“A teacher directed, student-lead, discovery-based project,” Junior Leader teacher Ms. Moeller describes Genius Hour. “Students can have their own unique way of discovering something they’re interested in while still having some parameters.”

Genius Hour, a new project implemented this year into the Junior Leader Program, challenged, captivated, and threw students for a loop.

“We wanted to know if we could make a difference, or an impact on less fortunate people’s lives by going to a homeless shelter and helping out with the kids,” Katie Elliott (11) said. “And help them learn a lesson,” Christina Walters (11) added, “because they don’t have as much structure in their lives as we do.”

The idea of reaching out to unknown people, with the risk of it not working out, was something Elliott and Walters experienced first hand. “We ended up having to totally scrap our idea of having an activity and lesson because the volunteers really didn’t know what we were there for,” Walters said. “We still had different activities that we had the kids doing, and we more tried to talk to them while playing a game about different things like sharing and listening to adults.”

Regardless of the initial plan not working out, Elliott and Walters made the most of their experience. “We tried to connect with them on a more personal level rather than a teacher kind of level,” Elliott explained, “because it would get to them more. We didn’t end up doing the lesson, we just played with them and talked to them about things that they would want to talk about.”

Moeller was very impressed with a lot of the final products. “I was blown away by the passion that some of [them] had for [their] projects, it was really great,” Moeller said.  “You could really tell that [they] were really into this.”

That passion was demonstrated by the result Elliott later experienced. “When I went back, they were all really excited to see me, and they remembered both of us,” Elliott said. “It showed me that we did make an impact on their lives.”

Walters agreed. “We did have time in class, and we did work outside of class, but still, if it would have been introduced a little earlier I think that would have been really useful for everyone,” she said. “There were other projects that were like ‘if we had a little bit more time…’”

The factors of time was greatly influenced by a lack of understanding. “There were some struggles at the beginning on my end with really explaining the project and having some nice examples,” Moeller said. “Having some really nice examples from this year to give to next year’s group is going to be something that they will definitely appreciate.”

However, the project turned out to be a real success. “I really liked it, even though in the moment of doing it I didn’t want to do it.” Walters said. Elliot agreed by adding how the project demonstrated “who you are as a leader and what you can do with the kind of abilities you have.”

Finding out what kind of leader each student is was only part of the picture. “My goal was to have you guys step out of your comfort zone and give you guys a problem without having a lot of parameters,” Moeller said to the class. “When I give you guys a problem: create your own project, that is daunting to a lot of people. A lot of our curriculum, we have to do certain things in every class. You guys are told what you’re supposed to be doing all of the time, so for you to have that ingenuity, and that creativity, and that drive to be able to create your own thing was a goal that I really wanted. Learn how to create goals for yourself, and follow up on those.”

“Some of the final products were above and beyond what I actually expected,” Moeller explained. “Just the idea that everyone got to work on something that they wanted to was really cool for me.”

Gallery • 5 Photos

Moeller

Hirsch Nangia (11) presenting his and Michael Kokkines's (11) Genius Hour Project about public speaking

A great example of a group going above and beyond expectations is Miracle Faller (11) and Priyanka Gupte (11). “Our Genius Project was a website that introduced people to different disabilities and how, as a leader or a teacher, you could work with someone with a disability,” Faller said.

“The initial question going into the project was how can we help those students with disabilities,” Gupte said, “and how can we lead them as a Junior and Senior Leader. We also had what kind of accommodations they might need,” she added, “how we could help them be part of the class more often.”

Faller agreed with Gupte.“We felt that it was a topic that pertained to both of us,” Faller mentioned. “We also touched on hearing disabilities, which is something that Priyanka really has first hand experience with, and I signed up for Junior Leaders to be involved in the Integrated Program because that’s something I’m interested in since my brother is autistic.”

Those leaders involved in the Integrated Program can greatly benefit from the website. “We focused on disabilities that are common in the classroom,” Gupte said, “and how that may affect their motor skills or other skills that they may need in a gym class.”

The site, however, was not easily done. “We had one day to do this really big thing each week,” Faller said. “We didn’t even think about it for weeks at a time. “I think what could have been better was if we had started the project a little earlier, rather than starting in November,” Gupte said.

Based on the nature of their project, they both agreed there was a better way to approach it. “I think I like the idea that everyday is the project because it’s more focused,” Faller said. Although, she did admit that that might not benefit all projects.

“We saw how many of us have grown,” Gupte said. “We saw how we were looking at different topics, and there are so many out there that we can bring out to the class and bring awareness to.”

Faller agreed with Gupte. “It was really interesting to see people’s interests blend with the idea of leadership and how leadership defines them,” Faller said. “Everyone has a different definition of leadership and how they’re going to go along with it.”

Gupte felt that future leaders should keep something in mind: “Don’t be afraid to go further into your project and take risks because you never know what can happen,” Gupte said. “It could be good or bad but at least you learn something from that experience.”

The idea of going deeper into the project was something some groups shied away from, and that was evident to the class, and Ms. Moeller.

“I think there were some groups that didn’t necessarily have that same passion [toward their project], and so that was frustrating for me,” Moeller mentioned. “I feel like some groups could have done a bit more with what they started with and they kind of toned down what their original project was, which was a bit frustrating to me because I know they could’ve done what their original project was.”

Another Genius Hour group was Cole Guillaume (11) and Justin Beitzel (11). “We started off thinking how we like kids and sport so we were like, make a kids sports team,” Guillaume (11) said, “but that didn’t go as planned so we went to make a child’s book and present it to a preschool.”

“We both grew up playing sports,” Beitzel said, “so we wished at the age that we were going to present to that we knew more about leadership.”

Once deciding upon a topic, Guillaume and Beitzel did, in fact, reach out to outside sources. “We were looking into public preschools in the area because we wanted to present it to a public preschool,” Beitzel said, “but none of them would let two amateurs come in and talk about leadership.”

The risk of putting themselves out there was something Moeller recognized. “People were reaching outside of their comfort zones and really reaching out to other people,” Moeller said, “which we do in a professional setting all the time and as we grow up.”

The amount of work they two were getting into, was not something they realized until it was too late. “We bit off more that we can chew right away,” Guillaume mentioned, “we first wanted to do this whole book, print it off, and then make this website. It was way too expensive, and really hard to put together, so we had to cancel that one. We decided to do it by hand.”

The two mentioned how time management was something they struggled with. “Staying on top of it and consistently working every week,” Beitzel said was the most difficult part of Genius Hour. “We had some serious procrastination,” Guillaume admitted, and Beitzel agreed. “Then, deciding what you wanted to do,” Guillaume mentioned, ”it took us two weeks before we even got onto a topic that we actually wanted to do.”

Although Genius Hour did not directly correspond to the Junior Leader class, Ms. Moeller had a greater takeaway in mind. “When you get out into the real world, people aren’t looking for necessarily your knowledge of things,” Moeller said, “they’re looking for creative inventors who have a lot of ingenuity so I think that’s important so I was trying to develop those skills.”

Guillaume liked the idea of having specific requirements for Genius Hour. “I think it should make you talk to people, focus on speaking, and have different things that you have to accomplish,” he said.

The project is incredibly open ended, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Especially considering that this was its first year.

“I had no expectations. I kind of wanted it to be that way, I wanted to discover myself what you guys could do.” Moeller said to the class.“Some people got it, some people didn’t, and from what I’m hearing and learning from all the different platforms that I look at for Genius Hour that’s typically the case. Some people really dive into it, and really grasp the concept of this unknown, and then creating something from that. And some people really struggle and that’s okay.”

Regardless of the struggle, Genius Hour will definitely remain a big part of the Junior Leader Program here at VHHS. Although there was some difficulty that came with the first year of experimenting, the project proved overall to be a greatly beneficial and worthwhile experience in many students’ opinions. Genius Hour will continue to change and adapt to the students involved in it, so get ready future leaders. It’s never too early to start thinking about what you’re passionate about.