Tabor Academy’s senior projects are not for the faint of heart.

For example, on the second day of her project, Katie Vareika passed out. Olivia Siegel, on the first outing for her photography project, got soundly rejected. And before Michael Sotiriou could even get his project afloat, he logged 200 hours just designing it.

Tabor's longstanding, optional senior program gives students a chance to pursue an existing interest, try something new, or explore career opportunities

“The overwhelming thing we hear from [the students] is that this ends up being the hardest thing they ever did at Tabor, and also the best thing they ever did at Taber—the thing they’re most proud of,” said Julie Crosby, a coordinator for the program.

There are few limits for what a project can be. This year students are working on everything from slam poetry to training for a half marathon.

Katie Vareika shadowed an anesthesiologist for her project. “Most kids who are interested in studying pre-med in college don’t have the opportunity to go to a hospital and see how they fare in such a setting where there’s blood and everything,” she said.

Vareika got a front row seat to a C-section, appendix removals, and hip replacements. But she admitted that the combination of low blood sugar and watching her first epidural injection was a little much for her second day at the hospital. “I was on the floor. That was a little embarrassing,” said Vareika, who still wants to pursue medicine.

Michael Sotiriou designed and built a 13-foot foam core fiberglass boat for his project.

“I’ve only built one [boat] before. It was out of two sheets of plywood, zip ties, and caulking,” he said.

To build a 150 horsepower speedboat took considerably more planning. Sotiriou started in November, four months before most of his peers.

The design process alone took 200 hours. Once he began constructing “Spectre,” the Long Island native said he spent at least six hours a day on the project.

“There were obviously complications,” he said of his first attempt at applying fiberglass to the boat. “Nothing’s ever easy.”

For her project, Olivia Siegel decided to get more acquainted with her home state.

With her street photography project, Humans of Massachusetts, the Newton native sought out interesting strangers. “I go ask them if I can take their photo for a journalism project, but I like to talk to them first,” she explained.

Speaking with people in Boston, Cambridge, New Bedford, and Marion, Siegel said she got advice on choosing a college, learned about one guy’s tattoos, and found out the names of people’s kids.

Crosby said the students often start living their projects as evidenced in a blog post from Siege, who was on Boylston street when bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon.

"After my experience at the Boston Marathon last Monday, my photos take on whole new meaning," Siegel wrote. "The runners and spectators are no longer normal citizens, but people who experienced the horrific trauma that ensued shortly after my photos were taken."

The students also get a new perspective on their subjects.

Rebecca Adelstein worked with third graders at Rochester Memorial School, her alma mater. She joked, “They’re a lot more off topic than I thought we were. They just blurt out whatever is on their minds all the time.”

After getting a “no” from her first potential photography subject, Siegel said, “ Since then…I have figured out how to read people.”

She added that the project gave her a new perspective on familiar places.

"It’s crazy to see the different kinds of people in different places. You can see the characters that go with each place.”

The students have already begun presenting their projects. For the schedule, click here.

View information on Michael Sotiriou's boat building on his blog: dwboats.com.

Olivia Siegel's photos can be viewed at humansofmassachusetts.tumblr.com.