Sierra Walden Travels the Country For Senior Project

Though summer is just around the corner, students here at Harmony are still hard at work wrapping up their end of the year projects. One of these students is senior Sierra Walden, who has been a part of Harmony School since joining our Early Childhood Program many years ago. With her senior year drawing to a close, Sierra has begun work on her senior project: a video documentary on the contra dance community.

Contra dance is a unique form of folk dancing, one that has interested Sierra for many years now. “When I was in the 1/2 grade class, my teacher, Claudio Buchwald, taught my class how to do a couple family dance-style contras.” Sierra said, “I didn’t realize it was Contra Dance until 3/4 grade teacher, Todd Riggins, invited a member of the community to do some dances with his class and I joined in!”

Sierra has been traveling around the country to collect data, conduct interviews, and get footage for her video documentary. “I’ve always been interested in sociological topics,” she said, “and it gave me a great excuse to travel and dance.”

Besides getting content for her senior project, Sierra’s topic choice also ties in to her personal goals of expanding her dance knowledge and becoming a more seasoned traveler. When asked what she hopes to gain from her experience making her senior project, Sierra replied, “I am wanting to learn more about dance, and I also wanted to see how I would handle traveling alone and having to deal with everything myself.” She also seems to be thriving while working on her assignment, telling Harmony, “At the time of writing this, I’m wrapping up the first part of my project, and I have loved every minute of it!”

Planning a Senior Project starts the summer before their senior year and lasts through the fall semester, consisting of brain-storming topic ideas, budgeting for whatever their project may require, compiling an itinerary for their workload, and finding a mentor to assist them throughout the project. Senior Projects usually take students over 360 hours to complete: full-time work, 30 hrs/week, for 12 weeks. Starting the spring semester of their senior year, seniors forgo regular classes here at Harmony School for the sake of dedicating as much time as they can to finishing their projects. Some students travel out of state or out of the country, some go as far as Europe, Asia, or Africa. Other students choose to stay right here in Bloomington to explore their interests.

While senior projects can seem overwhelming, Sierra has some advice for current and future seniors here at Harmony school for when it comes to preparing for their own senior projects: “If you’re thinking about your senior project, make sure it’s something you have a strong interest in. Senior projects are a great way to try out what you think you want to do with your future.”

After her senior project is completed and she graduates from Harmony School, Sierra plans to continue her education by majoring in Sociology and hopes that she will get to see more of the world in the future.