The ISP’s You Don’t See

As students began finishing up their ISPs (some in a greater rush than others), I started to get curious about the projects that wouldn’t be shown at the ISP X-block. 

On April 22nd, the entire New Roads Upper School community came into the Moss Theater to watch six Independent Study Project (ISP) presentations — but what about the other 18 ISPs happening this year? 

In an effort to learn more, I interviewed three people who pursued ISPs this year and fulfilled their presentation requirement without presenting at the X-block.

My first interview was with junior Moxie Ewen. When asked to describe her ISP in a single sentence, Ewen says, “Triumphs and trainwrecks from those who finally know how to live after living for a long time, presented to the ones timing themselves living.”

Ewen’s ISP first began with interviewing older individuals to learn about how regret changes with age. Instead, she emerged with a new perspective on how to appreciate her own life instead of focusing on “tragedies to flip.”

Ewen presented a scene from a play that she created in the Moss Theater on April 28th. The scene was inspired by a 90 year-old woman Ewen interviewed. “Her only regret was never thanking her first-grade teacher for changing her life. The scene I am showcasing involves her being able to return to her first grade classroom and put into words how much this teacher meant to her,” said Ewen.

Moxie E. ‘27 getting ready for her show feat. Gloria W. ‘33 and Searra M. ‘29 on stage (Photograph: Dan Ewen)

The intended audience for Ewen’s presentation is today’s youth. Ewen said that she hopes that the audience can “understand that life is what you make it.” She puts an emphasis on gratitude for being present in the moment and finding a confidence that allows us to take advantage of the life that we are living. “I want everyone to hear the lessons I have learned from these beautiful souls,” said Ewen.

The second project I explored was by junior MJ Gonzalez, who is seeking to explore why society is unable to imagine a world beyond capitalism in their ISP. They chose to present their ISP in their English class through a collection of original poems.

A key theme in Gonzalez’s research paper is “change and transformation” and learning what that truly means. “I explore human nature, disproving that it is natural for humans to be selfish and greedy while advocating that humans are born good and transformative — but it must be cultivated,” says Gonzalez.

Their poetry depicts the process of transformation and examines the concept in a deep and personal manner. Their intention for their audience is to have “a shift in perspective and realize that… our current world wants us to believe that we cannot create another world. I hope this shift in perspective will push people to take action to create the life they want,” said Gonzalez. 

My final interview was with sophomore Mimi Lazar. In her ISP, Lazar researches about “the history of abortion from the early 1900s to today.” She chose to create an artist book, a collection of pages formatted in a book that can be flipped through, which will be displayed at Artapalooza. Each page of Lazar’s book creatively represents a different era of abortion rights. “I thought my topic would be best presented visually and that an artist book would be more engaging than a lecture or some other form of presentation,” says Lazar. Lazar is passionate about creating art but she had never created a piece about a political or controversial topic. She believed that her ISP would be a great opportunity to explore this genre of art.

Lazar hopes that her project “opens up the discussion of abortion.” She strongly believes that everyone will benefit from learning from her ISP because it is a relevant issue in our society. “A woman's reproductive choice is up to her and not the government or other bodies of power aiming to contain and control women,” said Lazar. It was important to Lazar that her immense research would be formatted in a way that not only made sense but also entertaining and flowed together. 

Abortion: The Battle Between Choice and Control by Mimi Lazar ‘28 (Photograph: Mimi Lazar)

The most significant message that Lazar wants her audience to understand from her ISP is that “abortion is not a new thing and has been going on forever, it will not stop no matter what the government says and the laws that get implemented,” said Lazar.

These interviews demonstrate the various ways that individuals can choose to showcase their year-long projects in an approach that best supports them and their topic. It is vital to provide our support to those pursuing an ISP, especially when their projects are not being shown under the spotlight at the ISP X-block.