January Update

I have laid a solid foundation and done a considerable amount of preliminary work this month!

Lilac is an early-flowering spring shrub that symbolizes growth, from ignorance to knowledge

1.

I have decided to stay clear from the pandemic-related challenges in regard to mental health after some responses I received about my Morning Reports announcement and discussions with the school counselor and my manager.

2.

I have met with Mr. Calos and Ms. McGivern regarding the progress of my Signature. The meeting proved to be tremendously helpful: I updated my Signature timeline, consolidated how I should approach staff members (the dining hall staff, housekeeping staff, and campus security) to best engage them in understanding my capstone project and sharing the pandemic-related challenges they are experiencing.

3.

I have updated the timeline of my Signature project to more accurately reflect my planned progress. I am especially grateful for Mr. Calos and Ms. McGivern’s support for me to slow down the planned progress. Additionally, I have been reminded that, because I have always envisioned Re-Equip to be a two-year Signature project, I can take my time to lay the groundwork for the project (including interviewing some participants in my survey, reading philosophy books, etc).

4.

I will be reaching out to Mr. Bayer (general manager of dining services), Mr. Ignacio (housekeeping manager), and Mr. Rentz (director of campus safety) in early February. I will first send them an email asking to schedule a 5-10 minutes meeting, in-person or virtually, with them each. During the meeting, I want to communicate with them about:

1. What Re-Equip aims to achieve

2. How my project is going to accomplish the objectives

3. Why I want to understand the challenges staff members are facing

4. How my interlocutor can help me to encourage the staff members to participate in my survey.

5. Collaborate with my interlocutor to determine details on how to best encourage participation.

5.

As recommended by Mr. Calos and Ms. McGivern, I will, hopefully, be meeting with Ms. Halfi regarding this Signature project. Since Re-Equip involves a considerable amount of community service, feedback and suggestions from Ms. Halfi would be invaluable. I hope to brainstorm ways of how this website can actively support others in the community and try to connect with local communities during my meeting with Ms. Halfi as well.

6.

I have gone through the responses I received so far on my survey (thank you to all 54 participants!). For more insights on how I reviewed and made use of the responses, please refer to this post.

7.

This month has been a time of tremendously intellectual growth as well. First, I finished listening to The Letters by Seneca the Younger on Audible. I have taken notes of what I heard from time but I will sit down at some point in the near future to write down all the quotes I find worth collecting. The quotes will both enrich my personal collection as well as be resources I can utilize to help others combat pandemic-related challenges.

Besides listening to The Letters, I have re-read Albert Camus’s Myth of Sisyphus. The perspectives and depth of understanding I obtained from this reading are invaluable. I have typed all of the quotes I found enlightening to my personal, online collection of quotes! In the next meeting with Ms. Bendall, my liaison, I hope to discuss the philosophy argued by Camus in the book to prevent any misinterpretation.

I will next be reading Fear and Trembling by Søren Kierkegaard and Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre.