Every year the same questions and rumors circulate around Edina High School regarding the future of May Term, a program which lets senior students apply for internships or create and carry out an educational project of their choosing during the month of May. These rumors often claim that May Term will cease to exist or will accept fewer students to undertake projects, neither of which is the case.
“There will be no changes this year to May Term,” said co-advisor on May Term Board Angela Kieffer. The process for applying for May Term will remain the same as it has in past years. This includes a detailed application that is typically due in mid-March and is reviewed by the May Term board soon after. Students that wish to be considered must maintain a 2.0 GPA or better and not be on an unexcused attendance contract.
If a student is accepted they must check in twice with an assigned advisor over the course of their project. Those doing internships must blog on Moodle and all students must give presentations in early June regarding what they did over the course of the month. After the presentation, students are given pass/fail grades. If a student fails, they must attend summer school.
The above criteria for participating in a May Term will remain consistent in years to come. The only thing that is likely to change next year is the number of students participating in the program. “Our goal is for every senior at the high school to do [May Term], hopefully starting next year,” noted Kieffer. Mellanie Pusateri, also co-advisor on the May Term Board, added, “Last year, we saw great projects and got to see a lot of students grow in the process. We’d like to encourage all students to have the opportunity to take on an internship.”
For incoming seniors this means that May Term will probably be larger than it has ever been before. To make this happen, EHS will likely have programs set up within the school next year that students can sign up for. The high school will still leave the option open of seeking internships outside of school or designing educational projects of a student’s choosing.