Albany Senior High School/Impact Projects/Preparation

A great starting point is to choose a topic based on your interests, then think about the possibilities of how this might link to benefiting your community. This will make sure that the way you apply your learning will be relevant and make a difference in the world. You will be able to choose to work by yourself or in a team for your project. An impact project committee will help to link you with other people who have shared interests, and will register your groups, assigning a supervising teacher, when they are finalised.

To begin to develop a focus for your topic you could ask an open-ended question about what you are hoping to do. You will then need to start to investigate the potential of your idea to see if it is achievable, and to ensure that the contribution you intend to make will be meaningful! To do this you could talk to a community advisor or other expert to get feedback about your idea. You might also identify some potential stakeholders and work out ways to gather and understand their points of view e.g. survey, focus groups, video conferencing. You may also decide to do some reading around your idea, and look up recent articles on the internet or in the library so you can start to become more of an expert. During this time you will be offered support and guidance from your tutor as well as your supervising teacher.

For example: Your passion is dance. You and a group of friends want to create a dance performance. The community coordinator for Albany is organizing a Matariki celebration and is looking for local acts that might be able to contribute to this event.