When we were first given the project I had no idea what I wanted to do my paper or physical project on. The project was so broad and the fact that you would be spending all this time on it scared me. At first I wanted to do nursing, but then I thought I would get bored with that. As time started getting closer to due dates, I began to feel the pressure to find a topic for my paper and a mentor. At the last minute I ended up picking a daycare for my physical project only because I needed the grade. However, when the time came to pick a topic for my paper, I decided I needed to reach out to Ms. Dekoven for help. With her collaboration, we came up with the idea of doing my paper on teen substance abuse. To make this topic not so general and make it more specific, I used critical thinking and creativity to try and focus the topic more. As a result, I came up with the idea of explaining the physical, psychological, and sociological effects of alcohol and marijuana use on teens. However, after doing some research on my topic, I found there was a lot more information on people in general so I decided to not do just teens. When I really started going with my mentor I had a hard time communicating to her what the project was and where I wanted to go with it. With communication I was able to come up with things to do so I would get something out of doing this. This pushed me to be creative and come up with things I could do with the kids to gain something from this experience.
In doing my Capstone project, I gained more things than I expected to. To begin with, I learned that I like kids, but I don't want have a career with them. I've always thought kids were cute and easy to take care of. It was a big wake up call when I started working at the daycare. I'm usually not around a lot of kids, so it was surprising how difficult it was to keep your patience. I think now I want to get into a career that involves teens, maybe something in the medical field or psychology. As a result, I decided to major in nursing, instead of being a pediatrician, because I don't know if I could handle seeing all those sick babies and kids. Socially, I gained better people skills and become more outgoing. This project forced me to go outside of my comfort and be able to communicate with my mentor. Lastly, I gained more knowledge about a huge problem in America that most people over look. While completing my essay, I learned so much about what drugs and alcohol can do to you. The fact that I will never forget is how 100,000 people die every year from substance abuse. Not only that, but us Americans spend half a trillion dollars on the costs of this abuse. It made me reflect on my life and how deadly substance abuse really is.
There were many challenges that I had to face while doing this project. Whether it be having to pick what to do my project on, writing my paper, completing my mentor hours, or discovering I did not like the career I shadowed, I had to overcome these obstacles to finish my project. I overcame these challenges by using critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. Without communication and collaboration I would not have been able to decide on a topic for my project. Without critical thinking, I would have been unable to complete my essay. And without creativity, I would not have gained the experience I got from being with my mentor and the kids.
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