2020

Passion Project 2020 - The Year of COVID-19

The project was going along as planned. We began earlier in the year to get students acquainted with the United Nations Global Sustainable Development Goals. Students explored numerous topics, researched areas related to local problems and global issues, discussed and shared their interests and passions. Project proposals were written and submitted, and mentors were just getting assigned.

Then the Coronavirus hit and by mid-March the campus was closed. We shifted quickly into remote learning and realized that much of what we anticipated for Passion Project was going to be very difficult if not impossible for most students. How would they conduct interviews of people in their field of study? How do they build prototypes with no access to the tools and materials in the maker space? How do they meet with mentors now that our schedules for remote learning made open spaces much harder to find?

Core to the Passion Project is a focus on social good, helping our communities and improving our world. The pandemic, for all the grief and pain it presented, also served as motivation for purposeful work to be done. We pivoted midstream to focus on a response to this new world in which we find ourselves.

The following pathways were created for students to explore as part of their new Passion Project:

• 3D printing - Print PPE (personal protective equipment) for local health care workers.
• Sewing non-medical masks - Sew masks for health care workers and others in need.
• Paper crafts - Create and write cards for health care workers, senior centers, and others who may benefit from words of encouragement and support.
• Future solutions - Research topics related to the pandemic (or other global problems) and develop a presentation to support potential future solutions.
• Work with younger kids - Create activities and storytelling for our younger students during this time of remote learning.
• Community connections - Create activities for keeping our community connected while we experience isolation and stay at home orders.
• Other - Develop a project of your own that relates to solving problems and supporting others during the pandemic.

What follows are the daily journals of our students through the Pathways. In lieu of individual websites, as we have done in prior years, we asked our students to document their experiences with words and pictures in journal format, which we have compiled here.