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Cast of The York School Play, Matilda
The York School 2024/25 Year in Review - IB Personal Project: Weaving personal experiences into a science fiction novel
The Personal Project gives students in Grade 10, the final year of the IB Middle Years Program, an opportunity to independently explore an area of personal interest over a three-month period. The project assesses students’ self-management, research, communication, critical and creative thinking, and collaboration skills. Students are encouraged to choose multi-layered, multidisciplinary projects that have a purpose or value outside the school. They develop their own goals and criteria, must show evidence of a product or outcome, and write a report reflecting on what they’ve learned. While the students take ownership over their projects and make all the decisions, their teachers provide guidance and coaching. Their report is assessed by their supervisor and externally moderated by the IB to ensure a globally consistent standard of excellence.
“Synodic”, the science fiction novel that Mehrsa B. ‘27 is writing, tells the story of a group of kids who are relocated while investigating resources that were stolen from their homeland. “They don’t know why they were suddenly relocated. They have to fend for themselves. They have to learn another language, fight diseases and figure out how to get home. They just want to see their families again,” says Mehrsa.
The plot of the novel was partly inspired by Mehrsa’s life experience. When she was five years old, Mehrsa and her parents immigrated to Canada from Iran to escape the oppression and persecution that Persian girls and women experience. Mehrsa hasn’t had to fight diseases like her characters do, but she developed a cold when she arrived in Canada and her symptoms lasted three years. The fact that climate change is displacing many Indigenous people from their land also informed the plot. Some of the other themes Mehrsa included were tropes she’d enjoyed in the many “light novels” (short, illustrated novels for young adults) she read in Grade 8. Mehrsa wanted to challenge her readers so she created a new language and a series of codes that provide hints about a sequel she’s planning – if readers are clever enough to figure them out!
The plot of the novel was partly inspired by Mehrsa’s life experience. When she was five years old, Mehrsa and her parents immigrated to Canada from Iran to escape the oppression and persecution that Persian girls and women experience. Mehrsa hasn’t had to fight diseases like her characters do, but she developed a cold when she arrived in Canada and her symptoms lasted three years. The fact that climate change is displacing many Indigenous people from their land also informed the plot. Some of the other themes Mehrsa included were tropes she’d enjoyed in the many “light novels” (short, illustrated novels for young adults) she read in Grade 8. Mehrsa wanted to challenge her readers so she created a new language and a series of codes that provide hints about a sequel she’s planning – if readers are clever enough to figure them out!
