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One skill that was very helpful was advocacy because my group ran into many issues that required us talking to Tina in order to find a solution that allowed us to do the best work that we could do. One example of this was when we had to kick two of our group members out because they weren’t contributing. We also used advocacy when we were unable to complete part of the project on time so that we didn’t get penalized. Advocacy is a skill that is detrimental at Animas High School. Without it, you don’t get your needs met and your experience isn’t as meaningful or relevant.
In this project, I did a lot of the research and writing. Although we did not complete the project, without have done the research and writing, we would have had nothing. Even with not having the project completed, I do feel good about what I was able to accomplish during this project because I know how much time and work went into it.
The biggest issue I faced during this project was my fellow group mates not pulling their own weight. In some ways I think that this was my fault. This is because I could have asked them to do more work or tried to assign them tasks to do. I can be shy sometimes and I find that this can be a problem when you need to advocate for help.
One thing I thought before starting this project was that I really don’t enjoy group projects. This project affirmed this thought. I find that group project are more stress than help. I am aware of the fact that for a lot of people group work is how they prefer to complete projects but for me, they cause more stress. I believe this because, if your group doesn’t do what they are supposed to do or does it wrong then it takes double the time and effort to go back and fix the mistake.
I learned a lot about how deeply we impact the environment. Of course, I already knew that we had an impact, but I didn’t realize how big of an impact we make. My project was on how we impact flooding. It was very interesting to look at how cities and other urban areas impact flooding due to the small amount of porous groundcover.
If I were to do this project again, I would change a couple things. The first thing that I would change is my topic. I really enjoyed my topic and it is something that I would like to study more in the future, but it was hard to find data and studies on it since it is not a highly studied topic. The second thing that I would change is my group. We didn’t get to pick our groups but I would have advocated at the beginning of the project for a different group. I think that if I were to change those two things I would have been successful in completing my project.
One thing that I learned from this project was that sometimes you are going to have to work with people that might not be your first choice but you have to deal with it because you don’t often have a choice.
One skill that I wish I had previous to this project was using editing software to create infographics and diagrams. It was hard for me to get very far because I didn’t know how to make the edits that I needed to make in order to be successful.
Personally, I thought that the activities in this project fit very well with my learning style. It was the perfect mix of in class notes and hands-on drawing, hiking, trail work. I really enjoyed how balanced this project was.
I think that this project will help me a lot in the future. During this project, I realized the importance of time management and not messing around. I also learned that you have to be ready to work with anyone because you don’t know who you are going to end up with. Another takeaway that I have from this project is, hard work really does pay off. If you don’t put the effort in then you don’t get any reward.