Finishing up

As my time working on my senior project is coming to an end, I'm realizing how many lives my project effected and hopefully it will be the beginning of a tradition!  I'm not sure how I feel about going back to school for 5 periods a day.  As a compile my presentation, I'm also realizing how much work I really put into it.  It didn't feel like that much since I had a month (and a few days) to work on it and get it ready, but it really was a lot!  I loved my project and am so grateful I had the opportunity to work with FOCUS!

Curiosity

A ton of people have been asking me questions about my project.  Apparently it's been getting around, mothers who had kids at the dance have thanked me, and people are overall intrigued.  People want to help and make sure another one gets put on next year.  I'm not sure why it's attracted to much attention, maybe because it's so different then the "normal" senior project.  Or maybe people just really want to help with it next year and thought it was a great idea. 

Never Can Say Goodbye

Today was my last day in the office with FOCUS, and I am so grateful for the time I got to spend with them.  They were a truly amazing group of people and I hope someone takes on this tasks next year.  Now I just have to finish making my video- which is going to take a while. 

Winding down

The gala is over but I've gotten amazing feedback!!! Mrs. Alig messaged me and so did Mr. Peebles.  Besides their message Rev came up and said this was one of the better projects he's seen.  Lots of people have said they heard great things about the gala and wish they could have come, Elizabeth seems to be thrilled with the event as well!  I'm so happy everyone loved it as much as I did and I will try to create a brief incase someone wants to do this next year so they can have an idea of what I did!

007

Today was the big day.  I got all my last needed supplies and was at Lovett around 3.  Luckily, two of my friends came over to Lovett to help set up and they were a big help.  It took about 20 minutes to get into the art room, the lovely security man was in the middle of his job when I called.  We got our poster up, and all the decorations.  Food was set up to the T, water and lemonade were ready (with the help of Mrs. Alig's lemon peeling skills), backdrop was ready.  Everyone was ready to go.  It started to pour around 5:45 but luckily it stopped right around 6.  At 5:45 all the volunteers came and were briefed on their jobs for the night and how to deal with special needs children.  Around 6:45 the attendees started to arrive.  Everyone was so excited for the night.  The night went smoothly- even though I had trouble with my camera to record, luckily Cleo was there with her camera.  The response was great the volunteers loved it and the attendants loved it.  Everyone danced away.  There were circles of kids holding hands dancing, and we had a congo line.  It was awesome seeing everyone come together and put away their differences.  All of the volunteers were amazing and did so well with the adults, and I don't think anyone wanted it to end ( although we sure were sweaty and our feet were starting to hurt).  It took about 30 minutes to put all the stuff up once it was over, thanks to the boys for their heavy lifting.  Overall it was a great night! 

A day away

I've had some last minute cancellations, and not all the material we got was correct but overall it should be an awesome night tomorrow!!! We're getting the things in place and hopefully it won't take too long to set up.  Tomorrow there will be a few last minute things I'll have to do (pick-up chick-fil-a, get balloons, make the strawberries) but I can't wait! 

Closing in

I think we have more than enough volunteers now because Brian messaged me saying I didn't need to recruit anyone else, which I'm thrilled about!  As well after buying all the things there's really not much to do except collect a few more things, and set up.  I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow and Saturday.  All the volunteers seem excited too, it should be a great night!

Here's a picture of something I created to send to all the volunteers!

Coming Together

With the Gala just three days away we're starting to put everything together, pulling supplies and creating signs.  I can now envision it even better in my head and was thrilled when I saw the list of 35 volunteers!!!!  I'm going to pick up the back drop on Friday, and create another sign tomorrow, so everything is really coming together.  It's all pretty exciting and I'm a little nervous for everything I have left to do, but we're getting there!!

Pro Communicator

They say the best presidents are the ones with the best communication skills, and I should be very good at communicating by now!  I've sent so many emails back and forth, and had to call multiple people about my project.  I should be getting pretty good at this.  I was bummed when I got a flat tire because I was really excited to start painting the poster (I'll probably have Mrs. Story help me figure out how I should put it together and store it).  It's quickly approaching and I'll have a lot of work to do tomorrow!!!

Here's a look of the nametags:

Relief

Today after sending reminder emails all last week, and forcing myself to get up early today to make it to morning assembly (which i rarely make even on a normal school day) to make an announcement it was all worth it!  A ton of people came up to me in the hallway asking if they could still sign up and asking me to resend them the forms.  I must've forwarded one message 10 times!  Also people I didn't even know where going confirmed with me today and told me how excited they were.  Although a lot of people found out they couldn't come, people are always willing to help and want to do anything they can even if it's come set up in a dress and full makeup (one of my friends is doing this for me).  Today was a good day for the volunteers!!

Life gets in the way

Sometimes your plans don't work out as expected, people have other commitments and have to cancel appointments, which really wasn't a problem! Considering our Prom is tomorrow, it was nice to not have to go in today, but I'm just not sure what i should be doing right now! 

Twiddling thumbs

As I predicted I had little to do today.  Right now it's a bunch of networking to try and get things done, so a lot of emails have been going back and forth but with little "action". I still need to make a couple of phone calls, I'll work on that tomorrow or Monday.  I'm going into the office tomorrow, so she'll give me more things to do.  Hopefully I can take some of the stuff home and just do it at my house, such as making the lanyards, bracelets, and name tags.  But until then, I'll just sit here twiddling my thumb

Free Time

I'm not sure how much more time I'm going to need on my own to work on the project, there's not that much to do.  Really all that's left is to get all the stuff together!! There's not any more researching stuff to buy, it's just whatever Elizabeth needs me to do in the office.  We're going to go shopping one day next week and go to Cosco and Party City, so that should be fun.  But, besides that the at home work to do is little. 

Much to do or little to do

I can never figure out if I have a ton of stuff to do before the prom or just a little because we always get so much work done in the office.  I'm learning that everything you do is not always going to be right the first time (especially with me I tend to need a lot of instructions).  So I redid part of the nametags today to make it look how Mrs. Hewell wanted- which was way better by the way!   As well you might spend a lot of time doing research but those ideas may not always be needed or used.  But, that doesn't matter as long as the final project is what the "customer" wants! 

Quickly Approaching

I don't realize how close the Gala really is!  When I was looking at lanyards I would just barely get them before the Gala if I were to order them today, which made me realize it's only two weekends away! Woo! That's closer then I thought.  I'm really enjoying working in my senior project and figuring out how to best organize my time between school, home, and at FOCUS office!  It's been a great first week!



Here's a little look of everything that's running through my mind and a few of my notes 

First "Official" Day

Today was my first "official" day on the job.  I had come in about three times prior to the start of my project to get some groundwork done.  There are so many tiny details for this project, and it's going to be really fun setting everything up.  I have to finish making a floor plan tomorrow, since the pictures of the middle school are too far away and I couldn't remember how the patio is set up.  I also went to Chinese- a class I had dropped- for about 20 minutes and realized that was not the move.  If i feel as if I don't have much work to do I probably shouldn't go to class (at least Chinese) because I was so lost.  Am i even supposed to go to a "dropped" class?