Group Project Haters, Sound Off!

I am in high school during the global health crisis. Because of the general chaos, the school has a generous policy where students can choose on a day-to-day basis whether they want to attend school in person or online; we are marked present either way.

I wake up one morning feeling a little under the weather, so I decide to stay home and attend classes online. Religion class rolls around and a new assignment is introduced, just a simple one-day thing. Materials are available online, and we’re told that we’ll present them the next day.

So, the next day, I roll into religion class with my finished project, in person this time. As I watch my other classmates present, I realize one crucial detail that I missed while working on this assignment.

It was supposed to be a group project.

After everyone else has presented, I stand up to present mine, assuming I might as well. As soon as I stand up, my teacher says I don’t have to present — having realized at some point that he never put me in a group — but I present anyway.

The presentation goes fine, my project is just as good as anyone else’s, and I get an A. Sometimes doing a whole group project by yourself actually does work out!