Original Proposal

B. Abstract: In a paragraph of at least 200 words, provide an overview (or abstract) of your proposed Community Engagement EDGE Project.  You may wish to offer succinct responses to the generic questions of Who, What, Where, When, and Why?

I will be planning and putting on an activity for the special education students at both Cedar High School and Canyon View High School. This will occur in February around Valentine’s Day at Cedar High School in the upstairs portion of the main gym. It will involve the special education students from both school’s as well as student government and honor society members of both schools. These students will be there to better help integrate the special education students into the social environment of the schools. I have discussed this idea with various faculty members of each school in order to ensure its success and approval. There will be games, prizes, food and music to be enjoyed by all involved in the activity. I am doing this activity in order to promote involvement and a sense of community for the schools which this activity benefits. I have been a beneficiaries of community involvement throughout my life-time; I believe I can bring that sense of community to these students who often feel left out of community linked activities, which will make them feel as though they can join in and continue to be involved, as well as create new friendships within their small communities.

Note:  The Abstract is worth up to 15 points and MUST be included in your proposal.  

C. Project Details (Be specific and detailed in response to ALL prompts!  A solid proposal will be at least 2 pages in length.)

1.      Explain how the project connects with your personal motivations and career aspirations.

I plan on studying occupational therapy. Occupational therapy is a field that quite often works with children who have difficulties performing everyday tasks. This often includes special education students. In this project I will be exposed to special education students and learn more about them, how they think, feel and react in certain situations, particularly social situations. I will also be able to better understand how to engage them and make them feel comfortable. It is also necessary to be able to communicate and work with parents and guardians of these children in order to ensure proper progress in order to benefit the child. We will be involving parents, as far as they would like to be in order to create a safe and enjoyable environment.

2.      Explain how the project ties in with concepts of community engagement.

A community is a group of people who reside or dwell in an area. A sense of community is a feeling of involvement based on commonalities within a group of people. This sense of community can often be difficult to achieve in any group of people. However, it is even more difficult if there are fewer commonalities within the group. I have found in my life that a shared experience often brings people together and allows them to create friendships with one another. This shared experience builds a sense of safety and involvement allowing people to enjoy one another’s company and feel a sense of community. We plan to provide this activity bringing groups of people who don’t interact on a regular basis to enjoy an experience together and hopefully build a sense of community between schools as well as a stronger bond within each school.

3.      Provide a timeline for completion of each step of the project.

November 13, 2015: discuss with faculty of CHS and CVHS for approval of the activity.

November 13, 2015: secure a location for the activity

November 20, 2015: submit completed EDGE project proposal

December 11, 2015: Provide details as to various games, food  and times to administrators as CHS and CVHS

January 30, 2015: Purchase prizes to hand out for games at the activity from the dollar store. ~ 40 prizes

January 31, 2015: Finish creating invitations and have them copied. Attach a letter to the invite to inform parents of our plans on the specified date

February 1, 2015: Deliver invitations to Mrs. Bulloch and CVHS and Mrs. Beckstead at CHS, so as they can give them to the students so their parents are aware of what is happening at school

February 5, 2015: E-mail/talk to Mrs. Bulloch to ensure that transportation (vans) have been arranged to transport the students from CVHS to CHS.

February 7, 2015: Assemble games to be played at the activity (pin the arrow on cupid, corn hole, milk jugs, dowels for ring toss)

February 7, 2015: Make decorations for the dance (cut out hearts, cupid mural)

February 8, 2015: Verify what treats pro-start is providing and double-check to see if we need to prepare anything food related

February 11, 2015: make any food that needs to be made before activity

February 12, 2015: 11:00 am - set-up decorations

                              12:30 – set-up music through speaker system at CHS, place food etc.

                              1:00 – activity begins

                              2:30 – activity ends/clean-up decorations and food

February 13, 2015: write thank you notes to all those involved in helping us with our project.

February 15, 2015: deliver/mail thank you notes                                   

4.      Provide a budget, with projected expenses and revenues, for your project.

Item	Cost ($)
Prizes	-$35.00	Pencils, erasers, coloring books, crayons, bubbles, glow sticks (40 prizes)
Food	0	donated by CHS honor society
location	0	donated by CHS administration
transportation	0	donated CVHS administration
decorations	0	No cost necessary as supplies are already in my possession
games	-$27.95	paper, wooden dowels, rings, boxes, milk jugs etc.
Invitations	-$21.79	Copies and prints of invitations
Gas	-$15.00	Transportation to organize and attend event
Personal Savings	+$100.00	Personal savings
Total	+$0.16

5.      Explain how your personal strengths will help you complete your project.

 I consider myself to be an organized person and able to accomplish things when I set my mind to them. I am a self-starter, which allows me to accomplish many things without the need of an outside influence. I speak to people with effectiveness and am able to communicate ideas and other necessary things, such as plans. Though, I tend to be quite reserved and may not have a desire to talk and interact with others, I am a friendly person, when need be and I am able to make other people feel included in various activities. I have also helped plan and have a similar even while I was in high school, which will hopefully allow me to improve and reflect upon past experience to make this event an enjoyable experience for everyone involved.

6.      Explain how you will overcome your personal weaknesses and outside threats to complete your project

I do not go out of my way to make friends, however with this activity I will need to approach people and ask them about themselves and essentially make friends with them.  I will also have to convince administrators and parents that this is a good and beneficial activity by proposing the idea and explaining, in detail what it is we plan to do for this activity and explain benefits of enhancing the student’s community involvement. Time constraints are always a difficult thing as a college student. However, making this project a priority and scheduling time for it will help us be able to make this is highly enjoyable and beneficial activity for these students.