Culminating Blog Reflection

Throughout my experience with the Capstone project I had to use a lot of critical thinking. I mainly used critical thinking during my hours with my support group through deciding which questions to ask them during the sessions and how. I needed to come off as understanding, so to do so I had to really analyze how I should be speaking to each of them so that they would feel comfortable sharing things with me. Communication was an important aspect during these sessions as well. All of my hours were done in communication with my fellow students so it was really important for me to understand how to communicate with them, as well as keeping my mentor updated and getting things approved by my teacher. I learned to know the appropriate times to ask for help from my mentor and communicate certain issues. Collaboration was also important. Every so often I would need to call my mentor for help on how to approach certain aspects of my groups lives, for example, before we had the family session I asked my mentor for help on how to approach this part because I knew some students would be more comfortable with sharing than others. We collaborated and came up for ways for them to open up to me. Lastly, for creativity I had to be creative in the resources I used in my essay. I was resourceful and used the psychology textbook from the psychology class I took at Skyline College two summers ago. I also had to be creative with the sessions I held with the students. I decided the topics of the sessions, as well as the questions asked, and the worksheets used. 

The Capstone project has taught me so much. Personally, I feel that my love for psychology has grown immensely and it's made my decision on majoring in psychology much easier. The sessions I had with these high school seniors was a win- win for all of us. They were talking about their problems while I was learning about psychology hands on. Socially, through my capstone hours as a leader of a support group I've learned how to communicate better with others and I've also learned to help others when it's needed and appropriate. Through these sessions, I've learned to be a helping hand for those who are facing the same fears as I am, specifically those associated with graduating and college. Intellectually, I've learned the proper way to use MLA format, especially with the Worked Cited page. Although I'm still rusty with writing thesis, I've learned a lot from this Capstone experience. 

Although I loved this experience, the Capstone Project had a couple bumps in the road. Most challenges I encountered where hour related. The beginning of my hours were really hard because the students I worked with weren't opening up as much as I expected. This taught me to ask them less broad questions that would force them to go in depth, and from there they felt more comfortable and started sharing more freely. Another challenge was when we would talk about personal, and sometimes emotional parts of their lives. For example, some students are comfortable about talking about their families because all families have faced rough things. One students was being very closed, but I suggested for him to just relax and share what he felt comfortable with. He relaxed, laid down on the bench we were sitting at, and he just poured everything out. He shared about even the hardest things, like the death of his father, and when he was done he sat up and said it felt as if a weight was lifted off his shoulders. It was a beautiful moment because he had never spoken about it. All the challenges I faced were somehow fixed, from schedule problems to uncomfortableness, they were resolved and at the end of the say the students felt relieved after the sessions, as did I.