When I was working on my capstone project throughout the year, I was able to effectively develop my project by communicating with others, using my resources, and taking inspiration from other capstone students. Throughout the year, I discovered that I learn best by talking to others who are very knowledgeable about political science and the inner workings of Government. I give credit to John Katko, Justin Watkins, and Chris Faricy for helping me with my project and giving me invaluable information about their experiences. 

More specifically, my project faced an evolution, especially in the early stages when I had a topic but little to no call to action or solutions to the issue. Gerrymandering is a complicated subject that relates to the manipulation of congressional districts to favor one party over another, which often disenfranchises voters in favor of politicians and the majority party. The way to fix gerrymandering is to create new fair maps that favor proportionality, competitiveness, and contiguity. This can be hard to sell to the public due to how abstract it is. However, gerrymandering has a profound impact on how representation works in Congress and it has much real-world value. But this initial branding problem was a large hump that I had to get over in the planning stages. Additionally, I am not capable of solving my problem, even at a smaller scale, due to the nature of government and large structures being entrenched (along with being an outsider).  So the issue of solvency was also a major roadblock and had to be fleshed out, until I eventually settled on making the project about education and awareness in addition to action, since action had limited reach.

Challenges that were difficult to overcome also included contacting experts. Getting email replies could prove challenging, and I initially contacted professors but (with the exception of Chris Faricy) didn't play out the way I hoped. Regardless, I found Justin Watkins, a friend of the family who had political experience, had an enlightening take on ranked choice voting as another major solution to gerrymandering. Overall, I still got the contacts I needed to have a fulfilling project, but it would take some effort and outreach that I wasn't fully ready to accept when I first started, which means that Capstone helped me branch out significantly.

My project also continues on even after the class, as I see practical application in continuing it in college as a means of contacting community figures, such as John Mannion (again), when in Washington. And also for the benefit of the message I can bring to the community. My trifold was received very well by students and adults at both exhibitions, and they all were eager to investigate my website, which could still easily be expanded. So overall, I am very thankful for the Capstone experience that pushed me in this direction on a topic I enjoy, and finding a way for it to be practical and marketable as a problem in society, and how to find solutions looking forward.