Conclusion,+Findings

Self Evaluation Time!

Overall, I think that my project went well. It might have been a better idea to choose a topic that I was less familiar with, because it would have forced me to learn about something new. That being said, this topic was natural for me to do because of how much time I have invested in athletics. I definitely could have done better on my paper, and a lot of the time I felt like I was stating things that were obvious or repeating myself. Maybe its just because for me, the benefits of being involved in athletics are obvious. Every friday in the winter after a hard practice or meet, I tie up my sopping wet hair and listen to my team mates talk about their plans for the night...eating, sleeping. Thats about it and it sounds absolutely wonderful after rough practices. Sometimes the girls talk about their friends' plans for the night...parties, dates, etc. And I'm not envious, because they will never have the experiences that I have had. Most of those girls probably were never exposed to the immensely supportive environment that I have been a part of for years. So maybe that is why the research part was hard for me, because the positive statistics they stated about athletes just seemed natural and blatantly clear.

I. A) List the five goals from your formal proposal. 1) Prove that there is a correlation between participation in athletics and good grades 2) Help inspire kids to become involved/more involved in athletics or helping local sports teams to give back to the local, athletic community. 3) Show gratitude to those that helped me. 4) Instruct athletes to improve their physical skills 5) Help to improve self esteem in the aforementioned young athletes. B) Prove that you met each of these goals or thoroughly explain why you did not.

1) While I did not do a survey to garner a statistic between athletics and good grades, I included a question pertaining to athletics in my filmed interviews. All responses were very positive and in my favor. The most common response was that athletics forces students to learn to manage their time wisely, which of course translates to the academic arena. 2) During this semester, I attended all but one Springfield Aquatics Club meet. I remained on deck and took pictures and talked to all of the kids. When I say all of the kids, I mean literally all of them. Their ages range from six to eighteen and I did my best to motivate them: I cheered for them while they swam and congratulated them afterwards. I talked to all of the younger girls and joked with them. After almost every meet, mothers of the younger athletes would approach me and thank me for being involved. Honestly, I didn't feel like I was doing much because I love all those kids. It was very rewarding. 3) Yes! Goal definitely accomplished. I made sure that my mom and Dan Bell and all of my interview subjects were aware of how thankful I was for their participation and cooperation. 4) Yes, again! During the SAC meets, I also spent a lot of time with the coaches and would confer and help (in a very small way, but still) to adjust strokes to make them more efficient. 5) Yes! During meets, I like to make it a point to talk to the girls who are less outgoing and as the season nears its end, I have seen these girls coming out of their shells more and more. II.  What did you seek for advice on this project? Did you improve at asking for feedback?

For advice in this project, I asked the students I interviewed if they thought the questions I asked them were useful and they would approve of some of them or edit them a bit so they were more relevant or less repetitive. I like to think that I did improve at asking for feedback. I wasn't insulted when I practiced with my mom and she corrected a mistake or suggested a different way to phrase things. III. Describe any risks you took in order to complete this project. Be sure to consider emotional, intellectual or physical challenges.

Any risks that I took in completing this project were definitely emotional risks. In asking such personal questions to my friends, I could have brought up painful sports-related memories and forced them to live through it again. I know this probably sounds really trivial, but remembering painful swimming-related experiences can make me personally pretty upset. IV.  List and describe three personal satisfactions you have gained from doing this project.

1) Connecting with my interview subjects! Sports is really a good catalyst to share stories and learn more about your friends, and it was very rewarding to spend time with some of my close friends and learn even more about them and their experiences as an athlete. 2) Practicing public speaking, though it literally gives me an anxiety attack, has been a good experience. I am becoming more confident talking to groups in a formal setting which is obviously going to be very helpful in college and eventually in the real world. Or maybe even The Real World on MTV, for that matter (I kid..) 3) Finishing this class is one huge step towards graduation, and I must admit I'm extremely excited for the end of my senior year and the beginning of my college career. V.  Explain two problems you encountered and how you solved them.

The first problem that I encountered was my fear of public speaking. I solved this by practicing my speech over and over. I went over it in my sleep, and murmured it to myself through out the days preceding my presentation. I sacrificed my semblance of sanity for familiarity with my project, which has made me more comfortable with the idea of presenting. The second problem I encountered was how to present my project in an interesting fashion that I would remember. Also, I'm pretty focused on not fainting. I solved this problem by really putting myself into this project. I tied my personal experiences with sports and how it has shaped me as a person into the project and I hope that it really translates to the audience and forces them to stay awake the whole time. VI. What did you learn about managing your time?

As far as managing my time goes, I feel that I did an alright job. I could have spent more time working on the final paper, and I could have practiced my speech a bit more, but overall I feel that I did an average job concerning time management. VII. What did you learn about managing your level of stress?

I learned that if you are familiar with your material, completely prepared, practiced, and confident with yourself, then there is no reason that you should be stressed. Regardless, I was, but thats another story. VIII.  If you could do the same project over again, what would you do differently?

If I could do the same project over again, I would spend a lot more time on my paper. IX. Grade yourself based on the stated goals of the course - to encourage higher order thinking skills such as application of knowledge, analysis of information, creativity and the ability to make strong evaluative judgments. What grade do you deserve and why?

I think that I deserve an A based on the amount of time and effort that I have put into the final presentation. I feel as though the synthesis of all the pieces of my project including the research, project, and personal connections was very creative. In preparing for my final presentation, I examined my slideshow and felt it was lackluster, and missing necessary elements. I went back through it and re-vamped it so that it was more entertaining, and flowed better. I am proud of the final product and hope that the actual presentation is as successful as I hope it will be.