Senior Projects 2012 Dear Senior Project Panel Members: Thank you so much for taking your time to review our project and sit on our panel. We are excited to share our Senior Project with you. As you peruse our information, please enjoy our reflections and artifacts. We look forward to presenting to you and welcome any questions you have. Inside you will find: • •
Kaitlyn Risley’s Reflection Artifacts from the project (NO ARTIFACTS WERE SUBMITTED)
Sincerely, Young Readers Senior Project
Kaitlyn Risley Senior Project Reflection Overview For my Senior Project I went back to where I completed my required internship, Busy Bee’s Academy, Johnson Center. After completed my internship there, I realized what a bond I had created with a lot of the kids there. Even if I was having a bad day the kids would also make me smile, and so I wanted to give something back to them. One of the things that the kids loved to do was to read books; therefore, I made a plan to do a book drive for the kids. My goal was between 100‐150 books, and I raised a total of 125 books. It made it to where each child received a book to take home with them, and also to have some books left over to help start their library. In the Beginning… At the beginning of this year when I first started thinking about what to do for my senior project, the one thing that I know I wanted to do was to help people. I was sure how, but I know that I really just wanted to do something for others. It’s a passion for me, I love helping other people. So my original idea was much different from what I ended up doing. In the beginning, I wanted to raise money for an orphanage in Africa. Then I started my internship at Busy Bee’s academy, Johnson Center. I soon realized that I really loved those kids and I wanted to do something to give them some love, like they did to me. That’s when I decided that I wanted to do something for those kids. They all really love to read the books that are provided at the school, so what better thing to do? I decided to do a book drive. I collected a total 125 books to give to the kids. There are around 105 kids that attend school there and I collected enough books to ensure that each child would get a book to take home and read. So in reality, my project took an entirely different turn that what I was originally thinking. I am very happy with the way that things turned out. I love the fact that I could make a small difference in their lives, and putting a smile on their little faces. It was the first year that this particular location of Busy Bee’s had been open, and therefore it made me the first high school intern, and the first person to do such a project. I think that by starting to encourage reading at an early age, it’s a great way for kids to learn that reading can be fun. It’s important to encourage reading compared to playing video games. Struggles of being alone… I did get a little bit of a late start and I didn’t really fit in any of the other groups, I did end up alone. Therefore it was difficult, because I do struggle with procrastination. I had a hard time trying to get myself to do things in a timely manner. I also struggled with communicating with my mentor; I should have done a better job of trying to keep her updated. That probably would have made me done better with my deadlines and such. Triumphs Where I struggled with procrastinating, I excelled in persistence and determination. Once I got started on the project it’s self, I didn’t give up. I had a hard time getting the word out to the public, but I
never gave up on it. After putting an announcement in my church bulletin and calling around some old family friends, I finally met my goal of being able to give each kid a book. That’s what mattered to me, being able to give a gift to those who gave me love and a better perspective on life. I am very satisfied with the way that my project turned out. I love looking at the faces of the kids when I gave their teachers the books to give to them. The joy displayed there, was more than I could ever ask for. I just wish at the beginning of the year I would have already picked this project so it wasn’t so rushed towards the end. The Future…. This experience made me realize, even more than I already did, just how much I love working with kids. It brings happiness and joy to see them happy. I am still very unsure about what I’ll be doing in the future, but I know that it will most likely be working with kids in some way. My goal is to possibly work as an elementary school teacher in a third world country. It made me realize that it is better to have a child‐like heart than to have one that is full of regret and hatred. That is something that I couldn’t or wouldn’t trade for the world.
No Artifacts Submitted