From playlists to social media feeds, APUSH students are getting creative Friday as they conclude their research project aimed at American foreign policy.

“The purpose for doing the America in the World Project is to allow students to do a deep dive into a topic of interest because we think that is really important,” teacher Sarah Wiseman said. “The second purpose is for students to connect events of history to today. It can help what feels like distant history feel more close to today and our lives.”

For their project, every student picked a country and researched how American interactions with their country changed over time.

“I chose Japan for my project, and I will be doing a podcast between the leaders of the U.S. and Japan at the time,” junior Alex Hennel said. “I like the podcast route because it allows me to do my project remotely. I think that this project should be done in future years as it allows me to learn about other cultures.”

Junior Justin Chen feels that the project helped him learn better due to its hands-on experience.

“My project was a TedEd video of me discussing relations between the U.S and China,” Chen said. “This project required me to research the topic on my own which allowed me to learn better because it was a hands-on experience. I think what I learned in this project will help me as it provides me with new knowledge of global interactions and how they affect world affairs.”

Students were encouraged to be creative to make something unique for their final project with examples such as a playlist, podcast, art, or almost anything they can think of.

“Creativity is really important because it’s a futureready skill,” Wiseman said “As you move forward in life there are a lot of ways to communicate your ideas, and not just traditional academic tasks, so we are helping students explore ways that they can communicate their big ideas in class.”