In more recent years, students at Liberty have chosen passion projects instead of the traditional extracurricular, like sports or clubs, because they allow the student to express themselves, and educate others about what drives them, while also helping their own community.
A person’s passion directly stems from experience with that topic. For example, sophomore Peyton Davis started a mental health podcast, called Catharsis, to educate people about how to approach their own mental health and let them know they’re not alone when going through tough situations.
“I wanted to give people something I would have wanted when I was struggling,” Davis said.
Davis demonstrates how most projects start with one person’s fixation, but eventually they ignite community interest and growth. Liberty promotes student interests through the vast amount of courses, electives, and opportunities that inspire people.
Michelle Munson, the ASB and Leadership teacher at Liberty, expressed her love of passion projects, and she challenges her ASB students by helping them execute their own passion projects that spark their personal interest.
“In ASB, we spend a lot of time serving the community through events and planning, but this is an opportunity for students to contribute to Liberty by expressing something they enjoy,” Munson said.
“I chose encouraging voting as my passion project because not a lot of the younger generation participates in this political process. It’s especially important because this year is an election year,” one of Munson’s students, junior Alex Munson, said.
While succeeding in more traditional after school activities is impressive, the uniqueness of a student’s personal commitment can turn heads, and many students and teachers believe that they achieve more when you’re inspired in what you’re learning.
“Passion projects usually have a better outcome than a traditional extracurricular because you pursue it more and you work harder for something you love,” sophomore Julianne Lo said.
Lo is starting a club that partners with the non-profit organization “Birthday Dreams,” which funds birthday parties for children in unfortunate situations.
However, it is hard to encourage something that is so particular to the individual, which is why students that do passion projects always turn the heads of inspired peers and teachers.
“It [Passion Projects] shows leadership skills for what students want to build a career in, and it invites people with the same interest,” sophomore Claire Ashbaugh said.
