Eighth-graders in the Young Scholars program presented independent passion projects at Rosemont after three months of self-directed learning.

The presentations are the culmination of a three-year program designed to increase student autonomy; for the eighth-graders, the requirement was that the project cover new learning acquired during the three months prior to the event.

Students demonstrated a range of projects. One student, who described baking as a longtime hobby, said producing 24 homemade cake pops cost $8.96 compared with paying $3.25 for a single store-bought item. Another student presented bead- and candy-making in a project called the "whimsical bag of imagination." A different student described learning to play bass over the three months, saying, "I had three months, which is not a very long time to learn an instrument. So I would just sit in my room and practice sometimes, like, 4 or 5 hours a day." A follow-up comment from that student noted, "I'm still a little rough around the edges when it comes to playing, but that's expected. It just feels good to get myself out there."

Staff organized the event as a showcase of student-directed learning and described it as the culmination of the Young Scholars curriculum for the year.

Organizers said the project requirement is that the learning be new to the student; students chose topics ranging from musical instruments to small-business and craft skills.

The program is intended to help students develop independent learning strategies over multiple years of the Young Scholars sequence.