Capstone Project - Student Stress : Final Reflection

Credits to Tumblr (': Side note: Look at those Muji pens. Don't get me started on Muji pens. They're really nice pens. When you're writing with the pens, the ink flow is amazing and it's amazing and amazing. The colors that they come in are really nice too. ):

Before I get started, I'd like to give thanks to everyone who did our surveys, cooperated with us, and aided us through this project. Thank you Ms. Jacobs for putting together this project! Of course, thank you Ms. Castaneda for guiding us through this assignment. Your ideas, advice, and time is the reason why this is a success ( or so I think it's a success).  It means a lot and we both appreciate everything that was done for us!

Salutations, reader. (: If you have seen my blog post cover, you're probably thinking, "Oh. 'The end'. Is this the end of your Capstone Project?" Sadly, it is, indeed, the end of my Capstone Project. It has been a long month and two weeks (?) of working on this assignment. However, just because it's the end doesn't mean I will not continue to try to learn more about anxiety and pressure. Throughout the weeks my partner, Michelle, I have been working on this, we have learned a lot and understood a bit more about stress.
In the beginning when I first heard of this thing call the "20% Project", I was pretty fascinated and interested in doing it. It seemed pretty cool to be able to focus on a topic that you have a passion for and to be able to work on it for a really long time. However, I did not really understand what it was. After multiple videos, replays of the videos, and clarification I finally, somewhat, understood what it was. To be truthful, I still do not know what it is. Currently, I think the 20% Project is a project that you're interested in and want to spend time on. Is that what it is? I am not too sure. I did enjoy doing this assignment.

When we were told to come up with ideas to start building up on, my brain went blank. I did not know what I was intrigued by or anything, at all. Due to my brain being clogged up with useless, unusable information for a project of sorts, I decided to hop onto Michelle's, my beloved partner, idea. She had an amazing idea on student stress, which was this. Michelle's idea was to learn more about stress, how to cope, and the causes to help ourselves and to aware others in our community. Eternally grateful that she allowed me to join her group because I do not know where I would be without her as a partner. I am so unproductive so having a partner to not let down helped a boatload when it came to researching, doing informational graphics and more.

Our 20% Project was simple and it, thankfully, was a breeze to do. The road we traveled to finish this assignment did not really have many bumps. Yes, yes we know. You are suppose to learn from mistakes and difficulties but my partner and I did not encounter any. You can't really blame us for not running into anything because we were guided by our counselor, Ms. Castaneda. Most of our produced pamphlets and such were given to us as ideas by her. Our survey, which was a big contribute to our project, was completed by 80 different people. That's 8 times more than what I expected. The survey was something I was wary about. I was afraid that many people would not take it seriously, but thankfully they did. Thank you to everyone who took their time to fill out our form! Special thanks to Harrison for trying harder than he should have to get people to fill out some 8th graders' form.

Credits to Piktochat for making this possible Thank you to all the people who provided us with this information! Click on the photo for a better view

I have learned so many lessons and information from doing this project. The very first lesson that I would like to point out is never, and I repeat never, wait til the last day to do something (even if it is a silly 6 paragraph blog post). Even if your mind and body tells you to go to the movies at 9 pm at night because you think that you can come back and finish your blog post in time at the very, literal, last minute, do not do it. Your favorite streamer is on Twitch right now? Do. Not. Watch. It. Finish your homework on time. Don't procrastinate. Manage your time WISELY. This is a big reason why some people are stressed, they don't know how to manage the time they are given and have. Some things I learned from doing this was stress is something everybody goes through, from one time to another. It's one of the basic natures of life. Not having stress is simply impossible. Not only so, you have to find your own way to handle things like this. There is not one single solution to end your stress. Everyone has a different method to handle it. Another thing I learned is that you should take care of your emotional, mental, and physical health. I'm one to throw away my precious sleep to try to finish up unfinished work. Don't do that. Yes, your grades are important but in the long run your health is what you need to focus on. Grades do not define you so take care of yourself! You can't just stay up till 4 in the morning trying to simply perfect something when you need sleep. You need to let your brain rest. So what if you might lose a few points due to some issues? Health. Think about your health before whatever it is. This is more like a paragraph your mother or something would send you to get your act together and to take care of yourself. I'll just stop here with this. I could go on and on about what I learned and realized but I'd rather not. This project allowed me to understand so many things.

Credits to Chibird (^:

Credits to LucidPress for allowing us to make a pamphlet like this (': Click on the photo for a better view

Our original goal is currently being worked on. Overall, our "mission" was to aware parents, teachers, and our community about the stress many people have to deal with. A fragment of this is almost accomplished. The pamphlet we had made with all the information we gathered is going to be placed in our mentor's/counselor's office. Hopefully, in the future, students who come into her office will have a use for it! I was really happy when she told us that it was going to be put in her office for students. Typically many student's don't come to her about stress. It's not a normal topic that she gets and deals with because, most of the time, they keep it to themselves to handle with.

Simply because it is the end of the assignment for our class does not mean it is the end of adding to what I learned from this project. Michelle and I are also planning to step up our game and aware more people about this subject. Maybe we'll advertise our blogs or something. Doing this is really important to us because adults in our lives often times think that we, as students and teenagers, have nothing to worry or care about. When we talk about stress they just see us as whiny kids who just can't handle the little things in life.

This Capstone project is one that I will never forget. It was the most simple and the most encouraging project I've ever done this school year. I was given a chance to do something I cared about. I know many people who struggle with constant, continuous stress that causes them to feel ill on a daily basis so being able to spend every Wednesday to do such a thing is something I'm grateful for. This was fun and enjoyable. I am so extremely emotional right now because this is one of our final projects before we move on with our lives and go to highschool. I've spent 3-2 years of my life with the same teachers. Excuse me while I go cry an ocean.  I was capable of learning a lot on my own (with Michi of course) and do a lot on my own without much instructions from my teacher. My personal goal was reached and so was the project's goal and I think that's what this project is really about. then again I'm just really tired what is this project about? Everything I had learned will be put to use in the future, including the life lessons I received. This is about it for this project. I hope you enjoyed the long journey we had! Once again, have an amazing day! Thank you for taking your time to read this.