As capstone and the year is coming to an end it is time to write my final reflection. For my capstone project I helped Catherine Davis who is the outreach coordinator for a nonprofit organization called The Connecticut Alliance of Foster and Adoptive Families. At the organization they do plenty of things like help kids find a home, train people how to become foster families, and many more things like the event I was part of which is called the Avenue of dreams. This event happens every year and it is typically in March and it takes about a whole year to plan which Catherine starts planning in August for, the event is for adoptive and foster teens to have a prom where there is music, dresses, a fashion show, makeup and hair. During the whole time we ask many companies, people, and places to donate things to us like dresses, shoes and accessories/ products for gift bags. The most important thing we ask for is people's time and skills, we contact makeup artists and hair stylists to help us out for the teens. Through my capstone I learned so many things not just physically but emotionally as well. For one I learned how to coordinate a large event, something I didn't even know I was capable of which amazed me that I could really do that. Second, I learned that with a little bit of patience and communication you can get a whole community to help you and be so happy about helping out which was something new to me. Lastly, I learned that something like an event for a couple of hours can mean a lifetime for some people because it is the thought that someone put in making something just special for them. Learning that you can make a small difference or change in the world warms you up just a little bit because seeing that you can make others happy with just a little bit of effort goes a long way and makes you happy as a person and in a way feel more alive. I have recorded about 25 hours but I know I did more and the reason I did not record the hours was because most of the time I left my log at home and in a way this project is more than hours for me so just going back and recording the hours was pointless. The results of my project were great everything was set and done, we had so many things and we were ready for the event but about 5 days before the event we had to cancel and I was really bummed out not just because I put so much work and effort into it but because the teens who signed up where not going to be able to get there dance and that special day for them that they have been waiting for all year. If the event was to go as planned, I believe it would have been a huge success because of all the time the whole team took planning and adding new things even though it was canceled it was such a great experience and an eye-opening thing. It felt very good to serve the community and show that people still care, helping impacted me very much because it taught me many new things. There were not that many challenges but there were some, something that was a challenge to me at first was making cold calls because it was something new to me since I never had to really do them. After I did some cold calls, I got used to it and now I feel like I can say I have a talent for them. Another thing that was a challenge was using excel and tools like that since I never used them. One thing that I could do differently is advertising the event better and showing it off more and Catherine has taught me how to do blast emails and how social media can make a huge impact when planning an event like this one. What I learned impacted me because I learned so many new skills that I will be able to learn in the future like using excel, recording data and keeping information, how to advertise, and how to get donations and money from big organizations. The most important thing that I learned and that has impacted me was that I know now how to plan and organize a big event and how to get it started up with sort of nothing. Being able to help with this event has taught me a lesson and it was not to ever think you can’t do something just because it is hard or unknown to you, never give up because the end result no matter how good or bad it is perfect because you stuck with it and did it on your own with some help so if you ever decide you want to do something stick with it and it will not only be the best thing you could do but it will change your mind set on a whole lot.