(The following procedure is intended to serve as a guideline for the graduation thesis under normal circumstances. Modifications may be made to fit the needs of the student by special request to School Meeting)

1. Formal request made to School Meeting for graduation after at least one year of enrollment at MLSS.
2. Student may make a request to a MLSS staff member for a thesis advisor.
3. Student proceeds to write and submit an official first draft to the thesis committee, which consists of any interested student and staff.
4. Thesis committee reads thesis and gives feedback to the student so that the student can revise and resubmit their thesis. This can happen as many times as needed before the final thesis is submitted to the Assembly.
5. Once the final thesis is submitted a thesis defense will be scheduled. (When possible, this will happen in May so that a diploma can be awarded during the Annual Assembly.) The thesis is then submitted to all interested Assembly members at least two weeks before the thesis defense is scheduled to take place.
6. During the thesis defense, student will present the verbal portion of their thesis, correlating the written and non-written components of their thesis.
7. The student then opens up the floor for questions, challenges and comments about their presentations and written thesis.
8. After this, the student and student's family are asked to leave the room so that the Assembly can discuss the prior questions, challenges and comments and decide to accept or decline the student's request for graduation by a simple majority vote.
9. The Assembly notifies student and family of the decision. Also, someone from the Assembly will be appointed to write a formal letter to discuss why or why not the request for graduation was accepted or declined.
10. MLSS Diploma will be awarded during the Annual Assembly Meeting in May.

MLSS Thesis Guidelines:

1. You may choose a thesis advisor. This person will help you find the best way to display the ideas that you want to convey in your thesis.
2. Written thesis: must be at least five pages long. It must also be typed, double spaced, with one-inch margins and size 12 Times New Roman font.
3. The topic of this paper is: How has your time at MLSS prepared you to be responsible for your own personal pursuits while being a contributing citizen to the larger community.
4. Once the final thesis is turned in to the thesis committee, a thesis defense will be scheduled.
5. Verbal presentation: This will consist of 10-30 minutes during which the student will have an opportunity to support and expand the written thesis through another medium including, but not limited to, speech, music, art, dance, film, academic research, etc.
6. There will be a question and answer section to the thesis defense. Therefore, the student should be prepared to answer questions.

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