Senior year is the year of decisions, memories, and chances. PV seniors are given the opportunity to pursue an interest or talent of their choosing through the option of senior projects. The students who choose to pursue these projects are excused from one of their classes for the second half of the year to work on the project and get graded based on their efforts and end result. The process also includes a detailed research paper, weekly journal entries, and a mentor to help the students along the way. Take a closer look into these senior projects to learn about both the process these students go through and the projects themselves.

To most seniors it can be quite difficult to come up with their senior project, but not for senior Serena Steinfeld. She decided to take the creative route for her senior project: a photography book entitled “Beautiful She.”

“I knew from last year I had a passion to do this. I always sorta wanted to publish a photography book and I knew I wanted it to go this route,” Steinfeld said.

Her book demonstrates the focus on women and their true beauty. The women featured in this book range from her dear friends to her loving family members.

“I wanted the people that were relevant in my life to be a part of the book,” Steinfeld said. “I just wanted them to have some sort of connection to me so that it was more personal.”

She had gotten her inspiration from Brandon Stanton’s book “Humans of New York”  which also happens to be a photography book. It consists of a stunning collection of images that showcases the outsized personalities of New York, and this was appealing to Steinfeld. After reading Stanton’s book, she  then had determined the way her book would be formatted.

“I love the idea of capturing a photo of a person and then having some sort of story go along with it,” Steinfeld said.

Without the help from Mrs.Molino, her mentor and fashion teacher for four years, this wouldn’t have been possible.

“Having her as my mentor was the best thing ever, and it was so natural,” Steinfeld said.

The book was a great success in her eyes, and she couldn’t have pictured doing anything else besides this. Steinfeld had a lot of fun during the process of making the book along with the people who were in the book.

“Actually going out and having the experience to take beautiful photos of people was the most rewarding part of all this,” Steinfeld said. “Besides taking the photos, I got to hear people’s stories on how they felt beautiful and what their definition of beauty was. By doing so I got to learn more about themselves which was very fulfilling.”

“Beautiful She”  was released on May 23 and can be purchased here.