Coming into this class, I thought I had everything planned out from day one. I knew what topic I wanted to do and how/when I’d develop and execute a project. Surprising to nobody, I quickly realized that one setback could mess up my whole plan. However, part of Capstone is developing the ability to bounce back from setbacks and create equally serviceable contingencies. While I was initially upset about not being able to execute my preconceived plan to a tee, I’m now thankful that I wasn’t able to as it allowed me to learn a lot more about myself, my skills and just generally understand myself better as a student and pragmatist. By conducting an independent research project, I learned how to individually reinterpret failure and by being solely responsible for most of the aspects of the project I gained a far greater sense of responsibility. While I selected my topic very early into the course, deciding how I would incorporate that into a tangible product became an issue. I firstly introduced the idea of a fundraiser in which all proceeds would be donated to a charity that deals with the issue of sexual violence. That was the first wrench in which it was recommended I refrain from projects with a monetary purpose and instead focus on the social/communal aspect. Coming up with an original idea was not crazy, and often posed a challenge considering the complexity and sensitivity of the issue, especially in a school setting. After consulting with several mentors, my teachers and community contacts, I slowly but surely developed another original (non-monetary) idea. I would focus on educating our graduating seniors going to college about sexual violence on campus. That way I had a set demographic and a narrow focus. Through mentor recommendations I would focus on the peer education portion of the project as students are more likely to listen to each other as opposed to a teacher/administrator. Over the next month or so, I dedicated myself to completing and attaining a peer educator license for student health and sexual wellness. This proved to be the most meaningful part of my project, personally speaking, as this course thoroughly educated me on the complexity of the issue in society. Prior to this, I only had quantitative statistics to form a project in its entirety. The lessons taught by this course gave me a completely new perspective on the topic as a whole and how it affects the individual. Through this, and the tedium of the course, it allowed me to learn and grow my already-existing passion for the topic and learn that I am willing to truly dedicate myself to something I care deeply about. After getting my certificate I looked to how I could spread what I learned from the course to others at my school. While I wasn’t able to get volunteers and present in classes due to timing restrictions regarding finals. I pieced together the most important lessons from the course, significantly shortened it and stitched it into a video for my school announcements. Along with this, I partnered with the Red Cross club and got the presidents to narrate the video. I think ingraining it into the club as opposed to a singular capstone project would allow it to remain as a consistent presentation at the school. Throughout these several revisions/challenges in my effort, I learned a lot about my own strength as a student and what I’m truly passionate about.