In 10th grade, we studied local history through old photos and walking tours. Initially, I didn’t think this would be as captivating as it was. I loved comparing places I am familiar with now to the same places 100 years ago. I would like to take this a step further for this senior project, taking my own photos and doing my own analyses. 

I would like to take pictures and write short statements about places along the Hudson, ranging from lower Manhattan to Hudson Valley. I think learning about historical sites and the general history of New York would be incredibly valuable to my understanding of current policy, business, and natural environment. I want to discover how things have changed and adapted to modernization throughout the years. How can studying NY history improve our understanding of its future? Hopefully, this research will aid me in finding future solutions to modern problems. 

I think this plan is entirely feasible. My grandparents live upstate so when I’m not doing research and taking photos in the city, I can be upstate on the Hudson. In terms of Covid safety, I would spend time in a car or wearing a mask to photograph my surroundings in small Hudson Valley towns. There would be minimal contact with people and no out-of-state travel. With traffic, it takes maybe two hours to get to Rhinebeck, so there would also be very little travel time. 

The only problem would be that I may not be able to accomplish this alone. I would like to dive deeper into my essential question by doing as much research as possible and creating full analyses with questions for each place. With one more person, I think the project could be interesting, educational, and inspiring. Keira Embler and I have been looking into this project for a few months now. We came to the understanding that our interests and goals align closely, and it would improve our experiences to take it on together. A lot of work would have to go into this, so working together will not only make it easier for us, but allow the project to go deeper into our essential question.