Reflecting on Growth: The University Honors Program’s Senior Portfolio Project

To highlight the importance of reflection in personal, professional, and academic growth, the University Honors Program (UHP) has introduced the senior portfolio project. Since its pilot in the Spring of 2022, 83 graduating seniors have submitted digital portfolios as the final step toward earning University Honors Program recognition upon graduation. 

Amanda Baright graduated in May of 2024 with a Bachelor of Science degree in statistics. When asked what the most meaningful or valuable aspect of creating the portfolio was for her, Amanda responded with: 

“The reflection process of choosing the artifacts and going through old videos and projects which sparked memories across my time as an undergraduate student at NC State. Additionally, it was meaningful to my consistent hard work and dedication throughout the years, but also the true variety of different approaches I took to completing coursework assignments.”

Amanda is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Statistics here at NC State University. 

During their final semester, seniors present their portfolios publicly at a science fair-like or poster presentation-style showcase. University Honors Program staff, campus partners, and a select number of Honors Forum students (typically first and second years in the UHP) are invited to attend the showcase each semester.

Seniors are also encouraged to invite university faculty or staff they feel have served as helpful mentors or have been influential to their educational journey in some way. Forum students get the benefit of previewing examples of a project that will be required of themselves in a couple of years, while the seniors are guaranteed an audience invested in hearing all about how they completed their portfolios and what advice they have as University veterans, soon-to-be alumni.

Mary Alaine Mascarenhas graduated in May of 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in nutrition science. 

“Although I usually get nervous with public speaking and presentations, I found the style of this presentation to be relaxed and enjoyable,” Mascarenhas said. “I liked being able to present to other students who will be in my shoes doing the same thing soon. As college students, it can be easy to have ‘imposter syndrome’ and underestimate the value of your accomplishments. Presenting my portfolio made me more confident on what I have accomplished over the past four years.” 

See the digital portfolio Mary Alaine submitted for the Honors Program here.

Gabe Cox graduated in May of 2024 with a Bachelor of Science degree in biological sciences. When he was asked if he found the requirement to present his portfolio publicly to be a valuable experience, Gabe responded with: 

“It was valuable to showcase something I worked hard on, explain to others that there is a free, simple way to make their own portfolio, and encourage younger students to take advantage of the Honors Program in ways like this,” Cox said. “I’m thankful I could tell younger students about my college experience, what I pursued out of class, how the Honors program benefited me, and why I would do more in the program if I was in their shoes.”

Gabe’s digital portfolio can be viewed here. At the time of his graduation, Gabe was planning on taking a gap year to volunteer and to apply to dental school. 

Up until now, the University Honors Program piloted the senior portfolio project as an alternative to the old Honors Program’s capstone project (undergraduate research, a large professional or academic project, or a major creative work) requirement.

Seniors graduating under the old Honors Program have recently had the opportunity to opt out of the capstone requirement by choosing to complete the portfolio project. To ensure that the final Honors project is as comparable in rigor and effort as possible, the expectation was that seniors would, 1) complete the project mostly independently and 2) present their work publicly before graduating, remained the same.

A steady stream of old Honors Program seniors have taken advantage of this option since the Spring of 2022, providing staff with data and student feedback to prepare for some of the first graduating cohorts of the new University Honors Program, which will require a significantly scaled-up portfolio showcase every semester to accommodate the sheer number of seniors that will eventually be graduating under the new UHP requirements.  

Corbin Jones graduated with a Bachelor of Science in computer science in May of 2022. Of the opportunity to replace the capstone requirement with an alternative project option, Corbin had this to say: 

“This was a project I actually rather enjoyed completing, which is weird to say given I despise writing papers, and I am very thankful that this was an option presented to us. By far the most meaningful part was reflecting on my college experience and the ways in which I have grown. This actually got emotional for me at points just looking at how much I have changed over the years. I hadn’t taken the time to reflect on my entire college experience until this project, so it was refreshing to take it all in.”

The UHP has collected data from seniors submitting portfolio projects (N=83) since the Spring of 2022. Of the survey respondents, all 76 respondents reported spending at least 6-10 hours on the assignment, with the highest number, about 37%, reporting that they spent between 11-15 hours on it, which included writing the reflection essay. Twenty nine percent reported spending 6-10 hours total on the project and 34% reported spending more than 15 hours on the project. 

While 57% of the seniors reported that they had never built a website before this project, 74% either “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that the project ended up being relatively easy to complete. 

Eighty eight percent of seniors found the portfolio project to be “useful,” and 100% reported that the project helped them to identify areas in which they had grown and learned during their undergraduate tenure at NC State University. 

Nidhi Patel graduated in May of 2023 with a Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering. 

“It was a good way of self reflecting,” Patel said. I had a lot more impactful experiences in college than I had thought, and thinking about why I did certain things made me realize how I got to where I am.” 

A link to the digital portfolio Nidhi submitted for the Honors Program is here. Nidhi is currently working on her Master of Biomedical Engineering degree here at NC State. 

Sebine Jacobson graduated in December 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in computer science.  

“The most valuable aspect of this project was the fact that it forced me to look back at all of my academic projects and go find different presentations or pictures of what I had worked on,” Jacobson said. “I remember many of my class projects, but had forgotten some of the specific details and pain points of those projects that really helped me grow and learn.

“It was nice to have a reason to go back and analyze some of my past presentations and coding projects, which brought back so many memories of all of the time I had spent on these various projects and how proud I am of what I worked on. For example, most of my computer science project code is on a platform called GitHub, and doing this portfolio made me go back and look at all that code and reflect on how these projects made me a better computer scientist, which in turn helped me write my reflection paper. I even moved some of the public code over to my personal account, so I can look at it even after I graduate, which I probably would not have done had I not been working on this portfolio project.”

See Sebine’s digital portfolio here. Sebine has accepted a full time position with SAS. 

Fifty three percent of seniors shared that they had plans to link their portfolio to either graduate school or employment application materials, with 49% going so far as to say they believed they would continue maintaining and using their portfolios long after graduation.  

A key component of the portfolio project is the written reflection essay, meant to have seniors synthesize the artifacts they selected to include in their digital portfolios and examine their academic, personal, and professional journeys from their time as a first year to their pending graduation. For some of the seniors that graduated this past May, the reflection essay ended up as the most valuable part of the project. 

Janet Green, computer science, shared, “Writing the paper allowed me to remember all of the things I have accomplished over the past few years. Completing this paper made me feel accomplished and proud of the progress I have made. I think the reflection paper was the most valuable aspect of this portfolio.” 

Cassidy McCarty, environmental sciences and forest management, stated “The reflection essay was so important! You never really realize how far you’ve come until you’re forced to take a detailed look back. I also loved seeing the connection between my portfolio entries that I never realized were connected.”

A link to the digital portfolio Cassidy submitted for the Honors Program is here. Cassidy is now a Forester with Resource Management Service, LLC. 

Ian Holdaway, Agricultural Business Management, volunteered, “The most meaningful aspect of creating the portfolio was writing my essay, entitled, ‘The Climb.’ I was able to reflect on the last four years of my life and smile and laugh at how much I have changed due to both happy and sad or difficult experiences.”

See the digital portfolio Ian submitted for the Honors Program here. Ian is currently working at Enterprise Mobility, gaining experience in sales and customer service. 

Alex Zettlemoyer, Computer Science, may have put it most succinctly when she said, “The portfolio project is a great opportunity to showcase the things you’ve learned and skills you’ve acquired!” 

Alex’s digital portfolio can be found here.

With nearly 60 seniors planning to present and submit digital portfolios this coming Spring 2025, the UHP staff look forward to showcasing the largest cohort of portfolio project graduates yet.