Megan Navarro
DRIPPING SPRINGS — More than 500 graduating seniors are participating in the Dripping Springs High School (DSHS) Senior Showcase — a beloved tradition that has been a part of the campus’ history for at least 30 years.
Megan Batson, coordinator and a 2010 DSHS graduate herself, shared that they were doing an iteration of the showcase when she was in school and it has been dated back to approximately the mid-1990s as a senior English project. It was a culmination of various assignments that students had completed throughout their time in high school and they would put together a physical binder of projects, awards, medals and more to present before a panel.
The showcase has now evolved into an opportunity where the students are asked to reflect on their time at DSHS and discuss how that will impact their future experiences and goals.
“We really want to showcase our students to the community because they are awesome and they've done a lot of great things and they're going to be great community members once they graduate,” said Batson, who has been serving as the coordinator for the showcase for the last three years.
Seniors have the option to participate in the showcase — and this year’s number is surpassing 500 — though it was previously required for graduation.
“We decided, with parent, student and staff input, years ago that we would incentivize Senior Showcase by allowing for exam exemptions in the spring, rather than it being a requirement to walk at graduation. We want to make sure all students and families get to watch their student walk the stage and not make additional hurdles to that celebration,” Batson explained. “However, the exam exemptions have been very successful, and the tradition of Senior Showcase has continued to remain a strong culminating presentation for seniors with a very high participation rate. This goes to show the value that our community, families and students see in this opportunity.”
They will do a presentation on a topic of their choice that is relevant to their individual self for 15-20 minutes; they can talk about anything as long as they connect it to their past, present and future within the presentation.
Then, they will do an interview in front of a panel — made up of district staff, community members and volunteers — that will give them experience of what it would be like to apply for a job post-high school.
“We do feel like it's really important for students to get that experience of presenting in front of a panel of people and interviewing because those are things that they're going to be doing out in the real world, regardless of what classes they take,” Batson explained.
In addition to preparing the students for the “real world,” Batson said that this showcase allows for the seniors to be able to really reflect on what all they have accomplished throughout their high school career, knowing that they can be self-critical at times and compare themselves to others.
“I think that really is so empowering for each individual student and, beyond that, it's really good for these students to get that experience of presenting and interviewing under their belt in a generally risk-free environment because everyone who volunteers is there to see and support the kids as far like they're not there really to judge the students,” she said. “It's just to see what they have to offer, which is so much.”
This year, the showcase will take place over the course of five weeks:
Feb. 2-6
Feb. 9-12
Feb. 17-20
Feb. 23-27
March 2-5
Because there are a lot of students who are participating, DSHS needs 24 different community members each day to volunteer for the morning sessions at 8:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. or afternoon sessions at 12:30-4:15 p.m.
To volunteer, contact Batson at [email protected].
