State your name

State the title of your project

In a few sentences, explain the greatest challenges that you faced while working on (or executing) your Capstone Project.

Marissa Parkes

Brown Bag Lunch Talks

Like I mentioned in my discussion post, one of my greatest challenges was being discouraged. I advertised everywhere I could, but I felt like I was unsuccessful when it came time for my first talk. I got deeply discouraged, and by the time I got to the second talk I felt like I had failed my project. That is when my wonderful family, fiancé, and Mrs. Starr from Calhoun gave me nothing but support. I was reminded not to be discouraged because professionals struggle to get their audience numbers higher at first. We all have to start from the bottom and build our way up. Now I look back and see that even though my audience numbers were low at first, the people who did show up got to benefit from these knowledgeable speakers.

Hayden Hill

An Exploration and Integration of Studnet-Led Conferences

Like I mentioned in my discussion board seven post, my greatest challenge was balancing my classwork and gathering emperical data for the project at the same time. Since I already explained I will choose a different challenge, getting people to respond to the question prompts. Its quite discouraging when you send out email prompts and people do not respond. I have found that the best methods for gathering information are doing lengthy interviews in person, while keeping email communication simple. So all my interviews and Q&A packets were handled with in person candidates and I plan to keep the emails as simple as possible with a google form with a few questions for quantitative data.

John "Buzz" Weaver

MAXQ-H (Multidiscipline Academic eXperience Qualitative-Homeschooler)

As I mentioned in my discussion board post, there are two primary issues I have faced with this project. Firstly, the daunting nature of what I could do and the great options for teaching that were available to me. Secondly, experiencing burnout from trying to do too much with any project. One of the biggest setbacks that occurred was when I needed to redesign the release mechanism for the rocket I wanted to use for the students. Fortunately, this ended up being a great opportunity to improve the design and make a better teaching aid. One of the greatest aids I had throughout this project was my family and the faculty at Calhoun. My family consistently encouraged me on what I was trying to do, and the faculty helped me plan it out and teach the best I could.

Ashawna Lamar

Dylan Atakoussok

Christian Clothing Brand

The biggest struggle is being a perfectionist and waiting until the moment is perfect. It's delayed the progress of this brand significantly, and I've decided to push forward even if the weather isn't perfect.

Nathan Shelton

Lifting the Weight Off

The biggest challenge I faced was overcoming my procrastination. I often struggle to begin and put meaningful work towards a project. I had to force myself to stick to a schedule so I wouldn't fall behind and risk having an unsuccessful event.

Jenny Limbaugh

Earning Your Wings

The most challenging thing I have faced so far was the nearly 4 month long break I had in my flight training. It was difficult to remain patient for all that time, and even more difficult to maintain all my flight knowledge. Studying on the ground has nothing on training in the sky. It was also difficult to find the motivation to keep studying, without the promise of applying my knowledge in the near future. I am thankful to be back up and running with my training once again now.

Abigail Slinkard

Lives Saved; Smiles Made

The greatest challenge I faced with my project was scheduling conflicts with LifeSouth. I originally had my project planned to be run in May, however LifeSouth had a complication so we had to move the date for it. Then in June we were going to do it again and again LifeSouth had a conflict with the event. Finally, in September (with a different point of contact) I was able to fun the blood drive and finish the toy drive. I was going to give LifeSouth one more try before moving to American Red Cross, thankfully LifeSouth got back to me to work out all the details in time.

Kara Jones

Supporting Moms, Supporting Students

So far, the greatest challenge I have faced is fundraising. My crowdfunding campaign is not going as well as I like, so I am having to boost advertising. I am also putting more effort into advertsing for my upcoming fundraising event in hopes to gain more support and donations.

Metals in Manufacturing

Mackenzie Alexander

While working on my Capstone project I have faced many challenges. My biggest challenge right now is time management and procrastination. I am currently working 50+ hours a week so finding the time to work on this project has been a challenge but I am currently trying to set aside time every week to get more done.

Marc Cera

Helping Foreign Students Belong

As I mentioned in the discussion post, the greatest challenge that I had to overcome was not the actual project, although very challenging in it's own right, but it was time management. Facing unknown circumstances on top of my already heavy workload, from being a full time students to working 8-10 hour shifts is taxing. I planned far too precisely to where if an unexpected variable where to arise, the whole plan would crumble down. Through this project, I have learned to plan with breathing room for unexpected situations. While also implementing physical things such as a whiteboard calendar to better see the tasks I need to accomplish. By no means have I completely mastered time management, but I am working to be better each day!

Lucy Scarborough

Reaching Calhoun for Christ

The greatest challenge I faced while working on my Capstone project was coordinating the timing between contacting the Huntsville campus coordinator and ordering my literature from Mercy & Truth Ministries. I knew that the literature would take roughly a week to arrive after ordering it, so I wanted to get it ordered as soon as possible. However, I first needed permission to distribute it at my table on campus. My correspondence with faculty lasted for about a week, slightly longer than I had planned. Fortunately, the timing worked out perfectly and I was able to get my literature ordered with plenty of time to spare once it was approved. A secondary challenge would be the wind blowing over my canopy tent while I was set up on campus. This was obviously quite an issue in the moment, but I do not believe it negatively impacted the results of my project whatsoever.