Alexander Halinski Senior Project Proposal

A. SUMMARY

I have chosen environmental conservation with a focus on how palm oil affects the

natural world for my senior project. This topic is one I am very passionate about, but is

unfortunately unknown in the general population. With the help of Dr. Sullivan, I will educate

consumers about the palm oil companies that are harming the environment. While the

consumption of palm oil is not illegal by any means, the methods and practices of the businesses

that produce palm oil is where the legal aspect of this issue is. As it is not uncommon for

businesses to bribe politicians, authorize their employees to kill endangered species or practice

unsafe/unethical work environments to produce their product.

To guide my project research and action I plan on using the following questions:

❖ What specific laws are big palm oil companies are violating to produce

palm oil?

❖ What companies are purchasing unsustainably sourced palm oil to use in

their products?

❖ What can I as a consumer do to make an impact regarding this problem?

❖ Is there legislation I can include about palm oil consumption in America

rather than internationally based?

❖ Are there organizations that I can reach out to that can aid me in this

tasks?

❖ Is there a cost benefit for companies buying unsustainably sourced oil

versus sustainably sourced?

Alexander Halinski Senior Project Proposal

For my project I plan on creating multiple carts for the Virginia Zoo at Norfolk to use as

educational tools to inform zoo guests about the effects of palm oil. Carts are interactive

information centers that are placed around the zoo to educate guests on the topic that cart covers.

I’ve been a volunteer at the zoo for three years now, and have already gained their cooperation to

take on this project. The goal of this is project is to create a long lasting flow of information to

the guests about what palm oil does to the environment, at the end of the project I would donate

the carts I plan on creating to the zoo. The zoo has agreed to have a day where all the carts are

being used on the trail, the carts will have volunteers I have trained explaining and talking about

the information. This day will serve as my action. At the end of the day I will tally up the

number of guests other volunteers have spoken too, and the number of people who have taken an

online survey I plan on creating to measure what the guests have learned.

B. New Skills, Enhanced Skills, and Growth Goals

New Skills:

❖ Event Planning/Organizing

❖ Creating lesson plans/materials for the carts

❖ Training others on the carts

Enhanced Skills:

❖ Research

❖ Public Speaking

❖ Writing Academic Papers

❖ Advocating for the Environment

Growth Goals​:
Alexander Halinski Senior Project Proposal

❖ Advertising project

❖ Depending on others

❖ Effective spread of information

C. Marketing Plan/Facilities/Audience

I will use the Virginia Norfolk Zoo as my facility for my project. My advertisement

plans are using fliers and word of mouth to promote my project. My target audience are zoo

guests who want to make a positive impact on the environment but do not know where to start.

This demographic will be easy to reach in the zoo since most guests there genuinely want to help

the environment. Those who want to make an impact will interact with and learn from the carts I

plan on creating. I will also speak to local environmental organizations asking them to help

advertise on their websites or newsletters so I can reach a larger audience than those at First

Colonial High School or the members at the Virginia Zoo.

D. Project Steps

Preliminary Steps Start brainstorming ideas 10 hours

what specific topics that the
carts will cover. Where to
place them on the Asia trial to
have the most foot traffic/best
make an impact. Research
the issues and create lesson
plans to base the carts off of.

Midway Steps Send emails to organizations 10 hours

to help advertise, start to
create/gather the materials
needed to make the cart a
success. Reconfirm with the
zoo about event, create a
survey to measure what the
Alexander Halinski Senior Project Proposal

guests have learned. Finalize

presentation for the panel.

Later Steps Test the carts on 5 hours

friends/family to see if the
information is easy to
understand and the activities
are fun/informative. Make
necessary changes. Train
volunteers on what
information the carts cover
and how to use the activities
that I plan on creating for
them. Set up carts on the
Asia trial.

Follow Up Write thank you notes to the 5 hours

zoo and volunteers that
helped make my project a
success. Analyse survey data.
Update presentation with
survey data

Total 30 hours

E. Project Documentation

❖ Email Conversations

❖ Receipts of purchases (if any)

❖ Flyers of Event/Any advertisement done by outside sources

❖ Photos of the Events

❖ Pictures of the production of the carts

❖ Screenshots of my own digital advertisement of the event

❖ Phone call logs

F. Project Justification
Alexander Halinski Senior Project Proposal

This topic is an important one to educate the public about, since the topic is relatively unknown

not many people know the problems surrounding palm oil. Since this issue has to do with

deforestation and human/animal conflict the impacts will be long lasting and detrimental to the

earth. By educating the public about this issue now there will be a greater chance that action will

be taken now rather than later when the effects are nearly irreversible. Despite having a prior

relationship with the zoo, they are highly selective in choosing if to provide their facilities to

other senior projects. Getting their approval has already been a challenge I have overcome.

Furthermore, I’ve never organized an event this far reaching before, since the zoo sees almost a

thousand people a day. Nor have I ensured that all volunteers are doing a correct job of giving

accurate information to guests, so I will have to constantly monitor the volunteers to ensure that

they are doing well. A normal position of volunteering on trails or working carts is talking to the

zoo guests about the animals or conservation messages, I would be taking over the job of our

supervisors during the duration of the day. Also, since this is a relatively unknown problem

there is going to be the issue of effectively educating the public about palm oils problems.

G. Project-Paper Connection

My paper will serve two purposes: answering the driving questions and providing the necessary

information to create the carts. It will include in-depth analyses into what species are affected by

the industry, what laws the industry is violating, what countries are being affected, how it is

affecting the natural world in the long-term, and what consumers can do. The in-depth looks into

these topics will provide the necessary information to create the carts. The carts will each focus
Alexander Halinski Senior Project Proposal

on a different subtopic of palm oil consumption and its effects, this information will be covered

in my paper.

H. Academic Honesty

I understand that any academic dishonesty by me on any part of the project will result in failure

of the Senior Project and forfeiture of the Legal Studies Seal on my High School diploma.