Reflections
When I first transferred to SUU for school, I heard about this EDGE program and the project we had to do for it. I immediately started thinking about things I could do as a project. One night I was working on decorations for a party that we were having for a family member and I just thought about how much I loved making those that it would be fun to do a party on a bigger scale. The next day at the party I had someone say I could totally do it for a business and I got to thinking that it would be a fun project. Then the opportunity came up for me when I had someone ask me to do a party for them. So my motivation I had for this project was that I had people believing in me and knowing I was doing something that made me happy and that I could improve on.
I had quite a few steps that I needed to do to complete my project. One of the biggest steps was at the beginning of my project and that was planning the party. To do this I had to really communicate with my client to find out what they wanted, what they liked, and what they expected from me. Next was starting the decorations, by buying all the material I needed to make them. After I had gotten everything I had to make all the decorations which actually took me longer than I originally thought it would. Then it was on to more communicating and planning for the refreshments that they wanted, the set up and the location of the party. Overall it took me a while, a lot of planning, creating, and time on my part to complete this project. I did get it finished and loved how it turned out and worked on many skills along the way.
My original goal was to put together a party from start to finish, making the decoration and working with the client and developing my communication skills. I did achieve my goal while working on this project, I obviously got the party put together but I did improve my communication skills because I was working so closely with the client. To do this whole party I had to communicate everything about what she wanted for this party. Another thing I learned or rather developed was my planning and organizational skills, which I didn’t really think about in the beginning but it will help me out in the real world. For my outcomes, I was able to complete a party and in doing so I learned how to cater a party and learned how to make more decorations. I also was able to learn how to communicate better while I was working on completing my project. I did see these outcomes coming as I was working throughout the project, because they did develop all throughout the process of creating the party.
The skills I used for this project were my basic skills in creating decorations. I feel like I learned more skills from completing this project, and I used these skills I learned throughout the project. One of the biggest skills that I worked on was my organizational skills. I found out that I got things done better and quicker, if I had planned ahead, and figured out what I should be doing first and what is more important. This is a skill that I will use all the time in my life, and future career. Another skill that I developed further was my communication skills. This was developed because I had to communicate with the client to cater to the kind of party she wanted. I will use my communication skills, also every day in life and in my future career as a nurse.
I believe Southern Utah University had us do this experimental learning requirement because it will help us grow and develop skills and qualities that future employers will look for in an employee. I felt that it taught me I can also do big things if I really try, and it taught me so much that will help me be an asset to a team in any career or job I will find. The metaphor EDGE stands for education designed to give experience. As a student who will be graduating soon I feel like this really did help give me experience even though my project did relate to my major I learned things that I can carry over to my major and use in my future career. Overall it was great and it did give me an experience rather than just sitting and learning about these things in a classroom.