Project by: Noelle Raffo (10th Grade)
Project Advisor: Ann Carroll
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Jonathan Segal

Description of the Project:

In this honors project, I explored my family history through baking some of my family’s recipes. My dad has a lot of recipes from his mom and family members passed down to him, as well as my mom. I made 6 recipes in total, and interviewed different members of my family to get stories or memories attached to them. For my final project I made a presentation with pictures of the recipes and what I learned about the foods.

Final Product (e.g., documents, images, video, audio, poster, display, etc.):

Final Reflection on Learning:

It’s fascinating to even just look at family recipes, knowing it is my grandma’s handwriting from when she was in her 30s or 40s–and it is even more interesting to think about how many memories are attached to those recipes. Before COVID, my grandma would come over almost once every week and just talk to me and my sister and tell us stories. It is one of the things I miss most. Baking is also my biggest passion and I think it would be amazing to tie that into learning more about my family. This project did a great job of taking something that I love doing and making it educational in a personal way.

Update on Progress from Weeks 1-3 (include any photos or video if relevant):

I used the first weeks of this project to plan out my course and select the family recipes I would be using that have the most history and significance attached to them. The second week and third week I made two of those recipes, and talked to my family members about memories or stories surrounding those foods.

Update on Progress from Weeks 4-6 (include any photos or video if relevant):

Similar to the second and third week, I used weeks 4-6 to make more family recipes. I have a few more recipes to make, and then I will be focusing on using the last 3 weeks to collect more stories and put everything together.

Update on Progress from Weeks 7-9 (include any photos or video if relevant):

I finished making my last few recipes, and finished up any interviews I needed to do. Then I put together my final product.