The genius project was an assignment intended to strengthen personal creativity and time management. I was given 9 weeks to create a project of any kind that I found interesting, the only requirement was that there had to be some kind of end goal or product in mind. I decided to create a mini-docuseries that asked different kinds of people from different walks of life one simple question: "What is Happiness?" I first needed to find people to interview. I selected 5 people from my personal life who I knew would have their unique perspectives on happiness. They were: Mrs. Molly Mastroine, my 6th grade English teacher and one of the kindest people I have ever met, Julie Sutton, my youth advisor from my church, Logan Myers, one of my best friends and one of the smartest people I know, Donna East, my Aunt and a very thoughtful person, and John Harkness, my neighbor and a retired college professor at Kent State. I sat down for about 30 minutes with each of these people and asked them a variety of questions aimed at figuring out what happiness is and means to them. After conducting all of my interviews, I wanted to make a final video mashing all of the interviews together so someone could get the idea of the project without watching over an hour of content. I enlisted the help of my friend and video marketing expert Vince Slomsky to create this highlight video. We worked together using the video editing software Adobe Premiere to make the final video and to post it onto my Google site, where the project was hosted.

The skills that the Genius project taught me were very important to the success of my other JAGS projects in the future. I learned better time management skills and the dangers of procrastination. I also learned how to conduct interviews and how to reach out to people in a professional manner to gain their help. I learned about video recording equipment and how to edit and compile audio and video. This project changed my thinking as I realized that many people can be asked the same questions and have very different answers. I also began to think differently about school projects in general, in terms of realizing they are not necessarily a chore but an opportunity to grow and learn more about the world and others. In the end, this project made me a more globally competent citizen as I learned how to conduct research and communicate in the world while listening to other voices and being able to take advice and build up my support network. This artifact connects with the JAGS Pillar of Communicate Ideas for obvious reasons. Throughout the Genius Project, I was constantly hearing the perspectives of others and working to understand them and document them. The entire goal of the project was to connect these ideas with a broader audience and communicate the views of others. All of this makes the Genius Project fit perfectly with the Recognize Perspectives Pillar.

In May of 2023, the JAGS freshman class traveled to Heifer Global Village. The purpose of this trip was to give us a first-hand perspective of life in a third-world country. Each student was assigned a country and goals to complete within their country. The main goal was to start a fire and cook a traditional meal in said country. I was assigned to Mozambique. In Mozambique, there were 3 levels of houses you could have gotten. Each level symbolized the impact that the Heifer Project could have on a family's life. Level 1 was dirt huts, level 2 was a one-room brick house, and level 3 was a multi-room brick house. I was in the third tier with a few other freshmen. We worked together to start our fire, even gaining assistance from neighboring countries. We were able to keep our fire going long enough to prepare some type of stew. It was not very good, but it did feel nice to accomplish the goal.

I learned many valuable skills while at Heifer. For one, I learned good team coordination skills as it took every single person in our group to gather the ingredients for our meal and to keep the fire alive. I also gained a better understanding of cooking and reading recipes, even if our meal was poor, to say the least. I learned about thinking on my feet and improvising. Before this, I had no idea how to start a fire, or at least efficiently, but I found ways to get it done regardless. This trip changed my thinking as I understood just how hard it is to live in these countries. There was no running water, it was hot, and very stressful. I recognized how lucky I am to live the life that I do, and I now understand the importance of providing aid and donating to these countries. This experience relates to the Investigate the World Pillar due to the content of the village. It was really like we were in these countries. It may have been a simulation, but we were truly investigating different countries and how people live in them. The first-hand experiences we had were equal to being in these countries and connecting with their cultures. Thus, we investigated the world at Heifer Global Village. This event made me a better global citizen in a multitude of ways. I learned how to work with others under pressure in a more efficient manner. I also gained a greater knowledge of what life is actually like in an impoverished nation. Finally, I experienced the culture of these nations as I tried their foods and followed their practices to cook them. 

I did the infographic project in 2023 with my partner Jackson Baker. This project was designed to have the student investigate a certain country and learn interesting things about it. We had to look up an animal that primarily lived in the country and see how the nation connected to UN SDG's among other things. My partner and I had the nation of Turkey. We researched a native animal to the country, the Taurus frog, and found that the frog was a critically endangered species. We also found that the nation had a severe clean water crisis, which is something that the UN SDG's try to combat. We also found that Turkey had recently placed many new environmentally friendly laws and policies to protect the air, water, and living creatures in Turkey. We placed all of this information in a graphic and displayed it at JAGS Summit Night for anyone to see.

When doing this assignment, I learned how to conduct better research and how to find information about very obscure and random things, such as Turkish frogs. I also learned more about graphic design and what looks good and what doesn't in digital formatting. Finally, I learned a lot about a nation on the other side of the world and some of the events that are taking place there. This artifact changed my thinking as I realized the value in good research.. From this project, I got a better understanding of the fact that other countries have even larger and more dangerous problems than I had initially imagined, such as the water crisis in Turkey. From this assignment, I became a better JAGS student and globally aware citizen as I got a better understanding of foreign countries and how they operate, and what is being done inside of them to fix certain issues. This project connects to the JAGS pillar of Investigate the World. Throughout this assignment, it was my job to investigate and convey information about a different part of the world that I knew nothing about. Conducting research by watching videos and reading articles caused me to learn more about other places and topics. Due to all of this, I became a more complete JAGS student who had a greater knowledge of the world they live in.