Finding Your Voice
Student voice and choice through Passion Projects are the heart of A School Without Walls.
Students spend about half of their Humanities coursework time designing their passion projects and engaging in real world learning with the support of a Crew advisor. The goal of the Passion Project is for students to engage in Design Thinking, to explore the many pathways available to them through their interests, and to identify and problem solve community issues, dilemmas, or needs. Student internships, work-based learning, and service learning are all nested within the student Passion Project so that real world learning is a meaningful component of course work at A School Without Walls.
Past + Current Projects
Exploring passions, researching, engaging with communities and participating in place-based learning is complex, and it’s not a straight line. The process you’ll engage in is iterative (repetitive) by design - it will have many twists and turns and will encourage you to revise, tweak, reflect, and redirect your interests and your project over time.
With the support of your advisor, you’ll explore your passion, engage in solutions-oriented project design and implementation, and present your understanding to an audience of interested community members. You can then determine if you would like to continue with the same topic, or pivot to a new area of interest.
Sample Student Projects from 2025:
A student designed a lyric analysis course to co-teach an elective, building off her Music Therapy Club from 2024.
A student built a mobile 3-D printing lab to teach students to create design prototypes to support their passion projects.
A student designed upcycled pet toys and visited a local shelter to share her products.
A student raised funds to design green solutions to charging devices that are driven by solar power.
Students are collaborating on a new mural design to representing our community values.
