SIMON WALTERSPRING TERM NARRATIVE

INTRO
I feel as though this term was a much bigger success than my first. I now feel
thoroughly engaged in the Big Picture schedule, and going to a single internship rather
than two different ones a week helped me center my focus of learning for this term.
I still have a hard time completing my required work, but it's getting there. I am
also now better at working for extended periods of time--in the past, I struggled with
focusing on even things that I like to do. Hopefully, the learning and growth that
happened this term will contribute to a successful summer, second year at Big Picture,
and ultimately a career path.
LEARNING/PROJECT PLANS
I again did not use my learning plan as a guide for my path this term, but rather
as a means of recording where I had been.
I took a (still ongoing) Psychology class this term and absolutely loved it. My
interest in the subject was driven by a desire to understand my own and others' mental
health, and Mr. Samara did a great job of letting me voice my opinions and ask
questions whenever I had them. Besides my success in the class itself, it also allowed
me to understand what fundamentally makes a good learning experience for me--being
able to start a discussion and not being punished for doing "too much" or veering off of a
very strict learning plan are really important to me.
My single project plan this term was to create a simple text-based game that I
titled "Spring Break." I started out excited only to do the illustrations that would
accompany the story, but as time went on I became more and more invested in the
success of the final product. I ended up only fully completing about half the game and
releasing it as a demo, but what I did I did well and I'm proud of that. The game was
made in Twine, a simple and visually-based code editor that I find super enjoyable to
work with. I'm hoping to do more work with it in the future--even though it was designed
specifically for games, I've also found ways to make it work for ebooks or other textbased media.
Big Picture learning is centered around five learning domains and demonstrating
growth in each area.
Apprenticing: The learning requirements for this standard were met entirely at my
internship, which gets a whole section to itself later on.
Civic and Social Responsibility: I personally feel that I am educated on current
civic and social issues, but as of yet I have not designed a project plan that would meet
the specific requirements to gain proficiencies.
Communication: Taking such a joy in writing and producing art, I've met this one
time and time again (too bad extra proficiencies don't actually count for anything!). I hit
a few Communication proficiencies this term as well, mainly in the writing and illustration
that took place in producing Spring Break.
Personal Development: Again, I feel as though my growth in this area took place
mostly outside of school and not for credit-- still, my Psychology class counted for a
couple of Personal Development proficiencies and I have no worries about meeting
these proficiencies in the future.

Reasoning and Problem Solving: These requirements are the hardest for me to
meet, mostly because they're the only ones that explicitly state a need for a certain
subject--math. Math is boring. No high school actually enjoys math. Still, Big Picture is
making it a requirement for all students to enroll in a math class next year, so I'm
planning on meeting these proficiencies through my Problem Stats class. I attempted to
meet the power assessment--the science project-- for this learning domain this
semester by performing a fecal parasite egg count with the farm animals. Scheduling
was weird, the experiment itself ended up rushed and the results were pretty much
useless. I'm counting on my growing interest on reptile husbandry to bring up an
opportunity to try again, perhaps with a similar experiment.
INTERNSHIP
The four major goals of a Big Picture LTI are mentorship, real-world learning,
success skills, and community contribution. My internship at New Village Farm met
these goals and proved to be a valuable learning experience for me.
First, mentorship. I consider my two main mentors on the farm to be Michaela
and Sophie-- Michaela proved to be a valuable resource and role model, while Sophie
was very hands-on in helping me complete my projects and come up with new ones.
Both of them were friendly and easily approachable, and I felt comfortable coming to
them with farm work-related questions or just casual conversation. While their authority
never diminished, I still considered them more my co-workers rather than my bosses.
Next, real-world learning. I became much more deeply involved with the farm
this term-- spending two days a week there instead of one, and being trusted with more
responsibilities besides milking and moving fences. I developed a morning routine of
replenishing food and water as well as performing simple health checks, and in the
afternoons I took on projects like knocking snow off the roof of the greenhouse,
repainting the after-school sign, applying mint balm to the udders of goats with mastitis
and more. Every day I learned a little more about the ins and outs of working on a farm
and caring for animals, and I learned more about myself as a worker.
Moving onto success skills. Most of the skills I developed were extremely
specific to farm work-- I learned how to properly trim hooves, how to test stool samples
for parasites, how to give a goat a new ear tag, and other skills necessary just in the
day-to-day work on the farm. However, I feel as though the most important skill I
developed is the one that I will also get the most use out of in my life-- properly dealing
with grief. Over the course of the winter, several animals I had formed strong bonds
with had to be slaughtered-- including Sherman, a sheep who happily greeted me every
morning, and Atla, a goat I had been training to walk on a halter. Money is always a
problem on small farms like New Village, and the profit from sales of their meat plus the
money saved on their food was crucial to the farm that winter. Losing those animals
was hard, but I knew that it meant a lot to Michaela and in turn I learned to cope with the
loss and adapt to a farm without them.
Finally, community contribution. I consider every hour I put into this internship
community service, to both the South Burlington/Shelburne community as well as the
farming community as a whole. Visiting the NOFA conference was a really valuable
experience just in being with other people who were just as passionate about farming

and to be able to make connections to other possible internships and learning

opportunities outside of school.
I feel like I performed much better at my internship this term than during Fall
Term, just by virtue of experience and being trusted with greater and greater
responsibilities. Working alone rather than in a group put all responsibility for my work
on my own shoulders, and I was consistently proud of my work, even if it was just
something like filling up the cow water bucket. I don't know yet if I'll go back next year...
I love New Village, I love the animals and I love the people, but at the same time I want
to explore other aspects of animal husbandry and be able to find out what I really, really
want to do in the future.
CULTURE AND COMMUNITY
I have a tendency to dwell on the negative, so most of what I remember of my
role as a Big Picture community member are the few relationships that became
increasingly strained over the course of the term. Being in such a small community, it's
hard to escape the people you find unpleasant and frustration sometimes built up over
time--but in dealing with people I don't like, I did make progress in standing up for
myself, voicing when I was upset, etc. More positively, I feel like I was an active
member of my advisory and as a member of Big Picture as a whole. Our advisory did a
much better job discussing difficult topics and being able to support each other, and it
was nice to have that designated safe space feel like it was becoming even safer.
I don't know how it's going to go next year-- three out of the four of my fellow Big
Picture students who I really can't stand are set to join my advisory, and even the
thought is really affecting my perception of the advisory room as a safe space. It's not
fair to me and it's not fair to my friends to distance myself from the space as a whole in
order to avoid dealing with those people--I guess it's just going to come down to how
politely I can voice what's bothering me.
QUESTIONS AND GOALS
No questions, really... but every goal I have for next year is just about getting my
required work done and graduating. I know that I'm capable of great things and it's
more than a little frustrating that I have to sit through another year of high school to get
to do them, especially when I've proved to myself and to others over and over again that
I do my best in pretty much any environment except for school. But that's the American
education system, and there's not much I can do besides getting out of it. Maybe my
STP can be on education reform or something.