Understanding Policy and Government
Throughout the process of Project Citizen, I really was able to get an in depth look into just how much work it takes to actually get a bill through congress. Not only was it a tone of in depth research and finding statistics and facts, but it was also considering the game of politics and how to talk to the right people to get the idea into congress. I ended up having to go back to the research step to find local and supporting politicians that would even entertain the idea in the first place, which was not even a thought when I first started the project.
Civic Engagement and Responsibility
There really is a lot that needs to be considered and completed as a citizen in order to effectively take an active role in the politics of the country. During the project, I learned a lot more about the responsibility of being a citizen and how important the people are in the process of law and policy making. Being active is more than just voting for congress and letting them decide the laws. It needs the people to speak up and band together to support what they believe in.
Collaboration and Advocacy
The decision process of selecting a solution was relatively easy as most of the group had essentially made up their minds before the project started and there was not any evidence that significantly changed anyone's perspectives. In the political world, the next steps would be to reach out to local politicians that support education in order to further advocate the problem of inaccessible education and the proposed solution.
Personal Growth
Throughout the process of Project Citizen, I have had quite a few problems with my group such as communication. Many times there was not any type of communication outside of class or when a message was sent to someone, there was rarely a response. Additionally, while meeting deadlines was not an issue, the time frame in which work was completed was problematic. On the day before the research was due, eighty pages of research were added to the group doc, and even on other steps of completion, much of the work done by group members was left until the last minute. Yet despite all this, the group worked together to get a quality job done and to complete the work they were assigned, including myself, and I found that my skills in collaboration were not only pushed quite a lot, but my critical thinking and application skills were strengthened as I attempted and successfully to tackled the new problem of politics and congress.
Personal Importance
As a rising senior, the impending thought of going to college has been quite pressing and has really brought up the consideration of actually paying for college, which I am going to have to do soon enough in order to get a higher education. This project not only educated me in the process of paying for college and all the different scholarship and award opportunities, but it also allowed me to gain an important understanding of how the issue of high college costs will personally affect me and how I will be able to pay for college as a middle class citizen.