How is this class over already? [Sarah’s Reflection on our project]

Dominique and I started off this project trying to figure out what “Strange” scenario we could conduct an entire project around and were stumped. We bounced back several ideas, frustrated that nothing was sticking out until it hit us. Why not make our project about the place that we spend the most time in ourselves? We decided to make our project about The University of Mary Washington’s history as an all female school and how it switched to being co-ed. With both of us identifying as female as well as attending UMW, we decided that this was a project we could both learn about and relate to.

We decided that Interviews were the best way to get straight to the source and get the most personal with our topic. Unfortunately due to our hectic schedules not matching up well with potential interviewees schedules, we were only able to interview two people. Both graduated UMW in the 90’s so it was not exactly what we planned on for our interviews, but I think that although the timeline for our interviewees was smaller, they both were very interesting and information/opinion packed individuals that made up for not having more. I think that although we were disappointed in ourselves some for not having more, our limitations turned into a really great result in disguise because it opened up doors for so many more ideas.

I learned a lot from researching our school that I hadn’t remotely thought about through attending events, researching, and interviewing. For instance I did’t know much about the history of UMW’s presidents, and learned about how we have had one woman president! I had no idea.

Filming the interviews was probably my favorite part. I felt as if  I was being given the opportunity to use skills that I had worked hard to gain in other classes in a more realistic situation. Also both of the people we interviewed were very interesting, kind, and easy to interview, so the whole process felt simple and not stressful. Editing the video was the only stressful part, I had a lot of problems that I have never run across before when editing and this caused more delay then I would have liked.

I definitely could not have completed this project without Dominique, she is the person behind our web sight looking so polished as well as putting in the time and dedication to create our timeline. I have had a great time putting together this project with her and defiantly have made a friend because of it.

 

This class has been amazing. I feel as if I have been introduced and immersed into a class full of intelligent, well rounded and interesting people. Our discussions in this course have been life altering in the best ways. I hope that this class isn’t the end of my connections with everyone, I feel like this was only the beginning.