Final Reflection-
My capstone project was an opportunity for me to go into my own community and find an ongoing problem that I see daily. For me that problem was homelessness. For my capstone project I first started a collection drive at the South Park Inn Homeless Shelter. My collection drive was held at school and lasted for 3 weeks. I collected boxes and decorated them, then I placed them in all the high school advisory classrooms and gave students and teachers the opportunity to donate items like t-shirts, socks, flip-flops, deodorant, and tooth brushes. After my collection drive I then gave what I collected to the shelter, which was about 203 items. I then started volunteering at the shelter serving dinner twice a week.
Through this project I personally learned that part of being an adult is doing things on your own and taking that first step. During this project I had to be more of a leader. For example, for my collections drive I had to be the one to find out what the shelter needed and to get the items, it was my job to get the word out about the things I was collecting. Another example would be when I couldn’t volunteer at the shelter for a little while due to covid I did for a while struggle with finding something else for a little but then I realized I couldn't just wait around for the shelter to open up to volunteers again. I went and found another option online which was a company called foodshare. I helped pack products that were sold to homeless shelters and food pantries. I also learned that it is better to ask and be turned down than not asking and wondering what the answer would have been. This is something I have trouble with because I always fear that the answer will be no. An example of this would be when I asked for my mentor to be my mentor, I was afraid she would say no because I knew another student had also asked her to be their mentor.
Through this project I also learned many academic life skills like proper email etiquette, how to get a mentor, how to create a website, and most importantly how to network. Emailing was important because it helped me get started with my project. If I didn’t know how to write a proper email I probably wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to start my collection drive or volunteer in the shelter. The feeling of serving dinner in a shelter was a whole new experience for me. I don’t know if I impacted anyone there but they did impact me, being at the shelter I would always think to myself like how do people get here and where are there families and just by being in the building I got the answers to my questions. I noticed that many of the residents are not even from Connecticut so many may not even have any family that’s around they can turn to. Some are also elderly and veterans so it’s probably hard to get back on their own. No matter what the reason someone is living there I noticed that everyone in the shelter isn’t hopeless and by that I mean I see different people trying to make a way to live on their own. Whether it’s getting a job or just staying constant and keeping a job. While serving people dinner I always greeted people with a hi or smile and was most of the time greeted back. I also noticed how the South Park Inn runs like a family. I don’t know how to explain it but I’ve seen how the staff and residents all do their part to make the shelter go like clockwork so everyone is taken care of.
If I were to do it all over again I would make a plan about what exactly I wanted to do and put in even more effort to make an impact in my community. I know that everything I learned with my capstone project will help me in the future. It has helped me grow as a person and become more independent because it was something I had to do myself. It has helped me push myself into becoming more of an adult and has taught me that I don’t need to lean on someone else to get things done.