯皮 Carnegie Science Center 在科学中心领导儿童研讨会.

作为一名澳门新葡新京官方曲棍球运动员, Rita knows the importance of being ready to play—even if it’s the off-season—so she built an app to help students stay on top of their game. 学生可以访问每周的锻炼计划, 有关预防伤害的资料, communicate with teammates, 并在应用程序中记录他们的进度. It has been used by Ellis field hockey players and she hopes it will be transferable to other Ellis sports teams. 她的导师是私人教练利亚·威尔斯.

Hannah channeled an interest in the field of dermatology into a project focused on sun protection for student athletes. 她跟随皮肤科医生Dr. 安东尼·范·诺曼来了解更多关于这个领域的信息, and is developing materials for awareness and best practices about sun protection for student athletes.

Jasmine worked to give back to her religious community by offering her skills to facilitate the cleaning and reorganizing of several important community spaces in her gurdwara, 锡克教徒集会和做礼拜的地方. 和她的语言老师一起工作, Ravinder Mehta, 她打扫并重新整理了厨房, classrooms, 以及其他的社区空间, 使这些空间更有效地用于教育和社区聚会.

Livia自愿在 Weinberg Terrace, 当地的老年护理社区, 她给住院医生读书的地方, 进行宾果游戏等活动, 以及为居民提供的协调演出. This work was tied to research she conducted about combating depression in residents of long term care facilities. 她还协调了澳门新葡新京官方低年级的善心小组, made up of PreK students, 制作丰富多彩的季节性工艺品来装饰露台.

伊莎贝尔通过制作杂志展示了匹兹堡的学生艺术家, or a handmade, 自行出版的印刷杂志. 她在匹兹堡做志愿者 Irma Freeman想象力中心她的项目得到了IFCI主任Sheila Ali的指导. 伊莎贝尔收集了澳门新葡新京官方学院学生的意见书, Pittsburgh CAPA, and City of Bridges High School and is assembling the zine at Artists Image Resource in Pittsburgh.

Basketball is important to Kalliope Kristian; she plays for Ellis, but also knows how special the game is for building community within her orthodox Catholic church. 她从小到大都参加了教会的这个项目, after the COVID-19 pandemic, 想让这个项目恢复活力. Her community outreach project is designed to help kids stay connected with their church community while enjoying basketball.

Franny worked to combat climate change by educating the Ellis community on something individuals can do to have an impact: composting. 在她的导师Laura Totin Codori的指导下 Worm Return, 她为澳门新葡新京官方幼儿园的学生开发了教育项目, 帮助组建了澳门新葡新京官方环境俱乐部的中学分会, 并参观了那些班级，教学生们堆肥, food waste, sustainable fashion, 以及其他环境问题.

Liaden的项目侧重于STEAM教育的重要性:科学, technology, engineering, arts, and math. 和她的导师塔尼·海恩斯，在 Assemble, she developed workshops for kids to explore various science topics through building or creating something. 主题包括动物为什么冬眠，以及制作模型汽车.

Working with Dr. Thomas Hooven of the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, 丽贝卡为澳门新葡新京官方中学的学生开发并教授了一项实验活动. Through the lab, she helped students learn how to use gram staining to identify bacteria in food samples. 与她的博士研究有关. 在胡芬的实验室里，丽贝卡作为作者对报告做出了贡献 A group B Streptococcus indexed transposon mutant library to accelerate genetic research on an important perinatal pathogen, which was published in a peer-reviewed journal from the American Society for Microbiology in November 2023.

索菲亚一直是 Pittsburgh Girls Choir, and chose to give back to the organization by coordinating a fundraising effort to assist with the group’s travel and touring expenses. 她与艺术总监凯瑟琳·巴纳德合作 & PGC创始人，策划、协调、执行活动的各个方面. Sophia also volunteered as conductor for the younger children who sang during the event.

Evi, 一个热爱科学的视觉艺术家, 创作连环漫画来帮助简化复杂的生物学概念. She worked with mentor Matt Teter and Ellis Upper School Biology Teacher Kassie Wadsworth to write, storyboard, and produce a full color comic strip exploring topics from Ellis’ junior year biology curriculum, 比如细胞和免疫系统是如何工作的. 她也在开展相关活动.

与Dana Kirkpatrick合作，他是 Calm Pittsburgh, Ella combined her interests in neuroscience and art by creating a series of therapeutic walking tours based around public artwork in Lawrenceville. Designed to be taken solo, 或者在治疗师的陪伴下, these five-, 10-, 20- and 60-minute walks are designed to reduce anxiety while providing opportunities to move. 她还为旅游制作了一本小册子.