Passion Projects for High School Students: How to Get Started with a Passion Project as a High Schooler
Pursuing a passion project as a high school student has so many benefits — from building meaningful skills to sparking joy and excitement in students to even helping bolster college applications.
In this blog post, we are sharing different ways that high school students can benefit from working on their own passion projects. We will also discuss some examples of passion projects, as well as how to get started as a high schooler.
What is a passion project for high school students?
A passion project is an individualized or independent project that allows students to pursue their own areas of interest or — as the name suggests — passion. In a passion project, students have an opportunity to dive into a specific skill, topic, or medium. There are endless choices for students to get involved!
Examples of passion projects include:
Starting a small business or nonprofit organization
Pursuing an independent research project
Developing a website or app on a specific topic
Writing a book or blog
Organizing a fundraiser or event that benefits the local community
And even creating an AI for social good project!
We will share more detailed examples of passion projects for high school students later in this blog post.
While the goal of a passion project is most definitely to excite, engage, and inspire students, it is worth noting that a self-guided passion project can also help high schoolers stand out on their college applications. Many highly qualified candidates applying to top universities have similar profiles: high GPAs and test scores, leadership and volunteer roles, stellar recommendation letters, and numerous extracurriculars. But, a passion project can help set a student apart, by giving admissions officers insight into their interests, curiosity, and drive.
Benefits of passion projects for high schoolers
There are a number of benefits to working on a passion project as a high schooler — some of which we are sharing below.
Excite, Engage, and Inspire Students
Above all, passion projects give high school students an opportunity to pursue their topics and interests outside of school in an ungraded format. Many ambitious high schoolers spend their time focusing on academics and test scores, but passion projects allow these students to also find time to pursue the topics that make them happy. Passion projects still encourage students to make achievements and reach their goals, but they also encourage enjoyment, excitement, inspiration, and creativity.
Build Meaningful Skills
When students work on a meaningful project, they build meaningful skills. While working on a passion project, students will practice leadership, communication, problem-solving, and creativity — just to name a few. In addition to these “soft skills,” students may also learn specific technical or content-knowledge skills connected to their area of interest. For example, a student working on an artificial intelligence project in our programs at Inspirit AI will learn valuable Python coding skills. A student working on a business idea may learn about finance, marketing, and design.
Boost Your College Applications
As we shared earlier in this post, passion projects can help students stand out in their college applications. A passion project will show that a student takes initiative and has drive, as well as give the admissions officer more insight into the student’s interests, background, and passions. At Inspirit AI, we have found that this is one of the main reasons why students choose to participate in our engaging AI project-building work! You can learn more about how an AI extracurricular project can help bolster your college application here.
You may also like this blog post on High School Internships: How High School Students Can Benefit from Internship Opportunities.
Examples of Passion Projects for High School Students
Now that you have learned more about passion projects and the many benefits for high school students, you can begin to consider what type of passion project to pursue. What type of passion project can a high schooler work on?
Complete a Research Project (Outside of School!)
One of the best ways to take your interests to the next level is to pursue a research project outside of school. As a high school student, you can work on a research project by:
Interning in a research lab (Learn more about high school internships here).
Working with a mentor from Stanford, Harvard, MIT, and other leading institutions through our 1:1 programs at Inspirit AI.
Conducting your own self-guided research in your academic area of interest.
By completing a research project outside of school, you will demonstrate commitment to your academic/professional interests — especially on your college applications!
Create a Series of Blog Posts or Podcast Episodes
Blogging and podcasting are two of the most prominent mediums for sharing ideas. Blogging has been around for quite some time — and podcasting, while slightly newer, is also making a big impact in the digital world! As a high school student, you can create your own blog or podcast where you share your musings on a particular subject area. Perhaps you may choose to focus on a more academic topic, like anthropology or medicine, or perhaps you may choose to share your thoughts on a topic like sports or food. Be sure to always keep your Internet presence professional!
Develop a Project that is Socially Impactful
Many high school students want to make a difference in the world — and they actually can! A passion project has the potential to make a positive impact on the community. As a high schooler, you could:
Start your own nonprofit that benefits your local community.
Organize a petition that will help solve a problem that your community faces.
Film a documentary about an issue in your neighborhood.
Lead a workshop on a topic like sustainability or equity.
Plant a community garden.
Create an AI for social good project to transform an industry like healthcare, sustainability, business, or mobility.
How to Get Started with a Passion Project as a High Schooler
We have shared a number of different passion project ideas to help you get started, but at the end of the day, a passion project is about exploring what makes YOU excited. Use these ideas as inspiration as you brainstorm your own project topics.
If you are looking to create your own passion project as a high schooler, you may be interested in our programs at Inspirit AI. The Inspirit AI live online program exposes high school students to fundamental AI concepts and guides them to build a socially impactful project. Taught by our team of graduate students from Stanford, MIT, and more, students receive a personalized learning experience in small groups with a student-teacher ratio of 5:1.
Pursuing a passion project as a high school student has so many benefits, and at Inspirit AI, we are excited to see the amazing work that our students will continue to create!
