Chittum says she is always looking for judges from the community to participate and often they end up with more people from outside the school serving to do just that. “What the kids ‘win’ is their English credit,” she explained. “They must pass all three components of the senior project: the paper, the project connected to the paper and the presentation, to earn their credit.”
The 25-year Argos teaching veteran that instructs Senior English, journalism and Advanced Placement English said she never had to do a senior project as a high school student, but that she is always coming up with concepts to offer the students as examples. “At the beginning of the year I spend a lot of time introducing ideas,” Chittum said. “I tell them to choose something that truly interests them. The question that I ask is: ‘What is your passion?’ The topics are of their choosing but are screened by a senior project committee.”
 Of the years she has been involved in this class directive she has seen several projects that have truly impressed her. “Last year was probably the best year for the program as I had one student research juvenile diabetes,” she explained. “She contacted a doctor in South Bend who specializes in juvenile diabetes and ended up getting involved in helping with a style show benefit for the diabetes association. She had a major part in the organization of the show, wrote the script for the models, helped get the models on and off the stage and organized the music.”
The enterprising students then produced a video of what she had done for the style show. Another student last year was interested in global warming and ended up organizing a light bulb exchange at the Farmer's Market in Plymouth this past summer. 
This year her two top aspirees are Jessica Dohner, who chose to held a women’s health fair focusing on breast and cervical cancer at the LifePlex in Plymouth for her senior project, and Kristina Mullaney who organized and held a pet adoption day at Parrett’s Veterinary Clinic, also in Plymouth.
“Both Jessica and Kristina are highly motivated and organized,” Chittum said. “Usually these two qualities produce good senior projects but I have had some students who weren't top notch students do outstanding projects.”
Dohner  said she got had been working on an idea for a very long time.
“I was dreading it since I was a sophomore, brainstorming what to do,” the 18-year-old explained. “I was totally confused but when I thought about graduating and becoming my own, independent woman I thought about health issues. You hear about heart disease and breast cancer and I thought, ‘Oh, those are old womens’ diseases,’ but they’re not.”
She used the valuable resources of her cousin, mother and boyfriend’s mother to assist her in coordinating an event geared toward women’s awareness of those specific health problems, including cervical cancer. Dohner said once she got the idea, she worked hard on it and was done earlier than most of her peers.
She contacted Mary Holm, owner of the LifePlex, to see if she could use the facility and she generously offered a conference room free of charge for the event. Dohner then asked Trisha Metz, local representative for the American Cancer Society, to speak and charged the public $10 per ticket to attend the event.
When she finds additional time, she is also involved in the NHS and acts as a peer mediator. She advises future seniors to start early when planning their project.
“Think outside the box,” she encouraged. “By doing this I got to meet a lot of people and develop my people skills. It also helped with my maturity and sense of responsibility.”
Twenty guests came to her health fair and her efforts raised about $500 for the ACS.
Kristina Mullaney chose to do something that benefited the homeless, at least the furry kind. Because she also works through the school’s ICE program part time, at Parrett’s Veterinary Clinic as a  kennel staff member, her report was on animal abuse.
Her project was to hold a Pet Adoption day. The 18-year-old said that she has always loved animals and so she got permission from her boss, Dr. Doug Hoffer, to hold the event at her place of employment and contacted the Marshall County Humane Society.
    Six various breeds of strays were featured during the event that she explained “took about two weeks to decide on and two weeks to get going.”
She said she had been working on the research since August with the assistance of her project mentor, Stephanie O’Dell.
“It normally costs $55 to adopt a dog from the Humane Society, but  today they get a $15 discount off the adoption and it takes about 24 hours for the application process,” Mullaney said. “They’re looking to see if the person has any animal abuse cases filed on them. Most of the abuse is not feeding and watering them or not getting them proper veterinary care.”
    She said that the problem with overpopulation of stray animals is caused by the abundant conception rate of those that aren’t prevented from procreating by operation. “There are seven kittens and puppies born to every human born,” she added.
Mullaney explained that her future plans, after graduation, are to assist humans rather than animals in health care.
To learn more about pet adoption call the Marshall County Humane Society at 574-936-8300.
Other interesting topics and projects are coming from the fresh minds of the 33 Argos seniors this year as well.
 Fashion design - A student is designing approximately 12 outfits and putting on a style show of his designs. The style show will be March 13 in the Argos Auditorium with proceeds going to Argos Dollars for Scholars.
    Volunteerism - one student has organized a basketball  tournament that will be Saturday afternoon, March 8.
    Worthy causes — There will be a bake sale with all proceeds going to the American Red Cross and another student is working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
    Cancer research - One student just completed a half-marathon for cancer.
    The arts — One student is  researching the advantages and disadvantages of entering the musical theatre profession and is composing a musical score to be played at the spring concert. Another student is researching becoming an author and is writing a children's book which she will read to one of Argos’ elementary classes.
    “I'm very proud of my kids and am a firm believer in this project,” explained Chittum. “It teaches not only ‘English’ skills, but also  life skills such as time management and problem solving.”