From soccer tournaments to baby ballet, OIHS graduating seniors complete their final projects

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, May 26, 2026

The senior projects for this year’s graduating class are as unique and wholesome as the students themselves and focus on strengthening the Orcas community.

“These are more than just a final capstone project at Orcas Island High School. They allow students to pursue their passions and create something that speaks to their unique interests and goals. Through these projects, our seniors practice citizenship: engaging with the community and its needs, and leaving a lasting, beautiful contribution to our island,” said advisor Jesse Fabrikant.

All are invited to watch presentations of their work on Tuesday, June 9, upstairs at Orcas Island High School from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

A handful of students centered their ventures around sports. Anthony Conejo organized an Inter-Island Futsal Tournament, and Vera Sasan is raising funds to add handrails to the bleachers in the high school gym. Sofia Mahony-Jauregui is raising funds for new javelin equipment for the track program and hosted a javelin workshop on May 23 for curious middle and high school students. Joaquin Shanks Morales hosted a soccer tournament that same day with tortas, elotes and agua fresca for the fans. All donations went to The Booster Club.

Emily Ibarra Garcia built shower shelves for the Lady Vikings’ locker room, and Gisselle Valladarez constructed changing rooms. Angelo Vaccarella built shelves for the boys’ locker room, Joe Stephens made cubbies with hooks for the baseball dugouts and Wylie Haug built an oar holder for the rowing association.

Chloe Anderson-Cleveland created a website and archived records for the Madrona Club; Colter Bond launched an earthquake preparedness survey; Hans Sprenger built a compost bin for Aspen’s Garden and the Environmental Club; Jimmy King did a survey on food accessibility and Lola Walker designed a restaurant guide to reduce plastic and led an educational event about sustainability.

Katherine Spinogatti created a kids’ activity book for patients at Seattle Children’s Hospital, and Lauro Quintero made four Adirondack chairs for use at Orcas Center. Makar Ashirov and Royce Tye recorded an album and will perform a show to raise money for the Funhouse Music Studio. Maxwell Lee created a marketing campaign for a local business. Ravevah Casaday made an inspiration board for the high school commons. Yuri Abril Perez Dominguez designed and built a bench for the Peach Pit.

Calder Jones led fishing instruction and hosted a derby; Chase Connell built a website to view and track volunteer hours; Emma Yerly created a Hiroshima-inspired origami cranes mobile for the school; Isabel Boyd made a short film for the GiveOrcas campaign and Kairam Bailey organized “Wizard Fest,” an educational event to teach kids about Dungeons & Dragons.

Makenzie Taylor held period cramp simulator educational events; Max Peterson made improvements to the school’s chicken coop and Miranda Wallace Jones created a website to educate students on computer safety and security. Olive McKenzie’s original work is featured at the Print Shop in Eastsound as a part of its Young Artist Spotlight. Her merchandise will be available through June 15.

“It is our mission to promote local artists, and in particular, younger artists. Olive will receive our standard artist commission, but on graduation weekend, receive a 50% commission on any of our items printed with her designs,” explained owner Andrew Youngren.

Riley Helms refurbished outdoor furniture at the Funhouse; Sam Delia-Alley designed a water tank for the Patos LightHouse and Yeneisy Marquez Arevalo created a Manga book for the school library about a student learning a new language.

Madeleine Sonshine choreographed a dance for the Choral Society concert in mid-May and created a permanent bulletin board at the high school to let students know about local performing arts opportunities. She has been in many theater productions and performed with the Dance Collective. Sonshine recruited and trained dancers, and directed them in three different numbers: classical, modern and tap.

“It was very rewarding to create something and see it come to life on stage, and I got to collaborate with some truly wonderful people. The shows themselves went well, the biggest challenge was losing my dancers (myself included!) to injury. Luckily, I had amazing dancers who picked up the choreography quickly, and I am so proud of everyone,” she said.

Fellow dancer and performer Cienna Richardson organized and taught baby ballet classes at Orcas Center on the weekend. Her goal was to share her “joy, love and passion for dance with the next generations of dancers” as she transitions off the island.

”Teaching is something that I’ve always found very rewarding. Teaching dance, especially to younger children, made it very tangible,” Richardson said. “I started by laying out lesson plans and teaching practice classes to high schoolers and elementary students. As I became more comfortable teaching, I developed my own techniques to keep the dancers engaged and excited. One of my favorite things about teaching 2- to 6-year-olds was coming up with a variety of activities for them. Not only was it adorable to watch, but it was also extremely exciting to see that by the end of my classes, my students were doing full pirouettes.”