WOODBURY — As the end of the school year rolls around, high school seniors scramble to make sure they are passing all their classes, have enough community service hours, and a completed MBLE project to fulfill all of their graduation requirements.

For the past four years, Nonnewaug High School seniors participated in the Mastery Based Learning Experience (MBLE), but for students beyond the class of 2026, the graduation requirement is no more.  

In 2020, the state of Connecticut required high schools to require a version of a senior project that showcased student’s mastery of Nonnewaug’s vision of a learner attributes. 

“It’s basically a big passion project,” said English Department Chair Jessica McKay, who has run the MBLE for the past few years. “Things that you’re already part of and you’re sharing with the school community.”

On Tuesday, May 20, many NHS seniors presented their final projects. NHS faculty met with students and ensured the projects met the criteria needed to pass.

However, only a few years after it was implemented, it was quickly taken away. Connecticut decided the MBLE project could not be a credit bearing graduation requirement.  

Senior Chloe Walsh, who presented her project on Tuesday, offers the opportunities the MBLE gave herself, and the community. 

“I was able to gain a lot of things from this experience,” said Walsh. “I’ve been able to gain a lot of friends that I wouldn’t have otherwise made. I’ve been able to work inside the community at a level that I wasn’t expecting, and I’ve been able to make partnerships between the school and those areas. I think the work that we’ve done has been extremely beneficial to the school.” 

Yet, some seniors found it rather less entertaining. 

“I didn’t love the MBLE project because I felt that it was repetitive as I was presenting about being a part of LLS which I’ve already talked about with many people before, but I can see how it’d be more beneficial for people who are creating a project specifically for their MBLE,” said Katie Farrell, a senior in the Class of 2025. “I think it’s a bit unfair we had to do the MBLE project and the underclassmen don’t, but I’m sure the MBLE will be replaced with another required assignment so our experiences probably won’t be very different.” 

Freeing up students of a graduation requirement could allow students to explore other avenues where they can hone their skills. 

“Getting rid of the MBLE project might become a little bit beneficial because it’s going to take something off their plate,” said Walsh. “I do think that since graduation requirements are going to become a little bit stricter, that it’s almost beneficial that they won’t have to do yet another thing.”

In many cases, NHS’ Mastery Based Learning projects weren’t something students spent time considering until their senior year. In the case of underclassmen, losing their MBLE opportunity isn’t necessarily something students will necessarily miss. 

“If I’m going to be completely honest, I didn’t really know the MBLE was until recently when my junior friends started talking about it, but I was not looking forward to participating in the MBLE,” said Charlotte Davis, a sophomore who understands the pressure upperclassmen already face. “It seems like it would be a lot of stress and a lot of stuff that I would have to do in my junior and senior year, which is already a typically very stressful year.”

While school administration does not yet know what it will be, a modified project in the future will give the students the opportunity to showcase their own passion project. 

“It no longer makes sense for us to do it the way that it is,” said McKay, “so it just needs to be envisioned for how it would fit into current curriculum.”