Jumping Out of an Airplane Senior Project Style

Eleven hours ago, the students in the Senior Project Seminar Class jumped out of an airplane - not a real one, of course, but a metaphorical one.

Last night in the media center, students, sponsors, mentors, teachers, administrators, and family members gathered to help celebrate the official kick off of the Seminar. Mr. Snyder brought along Dunkin donuts and bagels because, hey, what's a celebration without food?

The students were all aware that they would have to deliver some kind of brief shpiel about their projects to the audience, but nothing could suppress the sweaty palms and racing hearts. For a few minutes each, they would plunge into a place that, according to The Book of Lists, more people fear over death or disease - public speaking. I remember Jerry Sienfeld saying once that at a funeral, most of us would rather be the stiff in a casket rather than the one giving the eulogy.

I could read the panic in some of the students' eyes and if you listened carefully, you could hear the pounding hearts. A couple students seemed desperate to want to cling to the paragraph they had prepared earlier.

And then it happened. They jumped out of the plane one at a time. There was no need to create an order. They instinctively knew who would follow whom. We had done some public speaking in class earlier this year, but this was different. We were literally surrounded by adults and strangers!

My dad told me stories of how he jumped out of planes during his soldier days in the 82nd Airborne. In some ways, our Lindenwold students bested him because public speaking, as I mentioned before, trumps death and disease, situations much more dire than jumping out of a plane with a parachute strapped to your back.

When they were through speaking, each student floated back to Earth. The adrenaline quickly washed away, but the memory will always remain with them. They can do this!