Charlie Kuykendall
After looking back on all that has been done and the few things left that need to be done, I think that the project was successful. We began by researching global issues where our group had a mutual interest in the ways children with special needs were treated throughout history and how this translated to how they are treated now. We noticed that throughout history, different countries treated special needs children in very harsh ways. Many saw it as something that inhibits their ability and makes them in some way not human. This history of being treated in this way inferably led to the lack of funding in schools in the special education department.
After interviewing two teachers from the special education department at our own school, and noticing this problem was indeed a relevant issue, we went on to interview long time principal of Anderson High School, Dr. Spencer, to further question why this program is underfunded. We found that the system of obtaining money was difficult and based off of the number of students and the department. This makes it difficult for the special education department to have the materials necessary for the students, which in turn inhibits their ability to learn. From this point, due to the fact that another capstone group was already spreading awareness of this issue for Austin High, we decided to reach out to Cowan Elementary and their special education department because of our connection with the Head of their Special Education Department. We asked what they needed and formed our project from there.
We found that they needed many items that would help the students retain their attention on the teacher in the comfort of their chairs. We then estimated a cost, designed a fundraiser, spread the word and hoped for the best. After spreading the word to both the Bowie PTSA as well as the Cowan PTSA, we were able to educate as well as fundraise for the issue at hand. As a last resort, we all emailed family friends for a last minute fundraiser boost and actually found a large amount of our donors that way. In all, we were able to raise nearly 1,100 dollars and are now beginning to purchase the items needed in the classes within the Special Education Department at Cowan Elementary.
After interviewing two teachers from the special education department at our own school, and noticing this problem was indeed a relevant issue, we went on to interview long time principal of Anderson High School, Dr. Spencer, to further question why this program is underfunded. We found that the system of obtaining money was difficult and based off of the number of students and the department. This makes it difficult for the special education department to have the materials necessary for the students, which in turn inhibits their ability to learn. From this point, due to the fact that another capstone group was already spreading awareness of this issue for Austin High, we decided to reach out to Cowan Elementary and their special education department because of our connection with the Head of their Special Education Department. We asked what they needed and formed our project from there.
We found that they needed many items that would help the students retain their attention on the teacher in the comfort of their chairs. We then estimated a cost, designed a fundraiser, spread the word and hoped for the best. After spreading the word to both the Bowie PTSA as well as the Cowan PTSA, we were able to educate as well as fundraise for the issue at hand. As a last resort, we all emailed family friends for a last minute fundraiser boost and actually found a large amount of our donors that way. In all, we were able to raise nearly 1,100 dollars and are now beginning to purchase the items needed in the classes within the Special Education Department at Cowan Elementary.
David Garcia
As the donations keep rolling in I feel accomplished and that we will be able to help students learn. We will be delivering the classroom materials that are requested from the Cowan Special Education Department in January and I'm excited to see what difference a semester of work can make. We spent most of our time researching the topic, interviewing experts, and planning the donation drive than actually raising funds.
We had a good impact on the students because we were able to raise over $1000 for the Special Education Department at Cowan. This means that students will have better access to the materials that will help them learn and focus. We didn't quite meet our goal but we didn't plan on meeting it. We did raise a ton of money though, much more than I thought we would. This is because we originally only planned on raising money through the Bowie PTA, which did raise us some money and awareness; but we later decided to have our parents and relatives advocate our cause in the workplace. We shifted our target audience to a more broad spectrum of parents in general and ended up raising much more money that we expected.
If we had more time we would have worked to interact with students and have more of a direct impact on their education and lives. But if we had the same amount of time, we would have made our audience larger so that we could spread more awareness and raise more funds for the department.
Overall I feel successful and proud of our project. We were able to connect with new people throughout austin and make difference in a classroom.
We had a good impact on the students because we were able to raise over $1000 for the Special Education Department at Cowan. This means that students will have better access to the materials that will help them learn and focus. We didn't quite meet our goal but we didn't plan on meeting it. We did raise a ton of money though, much more than I thought we would. This is because we originally only planned on raising money through the Bowie PTA, which did raise us some money and awareness; but we later decided to have our parents and relatives advocate our cause in the workplace. We shifted our target audience to a more broad spectrum of parents in general and ended up raising much more money that we expected.
If we had more time we would have worked to interact with students and have more of a direct impact on their education and lives. But if we had the same amount of time, we would have made our audience larger so that we could spread more awareness and raise more funds for the department.
Overall I feel successful and proud of our project. We were able to connect with new people throughout austin and make difference in a classroom.
Justin Rusthoven
I feel my group was very successful in raising money. We raised over 1,000 dollars that will go straight towards Cowan elementary. The fact that we are able to buy a large amount of goods that are needed by the school will impact the kids in such a positive way. Allowing these kids to get the needs that will allow them to learn is a great accomplishment. We had very high expectations as a group but then as the project slowly started we realized that we may not be able to reach the expecations we had set for ourselves. We ended up working very hard and striving for no less then 1,000 and now wae can say we got to out goal and are exceing it every donation from here on out. We are not at the 1500 needed for all the supplies requisted but we are more the two thirds the way there and be able to buy most of what the kids need.
We communicated very well throughout the community, personally I communicated with close family and friends and got word about our fundraiser out very fast. As a group we worked to get the news about out project out to the Bowie PTA and Austin High newsletter and the Cowan parent email along with fifty plus emails of friends. Our origninal plan to only communicate with the community around Cowan was shut down by the fact that we realized to reach our high goal we had to strectch our arms when asking for donations to be able to recieve the best amount of possible donations.
I leanerd that to be succesful in life you must do more than just try one option you must try many options because in the end it will give you more oppurtunity for more results. Later in life I now know to not choose just plan A but also plan B and C that way I can have the best chances in being able to succeed. Life won't always go the way you want it to but that is when you must take advantage of all the chances you have. If I had to change anything it would just be my group maybe getting the newsletter better printed so we could have more success on that front instead of just th epersonal emails. I am happy we got the money we needed by I also want to get the schools affected invovled.
We communicated very well throughout the community, personally I communicated with close family and friends and got word about our fundraiser out very fast. As a group we worked to get the news about out project out to the Bowie PTA and Austin High newsletter and the Cowan parent email along with fifty plus emails of friends. Our origninal plan to only communicate with the community around Cowan was shut down by the fact that we realized to reach our high goal we had to strectch our arms when asking for donations to be able to recieve the best amount of possible donations.
I leanerd that to be succesful in life you must do more than just try one option you must try many options because in the end it will give you more oppurtunity for more results. Later in life I now know to not choose just plan A but also plan B and C that way I can have the best chances in being able to succeed. Life won't always go the way you want it to but that is when you must take advantage of all the chances you have. If I had to change anything it would just be my group maybe getting the newsletter better printed so we could have more success on that front instead of just th epersonal emails. I am happy we got the money we needed by I also want to get the schools affected invovled.