Project+Evaluation

1. A) B) To change the minds of those who are contenplating nursing homes I chose three areas in which prove that nursing homes are better for an elder. The three areas I chose were: constant care, a healthy diet and an active lifestyle. For each I gave statistics, scholarly sources, and the most importantly examples from the nursing home I volunteered at. To alter the view of every sterotypical nursing home: "a place to go to die" I put everyone in a scenario that made them think about their family and life. Hopefully this will make everyone see nursing homes from a different perspective. To prove that volunteering at a nursing home not only makes the residents days but also makes your own, I'm using real life stories, and my own feelings on the subject. One goal I did not meet was "Establish that the elderly residing in nursing homes are provided with proper medical care." The reason I did not meet this goal was because I felt as if it didn't support my thesis well enough and it was insignificant.
 * Change the minds of those who are contemplating nursing homes for a loved one
 * Alter those who vision nursing homes as a place to go to die
 * Prove that volunteering at a nursing home not only makes the residents day, but makes you leave feeling good about yourself
 * Establish that the elderly residing in nursing homes are provided with proper medical care
 * Show that the staff of nursing homes supply the residents with activities that keep them active
 * Illustrate that residents have the ability to have more day-to-day decision making but are still supervised and safe

2. Advice I seeked for this project would probably be- one, the paper. I had a hard time with the thesis but once I was passed that and recieved help from Mr. Martin, I felt very confident. After doing research and then finalizing my thesis statement, I conducted more research to support my thesis. The next and final advice I asked for was my hands on project. I wished to do something relating to sports, like a tournament, to raise money for a certain nursing home, but it fell through. I couldn't think of what to do plus it was hard to do during the winter time. Mr. Martin then helped me come up with the solution of simply just volunteering. Since I had already been a volunteer at Saint Joseph's Villa, it wasn't hard, but I made sure I paid close attention to the three things I stated in my thesis.

3. Right before I even started the senior seminar class, I was already nervous to present. When we started the paper, I was very stressed out and had a lot going on and it was hard to find time. I should have worked harder on my paper and managed my time better and I would have gotten a better grade on my paper. After my paper was finished, I began to get even more nervous about my final presentation. I'm not a very good public speaker, but I did do well on our five minute presentation in class, so that gave me a little confidence. I have been practicing a lot but it will be much different environment on the day I present.

4. I learned a lot while doing this project. First, I learned that I really need to manage my time more; managing my time will get me good grades and keep me from stressing out. Second, I learned how to do a big project in which requires research, preparation and public speaking. Third satisfaction that I gained from this project was self confidence. Although very nervous to present infront of my class, I practiced, practiced, practiced and finally got over my fear and presented.

5. One problem I encountered was coming up with a fundraiser for my hands on project that would make money to donate to a specific nursing home. To solve the problem I saw Mr. Martin and we came up with the solution which was to keep volunteering at the nursing home I volunteered at during the summer and went to my whole life. The second problem was uploading the videos. Once I took the videos and put them on my powerpoint, they would not play when I uploaded them to slideshare. To fix this problem I uploaded them to youtube and just inserted the link on my slide. That didn't work either, so I just had to open up the videos in different windows.

6. I learned a lot about managing my time. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way. I waited for somethings until the last minute and it really hurt me in the long run. Next time I have a project like this, most likely in college, I will not wait until the last minute!

7. I have always gotten stressed very easily and I didn't get stressed with this class until my presentation was coming up. What I learned about managing my stress is to keep calm at all times and just take a deep breath in and relax. The more stressed I got, the worse I would do with what was due.

8. If I had to do the project another time, I would definetly do a better hands on project. I love helping others so choosing nursing homes as my project was great- but, I also love to cordinate things and I love sports so I would definetly go back and do a better hands on project.

9. I would have to say a 90% because I put a lot of effort into my project and I think it is portrayed through my hands on project and my analysis behind my thesis and all the information that supports it.