This year at Waggoner Road Middle School we have started an enrichment program for students called, "Genius Hour." In Genius Hour, students choose a "passion project" that they work on for the duration of the school year. The idea was formed from the search-engine giant, Google, as it allows its engineers to spend 20% of their to work on any pet project that they want. The idea is very simple: allow people to work on something that interests them and productivity will go up. Google's policy has worked so well that it has been said that 50% of Google's projects have been created during this creative time period. Ever heard of Gmail or Google News? These projects are creations by passionate developers that blossomed from their 20-time projects.
The goal of this project is to provide students a chance to seek out authentic, real world opportunities to refine the skills they are learning in their academic classes and to promote, support, and model creative, innovative thinking and inventiveness. One hundred eighty students are currently working diligently on research-based passion projects that they were interested in and wanted to learn more about. Project themes range from preventing texting and driving, to ideas for recycling furniture, to prevention of bullying in the schools, and even Katy Perry.
We would like to invite you to come and see our students' projects at our first ever-ever Genius Hour Fair to be held on Wednesday, May 20th. Students will be presenting their projects and competing for wonderful prizes donated by local businesses here in Reynoldsburg. Open viewing of student projects will take place from 9:30am-12:00pm and again from 2:00-2:40pm with awards to be presented at 2:45pm.