High School Mini Projects 2025

Each year, while the senior class embarks on their trip to visit our sister schools in India, Oak Grove’s remaining high school students dive into an immersive week-long period known as “Mini Projects.” This program allows students and teachers to explore unique crafts, skills, or concepts through hands-on learning and collaborative experiments.

Designed to foster curiosity and creativity, Mini Projects offer faculty members the chance to share personal interests and expertise while connecting with students across High School grade levels. These small group activities encourage meaningful interactions, strengthen relationships, and inspire learning outside the traditional classroom setting.

This year’s projects showcased a variety of topics, including “Skate Park: skills, etiquette, and trick-practice,” “Needle Felting,” “Hiking Club,” “Cooking,” and “Stock Market.” Each group embarked on a deep dive into their chosen focus, guided by the shared interests of both students and teachers.

The culmination of Mini Projects was a gathering in the High School Student Center, where students showcased displays of finished projects and shared reflections with families, faculty, and other students in a joyful reminder of the power of curiosity and creativity.

COOKING

Students worked in three teams to choose vegetarian recipes, which they prepared with help from a group of sous-chefs while the third group was in charge of cleaning. The first day the group made tacos with Cowboy caviar. The next group made a Mediterranean feast of gnocchi with pesto and pita bread with hummus. On the final day, the cooks chose to make pupusas with béchamel sauce, Mexican-style hot chocolate, and Churro cookies. The results were delicious.

FELTING

Under the guidance of High School Math Teacher Marie Samson, students learned the fundamentals of needle felting while working on small, hand-sized objects that took the shape of animals and other characters. During their presentation, students explained how they incorporated different colors into their projects and how much they enjoyed the relaxing time of sitting, sipping tea, and chatting with each other along the way. Heartfelt cries came from the audience as they showed off their creatively felted creations.

HIKING

Music teacher Eric guided students in a hiking club, with daily hikes through the many beautiful trails of the Ventura River Preserve and Los Padres National Forest. The group explored Rice Canyon, Wills Canyon, Kennedy Ridge, and Oso Ridge and documented their experience.

SKATE PARK

The Skatepark Mini-Project allowed students of all skill levels to practice skateboarding at our local Ojai city skatepark with peer and staff support. Students improved their confidence riding a skateboard in a public environment and engaging in the skateboarding community. They did this by practicing proper skatepark etiquette with mindful awareness of other participants, effective communication of intentions, personal board control, and collaboration in skill development. Additionally, students digitally recorded their progression with help from their peers and played collaborative skating games with community peers.

STOCK MARKET

Under the tutelage of High School English teacher Gianni, students dove into the world of finance. They explored key concepts like how the stock market functions, margin trading, and capital gains tax. Through paper trading on Wall Street Survivor, they practiced real-world strategies and gained valuable experience. A fun, fast-paced introduction to investing!