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Lilyana Sanchez

Ms.Cunningham

British Literature (1)

13 March 2019

Blog #4

My original topic of choice was art therapy, and recording the effects that it has on

people. However with the confidentiality factor of the topic I was not able to get very much

evidence even if I did go and do the interviews. So I decided to stick with the same topic of art

however I used it to help kids in elementary school explore what they want to be when they grow

up. I wanted to get kids inspired to think about their future and what they wanted to become by

making it more like a fun activity rather than just another assignment. I decided to go this route

because as a kid in elementary school I remember asking myself what I wanted to be when I

grew up, and I didnt know. It wasn't because I didn't want to be anything at all, but it was more

so the fact that I never really thought about it, I mean no one really asked me questions

specifically regarding my future not even a little. That’s why I felt the needed to touch on this

especially with the younger kids.

Having that conversation with kids about what they want to be when they are older,

opened up a lot of conversations. Some kids obviously took the question “What do you want to

be when you grow up?” more seriously than others. However even then I’m sure they went home
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thinking about their future more than when they did when they got so school that day. Through

this whole process I learned that kids are more than capable of handling those “BIG” scary

questions that even high schoolers are scared to answer because they have the capacity to dream

as big as they want, as creatively as they want, and as freely as they want. Do you know that

roadblock that every high schooler goes through trying to figure out their future and what they

want to be? Well that's most likely because no one asked them enough questions as a child, or

even mentioned a conversation about who or what they aspire to be in life.

Although my plans for my capstone turned out differently then I had originally planned

them at the beginning I am so content with how I ended my capstone. I managed to go along

with most of my steps which consisted of firstly contacting the Hearts director at Victoria

Elementary which was one of the hardest obstacles I encountered because I couldn't get a hold of

her as conveniently as I would have liked to. The hardest obstacle that I encountered was

definitely having to change my capstone idea half ways through the project time because of the

art therapy circumstances. However after reaching me the Hearts director Christina Bold

introduced me to “my kids”. When I got her call back okaying my idea I immediately headed

over to the school and was prepared with art supplies. When I got there the kids and I clicked

right away. We gathered outside and asking them I started asking them questions and just tried
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getting to know them, I was also recording and taking pictures of them while getting to know

them. These clips and pictures of the kids painting will be displayed on my digital portfolio.

I honestly didn't expect this capstone to impact me as much as it did. When I first started

this project it felt like a drag and I honestly was not into it at all, but when I actually started

thinking about my topic the more and more I realized how relatable it was and still is to my life. I

think that is the best thing anyone can teach a child is to dream, to have goals, to picture

themselves where they wanna be when they grow up. I wish someone had asked me those

questions, or even brought up those conversations when I was a kid. I feel like I would have been

more prepared and confident about moving into the future and growing up. Talking and making

those connections with the kids made me realize how big kids imaginations, and dreams are, they

made me realize that maybe I should think like that sometimes. My main goal was to inspire,

ignite these kids brains to think even at least a little bit about their futures, and I feel like I

honestly did that, and to be honest I feel like I kind of inspired myself to think like a child a little

more often. It was one of the best experiences that I've ever had, I felt super welcomed by the all

the staff and kids, we clicked so well that I could practically call them my friends. Mrs. Christina

and I got along so well she asked me to be a regular volunteer for the hearts program, I am

excited to continue supporting that program. If I could do anything differently it would be the

way that I started my capstone, I went in with a fixed mindset and assumed that the project was
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going to be boring. I should have been more open-minded.I also wish I had more time to record

more projects that I will be continuing to do with the kids.

I feel like I definitely made an impact in the way the kids think about their future, if not a

lot then I know that they at least did think about it for a second and that's all that really counts. I

feel like it would have been more useful if I had made like a short little presentation to expose

the kids to different career fields but I feel like that would have taken away from the actual

activity and its purpose. Which was to creatively express who they want to be or what they want

to be when they grow up. Instead that presentation would have taken away from their unique

imaginations, and dreams. I want to continue on this path of exposing these kids to awesome

careers and potential future jobs so I will take it further by next time making a presentation

including a variety of jobs so that they are at least informed about the things that are out there. If

I could give any piece of advice to an incoming senior about the capstone is that they should

really focus on a topic that they'd be interested in. Another piece of advice that I would give is to

try not overdue themselves , they should try to focus on something that is tangible for them to do

because one it will be more effective and secondly time usually flies during this process so you

might find yourself having to change your capstone half way through the process and that would

take even more time.

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