Imagine 20% of your English week to do whatever you want. You get complete, creative freedom over whatever you do, as long as it helps someone in the end. This is “Genius Hour”, a program implemented by English teacher Tamara Salisbury last year for her Comp class. Comp is first hour and is only open to seniors with high enough scores on the English and reading ACT tests or a high enough Compass score.

“For my project, I am painting sea shells and selling them at craft fairs,” senior Chloe Henderson said. “I will then give the proceeds to help a charity.”  

There are 15 projects going on. Some of the projects this semester include military care packages, re-learning to play the piano, making blankets for ill children, learning Braille and American Sign Langage, care packages for Wesley Children’s Hospital and makeup tutorials. Some students chose to work together. The projects help many different people through different charities and organizations.

“Rachel [Echelberry] and I are making blankets for Project Linus,” senior Carolyn Mercer said.

Echelberry and Mercer have made three blankets so far and hope to get a lot more done by the end of the semester. A member of the organization even sent them blanket-making kits so they didn’t have to cover the costs themselves.

“We thought it would be a fun way to help kids,” Echelberry said.