Senior Experience
Senior Experience is the next step in the evolution of Lawrence's liberal arts curriculum,
an experience that that engages every Lawrence senior in an academic project demonstrating proficiency in their major field of study,
the integration of knowledge and skills gained during their years at Lawrence,
and development of scholarly or artistic independence.
Described by some as a "bookend" to Lawrence's nationally recognized Freshman Studies program,
Senior Experience is born from our culture of individualized learning where students and faculty work closely to develop a path for learning,
culminating in a project that prepares them for the transition to life after Lawrence.
While many students are working on or have completed Senior Experience projects,
it is a requirement beginning with the Class of 2012. (The freshmen who joined us this year.)
Funding to support the Senior Experience as a dynamic and enriching part of the Lawrence curriculum will come from a variety of sources.
By contributing to The Lawrence Fund and the endowment you're supporting the scholarships,
faculty positions and salaries, research and travel, and the close student-faculty collaboration needed to make the Senior Experience possible.
David Werfelmann ’06 was a student whose Senior Experience, you could say, lit up the screen.
A music major, Werfelmann designed a project that would bring his passion for filmmaking together with his love of music.
Werfelmann spent months looking through old movie footage in hopes of finding the right reel to which he could add a fitting soundtrack of his own.
He chose "The Black Pirate" a silent film produced 1926 - a story about an athletic young man who, seeking revenge, joins the band of pirates responsible for his father's death.
Werfelmann then wrote a fully orchestrated piece of music to help tell the story and brought his conservatory friends together (a feat in itself!) to play the various parts of the piece.
They recorded the soundtrack and Werfelmann digitally put them together in a seamless and lustrous backdrop to the vintage film.
Here's a segment from Werfelmann's project
