Fundraising

Spring Term: Fundraising (2019-2020)

GOAL(s): The goal was to check out studying abroad programs and fundraise for one of them. I wanted to learn how to get started fundraising and how to fundraise. I planned to use the AFS, SIT, and CIEE websites to get more information about raising money. CIEE had a student of theirs post a Youtube video about raising $5,000 in 6 weeks. That was the main source I used for all the information. I looked around on just normal websites as well. I chose this topic because it's something that I enjoy. When I was younger all I wanted to do was study abroad. I felt like it was a good fit.

OUTCOME: What were the actual outcomes? Did you meet your goals?

The goals weren't exactly met, but all the stuff that I wanted to get done (for the most part) got done. The outcome that I got where I printed out all of the information that needed to be printed out. I met with my guidance counselor to give her the papers for that part. I also met with my guidance counselor to get my transcript and a few other things of information. I sent out the teacher recommendation as soon as possible, and thanks to Jim for giving it to me. I tried to get all of the stuff that I had to do first. For the most part that happened, I got done with the simple stuff like allergies, the writing, telling about my health, my identity, my GPA, and contacts. The rest is just documents, stuff for my doctor and family to fill out, as well as passport stuff.

REFLECTION: I learned that I can not deal with other people doing stuff for me and that when I start to fundraise it will be a challenge to ask people for help. I learned that there are many ways to fundraise and that the application process takes a long time to complete and fill out. My takeaways were that I needed to rely on and wait for other people to do my work for me, as well as ask people for money to give to me. Certain parts of the application I did enjoy filling out and I enjoyed interviewing Ms. Harootunian. I will probably bring it up a lot, but having people do other things for me is something that I don't like. Trying not to have a mental breakdown or get super stressed was a challenge. I get stressed out very easily and this was something that just didn't help with it. It was tame at the beginning but then other people started to get involved. I would try to get more evidence, like interviewing people.

EVIDENCE:

Spring Term #3

GOAL(s): The goal of this project was to start fundraising for studying abroad and get the application done for studying abroad. I planned to learn how to communicate, how to fundraise, and how to be patient. I planned to use the internet for most of my research, but lucky for me one of the programs had a PDF on fundraising. The other sources were a Youtube video and other people. I chose this topic because studying abroad is something that I've always wanted to do in my high school year. Fundraising is something that happens a lot in this world, especially if you don't have the funds to study abroad this is the only way that can happen.

OUTCOME: Some of the outcomes were different this second time around. Since this "online studying" thing, I have been slacking a lot. All the things that I wanted to get done in this cycle have not. The biggest problem is getting to the doctor's office and getting to a USPS to get a passport. The whole application itself is coming together. The more I get done, the closer I am to handing it in. I think of all the stuff that I have left and it's not a lot. I need to finish the photo album, the student letter, and the Queensland application. I emailed the Registered Agent so they could sign the Agent declaration. The fundraising itself is a slow process. The GoFundMe is coming along together (right as we speak,) I wish that I had someone that has done this before and knows what they are doing (in the process of that right now.) My family seems more admit to doing things about studying abroad.

REFLECTION: I learned that it's very frustrating to need other people to do stuff for you. Communicating with people and asking them for money is not very easy. The take-a-ways would be needing to have other people do things for me. This whole quarantine thing is messing me up, so I would say my time management is something else that was lacking throughout this project. The passports are going to be things that kill me in the end. In the end, it all seemed to come together, I realized that the more I get done, the closer I am to being done. Seeing the tasks get smaller from the application was a relief and a sign that said I should keep going. Needing other people is something that I needed a lot of in this project, which I wasn't a fan of. The challenges that I'm facing are getting to the doctors and seeing how to get a passport. The biggest thing for most of this is the doctor's information. The thing that I would do differently is managing my time better. By the end of what I'm writing, I didn't have a final project or a final source.

Term #4 (Remote Learning Term)

GOAL(s): The goal was to finish old stuff from the first two terms. I wanted to finish as much of the application as I could, get done the scholarship done, and try to get done the fundraiser. I planned to learn how to fundraise, what's the best way to fundraise, and why to fundraise. It was also to get the full experience of an application, all the way through. I went to the CIEE and AFS programs to get information about studying abroad. The fundraising guides are what it gave me, I used them a bit but not very much. The main resource that I used was John Dewane, he has his foundation to help younger children get an education in Honduras. I've wanted to study abroad since I was in elementary school, it's something that's been a goal of mine for a while. Doing this project helped me get a little bit closer to doing that.

REFLECTION: What did you learn through this project/process? What were your take-a-ways? What worked for you? What didn't work for you? What challenges did you face? What would you do differently in the future?

I learned that it's very frustrating to have to deal with other people doing stuff for you, I don't like that I needed other people doing stuff for me. The application process is long and slow and when a pandemic is going on it doesn't help very much to get the things that I need to be done. I don't have real evidence: What evidence can you show to support your reflection and outcomes? Include items such as project plans, research notes, journals, photos/videos, final products, audio recordings, feedback, etc).