Seventeen-year-old Ajah Smith is standing in the middle of the gym floor at Central Park East Secondary School in Harlem. He nervously passes a basketball between his hands as he responds to questions from a committee of two teachers and a student. In the first of his five portfolio presentations required for graduation, Ajah talks about a science experiment he conducted that measured the time it took test subjects to react to sounds. He found that their reaction time slowed when their hearing was obstructed, and he tries to link that knowledge to the effects of variables such as crowd noise on his performance during a basketball game. After ten minutes of questioning, the committee members move to the bleachers to discuss and grade Ajah’s written report and presentation.

His advisor, Joel Handorff, is impressed. “I thought his oral presentation was phenomenal,” he says, marking a grade on an assessment sheet. “I’ve seen him go through a lot of work on this written report. I was pleased to see he used the science.” Teacher David Feldman is more critical. “I didn’t think he made very strong connections between the science and [his basketball experience],” he says, explaining why he gave the essay a lower grade. Still, all three judges give Ajah perfect scores for his relaxed and thoughtful presentation. Ajah is pleased with the committee’s feedback, but his work is far from over. “I still have presentations to do in math, science, history, and literature,” says Ajah, who’s hoping to attend college on a basketball scholarship next year. “I’m trying to do schoolwork, portfolios, and presentations at the same time. I don’t have any time to slack off.”

As a motivated senior, Ajah may be in the minority. A report released earlier this year by the National Commission on the High School Senior Year describes the typical senior year as a lackadaisical “farewell tour of adolescence and school.” The senior slump is blamed in part on early college decisions, time-consuming after-school jobs, and lots of partying.