In an effort to encourage more writing and reading and self-sufficient accomplishments, students in Marissa Kleinhans’s Baltic High School English III class have been spending the beginning of the year taking 20 percent of their weekly class time for independent literary pursuits.

From reviews to community service, the group has been maintaining a blog, 20% Time, outlining progress on their various projects since October.

The original idea of the project came from a leadership conference that Kleinhans attended and from the book Drive by Daniel H. Pink.

“It’s just something that piqued my interest,” she said. “I thought it would work well in classroom settings.”

The English teacher said the goal is to be internally motivated problem solvers, as opposed to working toward grades.

Much of the work done in the classroom is of interest to the English students, according to Kleinhans.

“It’s taking something they’re already interested in and adding that literary element,” she said. “Hopefully it’s encouraging more reading and writing outside of class.”

Kleinhans said the project is in its second year in her classroom. She cited senior Shelby Vosburg as a good example of taking a project beyond the classroom.

Vosburg planned and researched a trip to Costa Rica during the 20% Time her junior year and has now made the trip become a reality as her senior project.

“It became a real springboard for her,” Kleinhans said. “It’s fun to see all the diverse things that they’re interested in.”

Junior Jenna Brenda used the 20% Time project to start her own blog, No Book Left Behind, which offers her thoughts on the latest books she’s read.

“I had this pile of books in my room that hadn’t been read,” she said. “I wanted a project to make me read more.”

Brende said that she’s enjoyed blogging and plans to keep up with her reading project after the semester is over.

“I think reading is really important,” she said. “Kids who read more are probably more confident in school.”

Junior Matt Hoiland and his 20% Time partner decided to try out video games that they might not have otherwise played.

“I wanted to find some games to test out which ones were cool and which ones weren’t,” Hoiland said.

To implement the writing aspect of the project, Hoiland and his partner wrote reviews of Forza 4, a racing game, detailing the quality of graphics and gaming experience with videos and screengrabs.

“I learned to work in groups a lot easier,” Hoiland said of the experience, “to get along with people.”

Hoiland, who considers himself an outdoorsy type, said that the biggest lesson to learn from the project is to never be afraid to try new things.

Juniors Casey Warkenthien and Hunter Roberts used their 20% Time to start a food drive, setting a goal of 180 items by Dec. 22.

By two weeks ago, the girls had pulled in 123 items.

“It’s the giving season,” Warkenthien said.

“We thought it’d be nice if we did that for the community,” Roberts said.

They plan to donate their proceeds, which they began collecting around Thanksgiving, to the Baltic Food Pantry.

“Not everybody gets as much,” Warkenthien said. “Not everybody has all the money, all the potential to go get a job and get food.”

The girls hope to do a pajama drive next, after the food drive reaches its goal amount.

“A lot of people’s projects mean something to them,” Warkenthien said. “I think if it went to other schools it would take a lot of kids who are really quiet out of their comfort zones.”

To view the students’ blog, visit kleinhans20-time.blogspot.com.