Most people are disgusted by seaweed, but Julia Zueck isn’t. Fueling her Genius Project with her love for her beachside town and knowledge from her science classes, Zueck creates what most wouldn’t think of― a kelp bag.

The Genius Project is assigned to juniors and is due by the end of their senior year. This project is an outlet for students to create something or organize an event to positively impact their community. Zueck takes an original twist to the Genius Project to not only help the community, but the oceans as well.

The first step of the Genius Project is, of course, choosing the route in which one wishes to take. After initially being introduced to this project, Zueck, took some different steps than others.

“I didn’t want to do anything everyone else was doing,” Zueck declared, “I just really wanted to make something.”

As acrid and slippery as kelp can get, Zueck looks past that in hopes for a safer and cleaner ocean; however, some obstacles inhibit her from fully completing her project. As simple as making a bag sounds, Zueck begged to differ because there is much more science behind the fabrication.

“I’m super stuck right now,” she expressed. “I have to figure out how to keep the seaweed preserved, in order to keep it from drying or molding, so it can actually be a usable bag.”

Despite the hindrances, Zueck refuses to give in to failure. She is always thinking to herself, how she “could make this better” even though she has had “many failures [and wants] “to try again.”

Before Zueck even began creating the kelp bag, she had to present her project to teachers and parents, and after her presentation, an HR rep approached Zueck and gave her a business card.

“The HR rep said, ‘Call me if you want to sell these bags. This is a great idea.’”

The business behind the kelp bag “has always been in the back of [her] mind,” she stated; however, the money is not her driving factor. She wishes to create something that will decrease the perpetual plastic buildup in oceans and on beaches.

“If it ends up back in the ocean, then at least it will go back to where it came from,” she argues.

As the completion date begins to lurk closer and closer, Zueck does not worry about it.

“I really love my project, and if you really love your project, then deadlines won’t matter” Zueck emphasized.

In addition to her project coming to a wrap, so do college applications. In her personal statements, Zueck wishes to reveal her passions, even in the face of failure or succession.

Even though Zueck has faced multiple obstacles, she refuses to give up on her idea. She refuses to let plastic waste clog the oceans and blanket the beaches.

“No matter what ocean it is, it is going to help plastic waste.”