Name: Miles Coutts Project Start Date : January 29, 2015
Title of Project: DAV Donation Drive Project Completion Date: March 28, 2015
1. In 40 words or more describe your project and the steps you performed to complete it. What did you produce or perform?
My project was a great success I got 56 donations overall. The first step was to get permission from the Virginia DAV Thrift Store to use one of their trucks for the donation drive. Second, I needed to get a date from Kingston Elementary School. Then the DAV Thrift Store needed to know the date. After that, I needed some way to get inside the school because the forecast called for rain.
2. In at least 40 words explain how the project challenged you, and what sort of time challenges and resource problems did you encounter?
This project challenged my patience. By that I mean the weather forecast had sunny one day then pouring down rain, then sunny high temperatures, and then sunny with low temperatures. Even after I had started my event with no weather problems I still had to wait for people to come and donate.
3. List and then describe 5-8 fundamental ideas/concepts/skills of your project, which you learned during your project.
4. List and describe 5-8 problems you encountered in your project, and briefly describe how you solved each.
1. The weather forecast kept changing from rain, sun, freezing, warm, to just cold out. I was able to go inside to the Cafeteria.
2. Every time I went to see the vice principle to talk with her she was in a meeting. I dealt with some of the other administration which were very helpful.
3. I wanted to see if I could have someone from the DAV Thrift Store to come and talk about how they help the DAV through their profits, but no one was able to do that. I had the truck driver bring a mission statement about the DAV.
4. At first I was going to work with the city of Virginia Beach by using Brill Field which is right by Kingston Elementary School. The problem was that the city has a deal with the soccer group Rush to let them use the field on Saturdays. The contact from the city had, to my understanding, said that he would contact Rush for me and see if there is a possibility that I could get the DAV truck to park right next to the field. After a few days of no response I sent an email asking him if he had contacted them for me and his response was, I said I’m not going to communicate with them for you, here is their email address. After that happened I decided just to work with Kingston Elementary School. They were a lot either to work with.
5. The next problem was finding a date that worked for both the school and the thrift store. That was easy the thrift store was good with any date and the school said the same so I picked a day that I had nothing going on and it worked out.
6. I wanted to see if I could get a disabled American veteran to talk at my event but all the veterans in my neighborhood that could give a speech were not injured/disabled during their service. I figured with all the research I did that I could give a speech on what I know about the DAV Thrift Store and how they work with the DAV.
5. Outline the process hours spent in completing the project.
A. Estimated total hours spent on project:__20_____
{Should match those detailed in Progress Report}
B. Estimated total steps involved in your project: _______50_
Modify number of steps to fit your project.
Steps Involved Hours Date Completed
1. · DAV Thrift Store Truck 5 min January 25
2. · Talk with city guy 15 min January 30
3. · talk with consultant 30 min February 4
4. · change to Kingston 2 hours February 5
5. · go meet with Vice Principle 20 min February 10
6. · email Vice Principle 30 min February 11-13
7. · ^fill out forms to use school grounds 25 min February 16
8. · made calls to both Kingston and DAV 2hours 30min February 17-18
9. · asked DAV thrift store for speaker 15min March 5
10. · working on flyer and correcting flyer 10 hours March 10-20
11. · made confirmation calls 2 hours March21
6. List materials used.
· Doughnuts
· Paper for flyers
· Tape for putting flyers on mailboxes
· Staples for putting flyers around school
· Napkins
· Flash drive for pictures
· Time to set all of this up
7. List all people who helped you on the project and briefly describe the help given.
· Jalyn Lasal: photographer
· Mr. Spruill: Consultant; gave me ideas on how to set this up
· Mrs. Davis: Kingston Vice Principle; letting me use Kingston Cafeteria
· Mrs. Blunt: Janitor who let use in to the school
· Amber, John, and Ben Paulson: Audience for speech
· Mom and Dad: supporting me all the way
8. How does your completed project compare to the picture you had in mind when you started the project?
My project didn’t compare to what I thought would happen. I thought I would have veterans from the neighborhood come and donate but instead I had family and friends come and donate. It was still a great success though. I received 56 donations which filled in the whole right corner of the truck. The pile was as tall as I am.
9. If given the opportunity, what would you do differently now that you speak from experience?
In my neighborhood there is a traffic circle right when you enter it. I could have put a banner on it saying that my donation drive was going on. On my flyers I should have kept on there that it was my senior project for school. I think if I had gone to more senior projects more people would have shown up. Also I think the location was too far away for most people. Maybe if I had held it at FC then maybe more people could have come.
10. Now that the project is completed, explain/describe the stretch or challenge you encountered/experienced.
One of the biggest challenges was the fact that in the middle of me planning the whole project the school decided that they would block Gmail both on the computers and phones. This caused major concern because I cannot be using data the whole day when I’m trying to email everyone about my project. I would have to switch my Wi-Fi on and off all day it was an inconvenience and a problem. I would be at school not getting any emails, stay after for NJROTC still no emails and I get home I have 10 emails saying I need to get in touch because there was a problem or confusion. They were all time stamped with the time at was at school checking my email every minute. That was the biggest and most costly challenge because I was emailing teachers who had no problems with their emails.
11. Beyond the project itself, what did you learn about yourself?
I learned that I need to work on my communication skills. I was trying to set a time for me and Mr. Spruill to get together and talk about how I was coming along. I didn’t set a date through all of the emails until I just stopped by and asked what day and we just started talking then and there. Next time I just should throw out dates until one will stick.
12. What grade would you give yourself on the project? Justify the evaluation of your grade in at least 25 words.
Grade: 100
Justification: I worked really hard on this. I made calls to several people and I was able to get a DAV Thrift Store truck to come to Kingston Elementary school and stay until it was over. I gained 56 donations in four hours. Plus, with the donations items being sold, the money goes to the DAV and helps a disabled veteran get the help they need.
Title of Project: DAV Donation Drive Project Completion Date: March 28, 2015
1. In 40 words or more describe your project and the steps you performed to complete it. What did you produce or perform?
My project was a great success I got 56 donations overall. The first step was to get permission from the Virginia DAV Thrift Store to use one of their trucks for the donation drive. Second, I needed to get a date from Kingston Elementary School. Then the DAV Thrift Store needed to know the date. After that, I needed some way to get inside the school because the forecast called for rain.
2. In at least 40 words explain how the project challenged you, and what sort of time challenges and resource problems did you encounter?
This project challenged my patience. By that I mean the weather forecast had sunny one day then pouring down rain, then sunny high temperatures, and then sunny with low temperatures. Even after I had started my event with no weather problems I still had to wait for people to come and donate.
3. List and then describe 5-8 fundamental ideas/concepts/skills of your project, which you learned during your project.
- Stress will happen no matter how much you plan: When I was planning I thought everything would go off with out a hitch. Instead I started to worry because no one was showing up how I expected them to be. I honestly thought that I would have car after car after car full or donations. This was because I had given out over 200 flyers for my event.
- Procrastination is not my friend: I waited to last minute to do a few things, like make a call or send an email. It came back to bite me after I had realized that one was time sensitive.
- The city is hard to work with don’t work with them unless need be: I had originally planned on having this in front of Brill Field where a lot of people are every weekend. After talking to the Parks and Recreations person I came under the assumption that he would talk to the Rush company to see if they will allow me to use the field during the time they are contractually going to be using it. After waiting for a few days I sent an email to the Parks and Recreations asking if he had gotten in contact with Rush. His response was that he never said he was going to talk to Rush but that I should do it my self.
- Everyone has stuff to give away: I learned this because my Grandmother and my aunt brought some children's toys that they had in the attic. One of my friends came and her mom said it was about time she cleaned out her closet. One of my teachers came with a little tricycle and scooter that her kids out grew. Then a neighbor came with the bed of his truck full of donation items I didn't think anyone could have so much stuff that they wanted to give away.
- LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION: One reason I think people didn't show up is even though Kingston Elementary school is close to me it might not be for everyone else. If I had chosen a different location maybe more people would have shown up
- I can always count on my friends: With all the flyers that I had put up around the neighborhood and at school my friends wwere the ones who came out to support me.
4. List and describe 5-8 problems you encountered in your project, and briefly describe how you solved each.
1. The weather forecast kept changing from rain, sun, freezing, warm, to just cold out. I was able to go inside to the Cafeteria.
2. Every time I went to see the vice principle to talk with her she was in a meeting. I dealt with some of the other administration which were very helpful.
3. I wanted to see if I could have someone from the DAV Thrift Store to come and talk about how they help the DAV through their profits, but no one was able to do that. I had the truck driver bring a mission statement about the DAV.
4. At first I was going to work with the city of Virginia Beach by using Brill Field which is right by Kingston Elementary School. The problem was that the city has a deal with the soccer group Rush to let them use the field on Saturdays. The contact from the city had, to my understanding, said that he would contact Rush for me and see if there is a possibility that I could get the DAV truck to park right next to the field. After a few days of no response I sent an email asking him if he had contacted them for me and his response was, I said I’m not going to communicate with them for you, here is their email address. After that happened I decided just to work with Kingston Elementary School. They were a lot either to work with.
5. The next problem was finding a date that worked for both the school and the thrift store. That was easy the thrift store was good with any date and the school said the same so I picked a day that I had nothing going on and it worked out.
6. I wanted to see if I could get a disabled American veteran to talk at my event but all the veterans in my neighborhood that could give a speech were not injured/disabled during their service. I figured with all the research I did that I could give a speech on what I know about the DAV Thrift Store and how they work with the DAV.
5. Outline the process hours spent in completing the project.
A. Estimated total hours spent on project:__20_____
{Should match those detailed in Progress Report}
B. Estimated total steps involved in your project: _______50_
Modify number of steps to fit your project.
Steps Involved Hours Date Completed
1. · DAV Thrift Store Truck 5 min January 25
2. · Talk with city guy 15 min January 30
3. · talk with consultant 30 min February 4
4. · change to Kingston 2 hours February 5
5. · go meet with Vice Principle 20 min February 10
6. · email Vice Principle 30 min February 11-13
7. · ^fill out forms to use school grounds 25 min February 16
8. · made calls to both Kingston and DAV 2hours 30min February 17-18
9. · asked DAV thrift store for speaker 15min March 5
10. · working on flyer and correcting flyer 10 hours March 10-20
11. · made confirmation calls 2 hours March21
6. List materials used.
· Doughnuts
· Paper for flyers
· Tape for putting flyers on mailboxes
· Staples for putting flyers around school
· Napkins
· Flash drive for pictures
· Time to set all of this up
7. List all people who helped you on the project and briefly describe the help given.
· Jalyn Lasal: photographer
· Mr. Spruill: Consultant; gave me ideas on how to set this up
· Mrs. Davis: Kingston Vice Principle; letting me use Kingston Cafeteria
· Mrs. Blunt: Janitor who let use in to the school
· Amber, John, and Ben Paulson: Audience for speech
· Mom and Dad: supporting me all the way
8. How does your completed project compare to the picture you had in mind when you started the project?
My project didn’t compare to what I thought would happen. I thought I would have veterans from the neighborhood come and donate but instead I had family and friends come and donate. It was still a great success though. I received 56 donations which filled in the whole right corner of the truck. The pile was as tall as I am.
9. If given the opportunity, what would you do differently now that you speak from experience?
In my neighborhood there is a traffic circle right when you enter it. I could have put a banner on it saying that my donation drive was going on. On my flyers I should have kept on there that it was my senior project for school. I think if I had gone to more senior projects more people would have shown up. Also I think the location was too far away for most people. Maybe if I had held it at FC then maybe more people could have come.
10. Now that the project is completed, explain/describe the stretch or challenge you encountered/experienced.
One of the biggest challenges was the fact that in the middle of me planning the whole project the school decided that they would block Gmail both on the computers and phones. This caused major concern because I cannot be using data the whole day when I’m trying to email everyone about my project. I would have to switch my Wi-Fi on and off all day it was an inconvenience and a problem. I would be at school not getting any emails, stay after for NJROTC still no emails and I get home I have 10 emails saying I need to get in touch because there was a problem or confusion. They were all time stamped with the time at was at school checking my email every minute. That was the biggest and most costly challenge because I was emailing teachers who had no problems with their emails.
11. Beyond the project itself, what did you learn about yourself?
I learned that I need to work on my communication skills. I was trying to set a time for me and Mr. Spruill to get together and talk about how I was coming along. I didn’t set a date through all of the emails until I just stopped by and asked what day and we just started talking then and there. Next time I just should throw out dates until one will stick.
12. What grade would you give yourself on the project? Justify the evaluation of your grade in at least 25 words.
Grade: 100
Justification: I worked really hard on this. I made calls to several people and I was able to get a DAV Thrift Store truck to come to Kingston Elementary school and stay until it was over. I gained 56 donations in four hours. Plus, with the donations items being sold, the money goes to the DAV and helps a disabled veteran get the help they need.