50 Senior Project Ideas That Will Inspire You

Senior project is a long-awaited experience for many high schoolers. The anticipation can lead to a lot of uncertainty on what exactly to do, however. After years of looking forward to this opportunity, many students get so caught up in looking for the perfect idea that they can’t make a decision.

If you’re looking for original and inspiring senior project ideas, this is just the place for you. Read on for suggestions related to a wide variety of interests, from medicine to marketing to environmentalism.

What is a Senior Project?

A senior project allows high school students to explore whatever interests them through experiential learning. Students normally design and implement their own projects from start to finish. These projects often occur in the second semester of senior year, and can involve time off from regular classes.

Senior project ideas include everything from future careers to special talents to community service projects, and can range from research to hands-on activities. One of the great benefits of senior projects is that students can apply their acquired skills and knowledge to a project they’re passionate about, while also gaining greater insight into their particular interest. 

High schoolers can also build essential life skills by participating in a senior project, such as long-term planning and time management.

50 Inspiring Senior Project Ideas  

While many schools will have a list of suggested senior project ideas, they don’t always have one that lines up with a student’s interests, and the best senior projects generally involve a subject or area the student is enthusiastic about. If you’re looking for an engaging and exciting senior project idea, look no further—below are 50 senior project ideas spread across 11 areas of interest to inspire you. 

Politics 

• Volunteer on the campaign of a local political candidate, or work in the office of a local representative.
• Write op-eds and articles for your local newspaper on issues you truly care about.
• Start a mock senate to give your fellow students a simulated experience with the business of the U.S. Senate and a better understanding of how a bill becomes a law. 
• Define a local problem, the political situation around it, what interest groups and lobbyists have a stake in it and what their positions are. Then, discuss potential solutions, or what it would take for there to be progress on the issue.

Virtual Arts

• Organize the creation of a mural at your school or local community to highlight a memorable moment in local history.
• Take portraits of meaningful life milestones (engagement, wedding, senior photos) for low-income families who might otherwise not be able to afford it.
• Start a painting class for kids from low-income homes who may not have easy access to art supplies. 
• Make a documentary about a lesser-known part of local history. 
• Put on a production of a play you wrote yourself to call attention to issues such as racial discrimination and body image. 

Education 

• Create a curriculum for teaching seniors how to use a computer/internet and circulate it to local nursing homes and retirement communities. 
• Organize volunteers to mentor adults without high school diplomas and help them graduate.
• Work with local business people to create a series of workshops teaching vital job skills to people out of work.  
• Construct a “Little Free Library Box” in a neighborhood where access to libraries and books is limited.
• Go through the process of changing a school policy that many students disagree with.

Languages

• Work with your local senior center or retirement home to teach a foreign language to their members/residents—you’re never too old to learn! 
• Volunteer to assist in an ESL (English as a second language) class, or mentor non-native speakers one-on-one. 
• Develop a website or app where people can find language partners to practice with.
• Act as a translator at school or in a local business, or translate documents/media that are read by a significant immigrant population
• If your school serves a large percentage of non-English or non-native English speakers, petition your school to become more inclusive by also providing documents in the predominant language spoken. 

Medicine

• Help translate for patients at a doctor’s office with a significant immigrant population.
• Define a community health problem and develop solutions, working with local officials and medical professionals (for example, obesity, diabetes, drug use, etc.).
• Coordinate a free health screening event with medical professionals for at-risk and underserved community members.
• Investigate the accessibility of healthcare in your community by interviewing a diverse selection of residents, and writing a paper on your findings, or creating a documentary.

Economics 

• Work with a local nonprofit or business to better understand what it takes to thrive in today’s economy.
• Start a business—conduct market research, develop a product or service, and sell it. 
• Identify a local economic issue and develop solutions, working with local representatives and organizations who can make a difference (for example, homelessness, hunger, inaccessible healthcare, low minimum wage, etc.)
• Help a local business with their accounting or record keeping. Tech-savvy students might even upgrade an old business, transferring them from pen-and-paper bookkeeping to a program like Quickbooks.

Marketing/Media

• Create a social marketing campaign for your local animal shelter to raise awareness and find homes for pets.  
• Start your own blog on a topic that you’re passionate about and write SEO-optimized content, or start a blog for a local business or non-profit.
• Intern for a local magazine or newspaper.
• Research the impact of the media on your community during a local or national election.
• Work with your high school Amnesty International Club to create materials like pamphlets and posters to raise awareness of human rights issues. 

Environmentalism

• Work with the local government to create a space for a community garden. 
• Create a documentary to teach people about environmental issues in your community.
• Work with your school cafeteria to implement changes that reduce food waste, like introducing compost or switching to biodegradable trays. 
• Organize an event to clean up a local park or woodland (you can take it a step further and even make it a hike or a run to pick up trash; there’s actually a trend called “plogging” when you jog and pick up trash)

STEM 

• Work in the lab of a local professor to research a topic that you’re passionate about.
• Develop an app for simplifying school communication. 
• Act as a teaching assistant for your STEM teacher at school, helping students during labs, developing supplemental materials, or holding review sessions.
• Build a website that changes an industry—Facebook, WordPress, and Dell were all founded by undergraduates, and Google began as a Ph.D. research program.

Fitness

• Develop a plan for building mountain bike trails, organize volunteers, and demonstrate the economic impact they’ll have on the community. 
• Organize a new club for an unrepresented sport at your school, like rock climbing or fencing. 
• Offer a service that pairs high-energy dogs whose owners can’t give them enough exercise with runners looking for a canine training partner. 
• Volunteer to coach a Special Olympics team. 
• Found a group that exposes athletic opportunities to people who might otherwise not experience them—for example, taking inner-city kids backpacking.  

Community 

• Take your love of shopping and do good by organizing a squad of shoppers that picks up groceries and medicine for the elderly. 
• Gather a group to make and distribute holiday gifts for kids in the hospital. 
• Set up a ride service that takes the elderly to and from doctors’ appointments. 
• Serve meals at the local homeless shelter, or work with a local restaurant to help feed the homeless. 
• Plan and put on a low-key party for children on the autism spectrum who can find some festivities overwhelming. 

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