LAST WEEK

I cannot believe that this is the last week of capping. As insane as it sounds, I don’t want it to end. The end of this means that I am so much closer to graduation, a thought that I can’t even comprehend right now. I have been working on my blog and trying to post everything that is left unposted in preparation for my presentation tomorrow afternoon. After watching the presentations in the last class I am blown away by some of the projects. They have been so extremely creative and successful, I am so proud of my fellow cappers and know that they will be able to take their projects with them on job interviews and really have something to show.

I have been trying to plan my presentation, and took a lot of cues from the groups and individuals who have already gone. I plan on discussing the process of coming up with my project, where did I get the idea and why I thought it was a good one. Then the process I had to find participants as well as ideas which was sometimes a challenge. I am going to discuss the adventures I was able to go on and the fun that I had being a part of this project. I’ll share how I went about creating my blog and writing the articles, how I developed my voice and style. Then conclude with what I have taken away.

Slacker

Of course with midterms and a million other things to do I slacked off on my project… BAD IDEA! I thought that since I have the information that it would be easy for me to just sit down and do all the posts at once and I should spend my time on more immediate assignments. It has created so much stress! Never again am I getting behind, it has been in the back of my mind all day every day, nagging. With this valuable lesson learned, I should be more than on track for the rest of the semester with this assignment. Before I began catching up on missed posts I decided to revise the ones I had already made and to spruce up the design of my wordpress site. I thought that this would take me a few minutes, and deciding which theme would be the most challenging part.

Needless to say it took me a couple of hours and I felt like I was attempting to read Chinese. I don’t consider myself a tech person but I can definitely figure most things out, but I was struggling. I felt like I couldn’t figure out the simplest things, how do I make my post appear on a new tab? With countless Google searches I was able to fix everything I wanted and am happy with the website I have created. I’m sure that I will change the themes and set-up a hundred more times, but at the moment I’m satisfied. Even if I do decide to change it, at least now I know how! Now I just need to tackle the rest of the posts I have slacked on, and I will finally be able to sleep soundly.

First Post Accomplished

I finally set up my wordpress.com site for my Bucket List blog (www.maristbucketlist.wordpress.com)! Just creating the website lifted about 100 lbs from my shoulders since it was something I had been procrastinating and stressing about for the past two weeks. Promptly after making the site I wrote my first blog (another HUGE accomplishment, in my eyes at least) and I am just so happy with how it turned out. I think that the post is interesting and fun, the pictures really add to the blog since the reader can feel like they are a part of the experience I describe.

Writing the first blog really helped me feel less worried about how I was going to structure and word the posts. I didn’t know if I wanted to be conversational, formal, educational or anything else. I just chose to write about the experience in the way that I would tell a friend as I was showing them the pictures, and I think this is definitely the best way. Ill be stopping in to visit Professor Lerner to bug him and get his opinion, but for now I feel very pleased with what I have done (even if it is only just one post).

The First Adventure

This week our final proposals were due to our Professor. This might not seem like a big deal, but it is. This means that we have to officially know what we will be doing for our project, how we plan on doing on it, why it is a good project, and the greater good that will come out of it. Not the easiest questions to answer in my opinion. Writing the proposal was actually beneficial though. It allowed me to work through my thoughts and come up with answers to questions that I had never even considered. It also forced me to come up with a timeline and deadlines that I plan to follow.

Nowww, on to the more exciting stuff (not that written proposals aren’t exciting), I went on my first Bucket List adventure! My good friend Lauren loves to hike and be outdoors but had never taken advantage of our beautiful Hudson Valley surroundings, specifically Mohonk Mountain. We decided on a whim to drive there and go for a hike. So we gathered a few friends and minimal supplies and headed out! It was an amazing day. We got into more than we bargained for when we had to climb a rock scramble (basically the side of a mountain), but it completely paid off when we made it the top. The views were incredible and we were all so proud of ourselves! Lauren had the best time and was so happy she finally got to experience Mohonk, she already has plans to go back. I can’t wait to start up my blog so I can write about it with her perspectives and the pictures I took.

 

And Finally I Have An IDEA!

Luckily over the past week I was able to finally land on an idea, one of the many that I had been toying with, and begin to make some concrete plans for how I would be putting it into action. It all began two weeks ago when I was down by the Hudson with a few friends and they all decided to jump in and go swimming. Completely unprepared, I was just a spectator, but it got my creative juices flowing. I began to think about how jumping into the Hudson is one of those things that Marist Seniors say they have to do before graduate. Just last year during senior week, my housemates and good friends all jumped in to commemorate their last few days at Marist.

From this thought I began thinking about other things that people at Marist always want to do before they graduate, the Marist Bucket List. I didn’t know what direction I wanted to take this idea, but knew that I wanted to involve the Marist Bucket List and focus only on seniors. I am a senior myself, and capping (the reason for this project) is a senior class, so I thought it would only be fitting. After giving it some more thought and meeting with Professor Lerner I have a much better handle on what I am going to be doing for this semester long project.

I plan on asking a few friends for their committment for the first few weeks so that I can figure out the best way to approach this, but afterwards I hope it will involve Marist Seniors who I barely know. I am going to use social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter, to do a casting call of sorts and see if any seniors will volunteer their number one bucket list item. I will then meet with them to discuss the reasoning behind it and then follow them as they complete it. I am going to create a blog and include pictures of the experiences (all of which I will also get to do, BONUS!). I’m really excited for this project and can’t wait to see how it comes together, it might even turn into something completely different by the time I’m done with it and that is completely okay with me.

Happy Capping…

Capping is the dreaded class that every senior must take to graduate. Everyone hears horror stories of the capping process, and how it will completely take up your life for the semester it endures. I am now one of those seniors who has begun their capping process. The class was not what I expected at all, it is very open and has an extremely free flow of communication. Not to mention that the topics we cover range from extremely relevant to just absurd. It has been a lot more fun than I imagined it would. I’ve enjoyed the brainstorm sessions and the way that everyone in the class wants to help one another out and are looking out for each others’ best interests.

It seems that everyone came into the first class knowing what they wanted their project to be, or at least involve. I could not have been more lost. First of all, missing the first class because I messed up the time was not my proudest moment (am I a freshman?…I wish), but I was still completely void of ideas in the second, third and fourth class sessions. I am still struggling with ideas, even three weeks in. I know I want this project to be something fun and most likely senior based. I was considering a project that focused on Marist Seniors Bucket List. Perhaps interviewing students to find out the #1 item on their Marist Bucket List and then following them as they complete this goal. I’m still toying with the idea, but am planning on meeting with my professor (Lerner), this week to try and nail down exactly what I want to do. Right now I don’t feel so happy about my capping, but hopefully by the end of the week I will!