This past winter, Mr. Devey asked the faculty to read the book Drive by Daniel Pink. In the book, Pink dismisses the traditional notions of what motivates people—what he calls “carrot and sticks.” In other words, grades don’t really motivate students to learn, money doesn’t really make people better workers. Instead, he focuses on the three elements of true motivation—autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
The 9th grade Independent Study Project is now in its fourth year at Indian Mountain, and it embodies the principles discussed in Drive. In the midst of captaining sports teams, performing in plays, completing a full academic workload, AND applying to secondary schools, these eight students chose to devote up to 10 hours a week on these projects simply because they had the interest, motivation, and DRIVE to do so.

The presentations represent the culmination of several months of hard work. Starting in the fall, these eight students wrote detailed proposals, researched their topics, wrote, built, performed, and designed their projects, and continually made revisions during X-Blocks, on weekends, and over school breaks.

This year’s presentations, covering such topics as sports, architecture, computer animation, cooking, writing, and skateboarding, represent the widest range of projects we have ever had, and highlight the true diversity, creativity, and drive of the IMS community.

Check back soon for more details on the presentations from these eight motivated students:
1) Andres
2) Yujin
3) Sam P.
4) Avian
5) Jake
6) Courtney
7) Fuko
8) Derek