Brianna Rich



Progress Status ReportGeneral Information:Project Name: Promoting Youth Physical ActivityProject Manager Name: Brianna Rich Report period ending: October 20, 2014Total number of project hours completed thus far: _68__A. Progress Made Since Beginning of Project: At this time my project is coming together very nicely. First, I worked on my project scope and plan, which helped me come up with the goal of my project and listed objectives and tasked that I needed to complete to reach the end of the project. I have already complete 7 out of the 9 objectives that my project required. 1. I got in touch with an organization named Youth for Christ. They work with middle school kids and they meet with them once a week for a lesson and activities. During the time with the kids they have some sort of activity to start the day off and then they have a lesson for the kids as well. I first contacted the supervisors S.O. and asked if she would be willing to work with me on this project. I talked to her about the project I had in mind and asked if they would be something that she would be willing to do. She said that it was a great idea and was on board to assist me in this project. Most of the people that work with her on this night of the week are volunteers. She does work with one intern though so, I asked if I would get his name and email and then I asked him via email if he would also be willing to work with me on this project. He said that this would be a fun idea and was excited to do this with the kids because he thought that they would really enjoy it. Then I got in contact with two of the volunteers that I thought would be of great help and asked them as well if they wanted to join my team. They too said that they would love to. So, then I had to collaborate with all the members and try and figure out the best time that we could have our first meeting. This was a little more difficult than I though because we were not in person so I had to keep going back and forth from person to person to get the perfect time to fit everyone’s schedule. So, since I developed a team and we all agreed on a goal for the kids I completed the first objective. I had this done on time because I developed an interdisciplinary team and agree on a common goal by September 9, 2014.2. The next step that I had to do was actually have the first meeting with the staff. We first all brainstormed about details of the project via email. This was kind of difficult as well and took more time than I thought because it was via email. I think that it would have been nice if I worked with these people because this task might have took a little less time. I went back and forth emailing each member of the team to come up with ideas that they had and then I combined the thoughts and emailed everyone again to see what everyone thought. Then after we came up with the details we discussed the specific materials that we needed to put the obstacle together as well as other materials that we needed to fulfill the projects needs. I wanted to get some of this done before we had out first meeting so that we could go everything together and make sure that we didn’t miss anything. Then I collaborated with the supervisor about a budget that we might have for this project. A lot of the supplies we could borrow and may have had but there were several that we needed to still buy. This organization gets many donations so she said that if I needed anything to let her know because this is something that the kids would love and a perfect thing for the donation to go to. Also, some of the supplies they could keep and reuse for future activities so that worked out as well. Then after all of this we had our first meeting. We all met and discussed the goal some more as well as the details needed to get the project done and done right. We also discussed what everyone’s part would be as well as if anyone had any of the supplies we needed at home that we could use. The meeting took a little long than I expected because I thought that we discussed the majority of things before hand, but we all wanted to write things down and know exactly what each members part was going to be. So, I successfully completed this objective of having a meeting with all team members on September 17, 2014. 3. The next step that I needed to do was gather the supplies that we still needed. I would have to say that this task was more challenging that you would expect. The supplies that we all agreed on were “out of season” apparently. I made a few different trips to Grand Rapids to try and find them. For example, we needed pool noodle to make hurdles out of for the kids to jump over. We thought that these would be safe and would not hurt if they were to hit them with their legs or feet. Well, since it was not summer anymore and people were not buying pool noodles any more, I could not find them anywhere. I had a back up plan that I could just use rope but we wanted something fun like pool noodles because they offered color and that is appealing to kids. Well, I never ended up finding any that I could buy. I said something to my dad and he said that he might have some old ones at his lake house and he called me later that week and told me that he had about 6 of them. So, it was nice on our budget just not so nice on our time. Then the hula hoops that I needed were also not anywhere to be found, but we eventually found them on clearance at a dollar store and they had the exact amount that we needed, 12 of them. So, again I eventually found them but it was just more challenging than expected. So after we got all of our supplies I gather the receipts and we made sure that everything fit into the budget that we had prepared. Everything worked out to get under budget, but I did not meet my timeline to get all the supplies around. It took me more time then I thought to find all the supplies I actually had to run to the hardware store the day of the event to pick up a few minor things. But, overall this objective, getting supplies by October 1, 2014 was met just a little later then expected. The last supplies were bought on October 14, 2014. 4. For this step I spent a lot of time gathering facts and information for the brochure that I made. I first found facts that would get the kids attention as well great information about the importance of regular physical activity. I then sorted through all the facts that I found and pick out the best ones for middle school aged kids. I made sure that the brochure was appropriate for this age group so that they could read and understand it. I also wanted it to catch their attentions and be fun for them to look over and read. After I had this part done I wanted to have exercises on there brochure that were age appropriate and would be good for them to participate in regularly. So, I search for proper exercises that they could do regularly and added them to the brochure as well. I also added tips on how to properly preform these exercises. Then after I had everything that I wanted to add to the brochure I started to put it together. This took some time for me to get everything on there that I wanted, but I eventually figured it out. Then I finally printed a copy off so that I could bring it to our next meeting for the team to look over. I wanted to make sure that thought that it was appropriate as well as at a good reading level for this group of kids. I also wanted them to look over it so that I could make revision if needed. So, I complete this objective making a kid’s friendly brochure by October 10, 2014, not complete done by the 9th when I was hoping. 5. During this objective we had our final meeting before the project took place. We collaborated over everything that has been done so far and looked at what we still needed to do. We made sure that everyone had gotten the things that they said that they had or were going to get and if anyone needed anything or help finding things this is when we discussed it. We also went over the details one more time so that we knew what was going on and when we were going to meet to start setting up the obstacle course. Then after we figured the rest of the details out we talked about the brochure that I made. Everyone stated that they thought that it was good, but there were some minor corrections that needed to be made. Also one of the members suggested an exercise like planks to be one of the exercises because this is easy and would be fun for the kids to do. So, after I got all of this information I went home and revised the brochure. It took some moving things from here to here and back before I got it exactly how I wanted it. Then I had copies made and was ready to pass them out on the night of our project. So, this task of having another meeting to finalize project on October 10, 2014 was completed. 6. Now it was October 14th and it was the day of the project. This was a long day and it was stressful at times. I was busy all day getting things around and making sure that I have everything that I needed. First off we met early so that we could go over the schedule for the day. S.O. had made up a schedule and printed off many copies so that everyone there to help had a copy and new the plan. At this time it was raining so we decided to wait a little longer before we even started to put the course together. We continued to watch the radar and if said that it was suppose to let up, but you never know with the weather. So, when it stopped for a little bit we went out and plotted out where we were going to put what before we actually started doing it. Then I had to run to the hardware store to pick up a few dowels to use throughout the course. So, when I got back we knew where we wanted things and started to put it together. One of the volunteer helped me while the others were getting ready inside. So, we put the majority of it together, but we had to leave one part unfinished because it involved a trap. We didn’t want to put the tarp down until right before the course incase it rained. We had that down so that the kids wouldn’t get wet so putting it down early was not a good idea, so we held off. Then since I am pregnant one of the volunteers ran though the course to make sure that it was safe and everything fit together well. We had to make a few tweaks, but eventually got it exactly how we wanted it. So, putting obstacle course together on October 14, 2014 completed this objective. 7. Now it was time to wait for all the kids to arrive and start the project. We still were hoping that the rain would stop before we had to run the course. As we waited it rained off and on but when it came right down to the course it stopped raining and the sun actually come out a little bit. So, when we started I talked a little bit about the importance about physical activity and how it is important to do this regularly. I asked the kids if they know why and got some pretty funny answers but overall I think that they eventually understood why. Then we started to explain the obstacle course. We explained each stage and what they needed to do and then we explained that between each stage they needed to perform a specific exercise to move to the next stage. Two of the volunteers demonstrated the proper techniques of these exercises what they needed to do between each stage. Then we had one of the volunteers run though the whole course preforming all the exercises between each stage, so they knew exactly what they needed to do. Then we divided the kids up into teams of 10 and they all lined up ready to go. We intended on timing the teams and having a winner but they really didn’t go in a team they just kept going one at a time. So, they really didn’t have to have teams because they all just ran the course when it was their turn. There was a volunteer at each area to make sure that they were doing it right and performing the exercises between each obstacle. The volunteers were also there to make sure that the course didn’t fall apart and if someone accidently hit something over the volunteer could fix it. When all the kids finally finished it was time to go back inside because by this time is was starting to get dark out. Many of the kids wanted to do it again, but we didn’t have enough time for this. I was surprised though because every kid ran the course, even all of the girls. I thought that some of the girls would want to sit out, but actually every kid ran the course. Then after we herded all the kids back inside, be passed out juice boxes and yogurt. This was their snack that I picked up instead of pop and chips. Having a healthy snack for this project was very important, so I made sure that they had a good snack. Then we passed out the brochure and explained it to the kids, so they knew what they were reading. Then it was time for the Youth for Christ lesson. After the lesson wrapped up, I helped them sign the kids out when their parents came and got them. This was a long process because each parent had to drive up and stop to sign his or her kid out. There was a line of cars and it didn’t go as fast as I would have hoped, because I was tired and ready to go clean up the course and go home. So, finally after the majority of the kids were gone two volunteers and myself went out and picked everything up. We saved some of the materials like the hula-hoops for the organization to keep and use in the future but other things we just threw away. We made sure that the things that were borrowed got back to the person who brought them, so they could return them to the right person. Then after this we talked a little bit about how we thought that it went. Everyone was tired after this so we all headed home to bed!So, I completed the project on October 14, 2014.B. Progress Expected Next Reporting Period: The progress expected by the next report is that my project will be completed. I still have to evaluate the success of the program which entails me to go back and quiz the kids about the exercises that they learned as well see how many kids actually started to do some physical activity each day. I will gather all of this information and this will tell me how successful this project was for the kids. I also will be sharing this information with my team members over a dinner meeting. We will be having this dinner meeting to celebrate our projects completion as well as discuss the final results of our project. C. Interdisciplinary Collaboration:The use of an interdisciplinary team for this project was very important. Having others to work with and help me through this project was very beneficial. Especially when it came time to do the actually project, it was nice to have help from other members of the team to help the project move along more efficiently. Through out my project there has been a lot of collaboration between the team members. We communicated through email and we had two face-to-face meeting before the actual day of the project. I think that it was very beneficial to communicate with my team before the actual project because if I didn’t there would be a lot of confusion and people would be stressed out because they wouldn’t know what they were suppose to do. So, having great communication was very important in this project. We also communicated very well during the project. It was chaotic a few times to manage all of the kids but because we collaborated about how we were going to handle all the kids, it ended up going smoothly. I am still planning on having a dinner meeting to discuss the final results as well as celebrate the completion of the project. So, we will be communicating even more before I am completely done with the project. D. Issues/Concerns: One issue or constraint that I ran into was time management. I thought that some of my tasks would be easy and not take much time at all but I came to realize that I did not always meet the deadlines for each objective. I had them done in time for the actual project, but some were not done by my first deadlines. Another issue that I ran into was the weather. When we picked out date for the project we didn’t actually know what the weather was going to be. It was quite scary the day of the project because the entire morning was raining and the forecast did not look very positive. We had a back up plan that we would do some other small activity and I would do the project another week, but I was still hoping that everything would work out. Well, it was perfect because it stopped raining and was actually somewhat sunny when we did the project. I was very thankful for this. It was slightly wet outside, but the kids loved that too so everything worked out. The other constraint that I had was finding the right supplies that we needed to make the obstacle course. I really had a hard time getting all of these supplies and I didn’t get all of them by my first deadline, but in the end I got everything that we needed. I never though about it being so difficult to find some of these supplies. I thought that maybe I could order them online but the time it took to ship them was a lot longer than I had time for. My last concern is that I don’t meet the 90 hours. I have a few more things that I still have to do and my project is estimated to be completed at 87 hours, 3 hours shy of the 90.E. Plan to Address Issues/Concerns: (Support your plan with evidence from research and practice literature.)The first concern was time management. There were things that I didn’t get done by my first deadline and this made things very stressful. According to Yoder-Wise (2014), “time management is one method of stress prevention or reduction,” so this is why I needed to address this concern (pg. 562). I think the problem that effected my time management was interruptions. I was not excepting it to be so hard to find the supplies that I needed. I think that the next time I will try to make sure that the supplies that I need are “in season” and this would definitely help keep things on time. Also, according to Yoder-Wise (2014), one thing that helps with time management is setting priorities (pg. 565). I didn’t think that I was setting that as a low priority, but I guess I needed these supplies to fulfill the project, so maybe I should have gotten them as soon as I figured out what I wanted to do. But, then again I was waiting to collaborate with my ream about the supplies needed and what I specially needed to get. So, maybe the best thing for me was to extent my actual projects date so that I would have had more time to get everything done before the project. Everything seemed to work out though because I had everything done on time, just a little stressful at times.The other constraints like the weather and not getting the supplies as soon as I would like eventually worked out. For the weather issue, we had a back up plan and we were going to do the project another day. Not getting the supplies like the pool noodles, I also had a back up plan to use rope, but thankfully I got the noodles before the project. So, overall I thought that everything worked itself out, but I did learn that time management was very important in planning a project. I think that it is important to be on time because this reduces the stress for everyone involved. “Stress can decrease productively and lead to poor use of time” so this is why we need to make sure that we have great time management skills (Yoder-Wise, 2014, pg. 562). I think that this is something that I definitely learned throughout this project.Reference:Yoder-Wise, P. S. (2014). Leading and managing in nursing (5th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby. ................
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