45 Purposeful Passion Project Ideas for High Schoolers

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By the time students reach high school, they’ve completed projects in many subjects, most of which were assigned by their teachers. But what about high schoolers who love ballet, or are passionate about animals, or want to make a difference in the biomedical field? That’s where passion projects come in!

So what is a passion project, and how do you go about planning one? This list of passion project ideas for high school will help you foster academic independence and the pursuit of student goals long past high school graduation.

What is a passion project in high school?

A passion project, also called a genius hour project, is an assignment that lets a student dive deeper into something they’re interested and/or talented in. They can be individual or group projects that involve one main goal and can also include life skills activities that promote time management, public speaking, and study skills.

Many students pursue passion project ideas that they believe colleges or their teachers will like to see. However, the most valuable passion projects for high schoolers are ones that let them delve into a subject they care deeply about — and ideas they may turn into lifelong careers.

When do students complete passion projects?

Many schools use passion projects as senior project ideas, which encourage seniors to showcase a culmination of what they’ve learned throughout high school. But passion projects for high schoolers can happen in any grade.

Many students find the summers between grades to be the ideal time to complete a passion project, as they have more time to follow their interests without extracurriculars and homework. They can then present their projects to their peers during the first week of school. (Talk about an icebreaker for high schoolers!)

Creative Passion Project Ideas

For students who love the arts, passion projects are a perfect way to display their talents in music, dance, visual arts, or writing. Use these passion project ideas for high school to inspire the creative students in your class or those who have always wanted to learn a new artistic skill.

Take a collection of photographs around school or town and have them bound in a book, along with written descriptions of each.
Write a draft of a novel or collection of short stories and poems.
Complete a series of DIY home projects and write a manual on how you worked on them.
Create a “How To” picture book to teach young learners how to create art or music.
Choreograph a set of dances for a music album.
Learn a new instrument and document your process and progress.
Make a documentary about an era of history that interests you.
Make a music video of a song you’ve written and/or performed.
Plan a school or town mural and work on it individually or as a larger group.
Keep a year-long journal using writing prompts for high school or your own prompt ideas.
Teach a musical theater class to younger students and help them put on a final production.
Form a band with other musical students and record an album together.
Design costumes or a fashion line and host a fashion show with friends modeling your clothes.
Become an art curator and host an art show for students to showcase their paintings, sculptures, or photographs.
Write a play or musical and have actor friends act it out.

Pursue a passion project in English language arts

If your students love ELA above all subjects, introduce them to passion project ideas that emphasize reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Students focus on the language arts skills they’re interested in to craft a creative project that represents their passion for the written word.

Creative Writing Assignment – Geek Out Passion Project – Video Introduction
By Presto Plans
Grades: 6th-10th
Subjects: Creative Writing, English Language Arts, Writing

What do your high schoolers “geek out” about? Channel their passion and teach them more about their interests with a zero-prep creative writing resource. It comes with an engaging introduction video, slide presentation, set of graphic organizers, and editing checklist to help students narrow down their area of interest.

Passion Project – ELA Specific
By English Elixir
Grades: 7th-12th
Subjects: English Language Arts, Reading, Writing

Begin a nine-week passion project with your middle and high schoolers with this ELA-focused resource. Students use the instructions and materials to design a one-of-a-kind creative project that represents their interests and artistic personalities.

Business and Entrepreneurship Passion Project Ideas

If your students are inspired and invigorated by the idea of working for themselves, they can choose a passion project idea that follows their interest in business! Combine career exploration for high school students and an active administration, and you get these innovative projects in a field students are sure to use later on.

Start a small business that you can manage as a high schooler, such as a tutoring or babysitting service.
Research a recent economic decision and its implications on your community.
Start a fundraiser and analyze its success and implementation.
Organize a launch event or opening for a new business in town.
Analyze how a large company runs, including its business plan and organizational hierarchy.
Create a website for a local business or organization.
Start a club at school where you’re the president or leader.
Design a marketing campaign for a new company in your town.
Track and analyze the performance of selected stocks over an extended period.
Organize a community or charity event for a local nonprofit.

Environmental Passion Project Ideas

The next generation will need natural curiosity and innovative talent to solve environmental issues in their community and throughout the world. Use these passion projects for high schoolers to gain fundamental knowledge for these upcoming challenges.

Plan a community garden and track the progress of your crops.
Research recent legislation that positively or negatively impacts the environment.
Build a solar-powered machine that conducts a service usually run with consumable energy.
Host a neighborhood cleanup event to pick up trash or clean off graffiti.
Research the environmental impact of online resources and social media.
Look into the weather patterns in your area over the course of a year or season.
Help out at your local animal shelter and research the rates of animal adoption.
Track the water or soil quality in your town and plan a way to improve it.
Choose a global environmental issue and research what changes need to occur in order to remedy it.
Organize a food drive for local people experiencing food insecurity.

Base your passion project on focused inquiry questions

The most successful passion projects begin with a question. Use inquiry-based learning to guide students into crafting the questions they’ll base their passion projects on, and to inspire curiosity throughout their project timeline.

Genius Hour: Inquiry Questions with Passion Projects | Distance Learning
By TaylorMade Learning
Grades: 7th-10th
Subject: English Language Arts
Standards: CCSS CCRA.R,1, 2, 7, 10; CCRA.W.7, 8, 9, 10; CCRA.SL.1, 4, 5, 6

Aligned to CCSS for reading, writing, and speaking and listening, this genius hour resource encourages students to brainstorm and develop complex research questions that they’re genuinely interested in pursuing. A question stem graphic organizer helps middle and high school students turn their topic into a question and prepare for ways to answer it.

STEM Passion Project Ideas

Technology is infused into your high schoolers’ lives, but how much of it can they apply to future ambitions? These passion project ideas for high school allow those interested in science, technology, engineering, and math to use their talents in new and creative ways.

Research a specific biomedical procedure. how it works, and how it has impacted the medical community.
Create a robot that provides a necessary service for someone who needs it.
Code a website that provides a service for your school or a club run by your peers.
Analyze the performance of a sports team over a season and create a statistically sound win prediction system.
Conduct research on the progress of artificial intelligence and the ways it can positively (or negatively) impact the community.
Document yourself starting and finishing a complex engineering or robotics project.
Begin a blog or email list to write regular reviews on new apps, electronics, or gadgets.
Explore how mathematics dictates an everyday procedure, such as tying one’s shoes or navigating a car.
Learn a technology skill from the beginner level, such as robotics or a new coding language.
Research a figure in STEM who has strongly influenced the way our society works today.

Tips for Choosing a Passion Project

Some students have a hard time choosing between the many passion project possibilities out there! If they can’t decide on or think of their own passion project ideas, help them narrow down their choices with the following tips.

Think about your goals for high school and beyond, and which project would help you meet those goals.
Consider your life experiences and which have been most impactful to you.
Choose a passion project in your area of interest that also challenges your current abilities.
Work with a group and find common interests that you would all like to pursue.
Use the list above to brainstorm new passion projects to specifically meet your needs.
Talk to your friends and family for their opinions on the best passion project for you.

Keep your passion project organized

What do students do once they’ve chosen their passion project idea? Find the best way to organize their interests and research with templates, spreadsheets, graphic organizers, and assessment rubrics.

Passion Project Templates and Planners for Genius Hour Presentation Assignment
By EdCoach Network with Karen Au
Grades: 7th-10th
Subjects: Balanced Literary, Other (ELA), Speaking & Listening

Help students create a project proposal, conduct research, and craft a presentation with this no-prep genius hour resource. Designed for both middle and high school, the resource includes printable and digital formats of the documents, including teaching tips, timeline organizers, and post-project reflection sheets.

PASSION PROJECT Genius Hour Independent Project Based Learning PBL NO PREP
By Megan Memories – Megan Meyers
Grades: 3rd-12th

Subjects: English Language Arts, Social Studies

A step-by-step passion project packet offers editable, printable, and digital versions of documents that guide students through their chosen assignments. With a student workbook, lesson plans for instructors, assessment rubrics, and a list of passion project ideas for high school students to pursue.

Help students stay curious and pursue their dreams

A well-chosen and well-researched passion project may launch students into the careers they’ve always wanted to pursue. Use these passion project ideas and other high school passion project resources to help your students make and follow their goals. You and their peers will learn more about them — and they’ll learn more about themselves, too!