Capstone
By: Sarah Gangl
Journal Entries
June 8th, 2016
I just emailed Mrs. Boutilier my Capstone idea of working with ABC Women’s Center in Middletown and she answered me quite quickly saying she loved the idea and will help me in any way she can. I am still unsure as to how I want to help and work with the center but being able to help a crisis pregnancy center that is close to home seems very beneficial to me. I also know the director of this center, because we go to church together so I am hoping this works out.
September 5, 2016
School has started and working on my Capstone project is a large priority now. I am eager to begin but feel overwhelmed with where to start. I have been playing phone tag with Molly Hurtado, my possible mentor to meet with her and discuss my Capstone project and where I see this going. I feel discouraged as if I am behind the students in a Senior Seminar class because I have taken AP Calculus BC and do not have a teacher constantly reminding me of due dates, and the pace I should be going at to keep on track with this project.
September 7, 2016
Tonight I spoke to a woman from my church about becoming my mentor the year that I have this Capstone project. She agreed and her name is Molly Hurtado. We spoke on the phone about possibilities for my project. Her center, ABC Women’s Center in Middletown is in need of 1-3 desktop computers so that is my large goal for the year. I feel as though this is a reachable goal if I work incredibly hard. I also want to hold one, maybe more book drives throughout the year because this center offers services to mothers of children from the age of newborn to two years old. To have books available at the center would be a very reachable goal that can be organized pretty quickly. I am eager to get going with my Capstone project, now that Molly has agreed to be my mentor.
September 16, 2016
My mentor is also my pastor’s wife at my church so I saw her tonight at my youth group and she was able to give me some more information on her organization, along with a paper that is for Mrs. Boutilier. This weekend I have to try and complete the proposal, because I have my first event with Molly next Saturday, 9/24, called Dash for Life. I am beyond excited to meet her team and volunteer there for the morning.
September 19, 2016
I was unable to complete my proposal this past weekend, which was not my best move. But, on the bright side, I met with Mrs. Boutilier today and she said that I do not need it done before I start working on my project, this coming Saturday with ABC Women’s Center. Today I also turned in my questionnaire for Mrs. Dionne to receive a letter of recommendation from her, and should be getting my others shortly.
September 24, 2016
This morning I volunteered to help with ABC Women’s Center’s third annual Dash for Life 5k. I was able to meet Molly’s coworkers, along with raise money for their organization. Molly’s team has been coordinating this event for months and there was many activities including a silent auction, bounce house, yard games, food truck, ice cream truck, face painting, and information booths on their sponsors. When I arrived at the event, I was placed at the face painting booth. I am not creative at all, so this seemed like a large struggle for me, although I made the most of the situation and embraced it. Throughout the day, I painted a football, spider, and a few hearts on runner’s faces. Today was a day for me to meet her coworkers, and be a part of their annual fundraiser. It got me really excited to start my own fundraising to buy 1-3 desktop computers for their organization.
September 28, 2016
This afternoon I spoke to my mentor about possibly doing a baby bottle campaign. ABC Women’s Center already does this from Mother’s Day to Father’s Day, annually. This will kick start the fundraising for getting on track towards desktop computers for this organization.
I then spoke to Mrs. Boutilier, and we threw around ideas of doing this only with the staff members at SMSA. This will be more beneficial to the drive because teachers and staff members, for the most part, are more responsible and can get back to me easier. My plan is to run this campaign from November 7th until November 22nd. Limiting the amount of time will help get the baby bottles returned to me in a timely manner. I hope to get good results.
Today I also made a flyer in Photoshop that can be printed and placed inside of the baby bottles. The baby bottles will be placed in teacher lounges with those flyers in them, along with several emails sent out, by me, to remind teachers and staff members of the campaign. When I notice that there are no more baby bottles in a lounge, I will supply some more. I am eager for this campaign and hope for a large turnout.
September 29, 2016
I emailed my mentor today and asked if I could borrow the baby bottles that her company uses, and she very kindly said I could borrow some for this campaign. I feel relieved to be getting the fundraising part of my capstone going.
October 2, 2016
Tonight I finished my first draft of the proposal and emailed it to Mrs. Boutilier for comments and feedback. After finishing the email, I remembered that I forgot to add in my stretch so I am expecting to get this comment from her when I get the rough draft returned to me.
October 6, 2016
I received the necessary feedback from Mrs. Boutilier and she mentioned to me to tweak my research and this is the only comment that I will not be taking into consideration. I am most passionate about researching the rights of an unborn child. I know that there is enough research to completely write 5-8 pages on this topic. I also spoke to my mentor today and Molly believes that she can also help me with sources to possibly aid in searching for research that is credible for this essay. I have revised my proposal and emailed it to Mrs. Boutilier.
I am feeling the pressure of senior year with college applications, capstone, and my academic work, although I am keeping up with all of it. I feel as though I constantly need to be visiting Mrs. Bout and Mrs. Dionne for assistance throughout these past weeks.
October 7, 2016
Tonight I saw Molly at my youth group and she told me that she and her husband will be taking all of November off for a period of rest. This is called a sabbatical. These are common in the Christian faith for people of ministry and their wives to be doing this, although I am feeling overwhelmed with how I am going to complete the fundraisers without being able to contact her if needed. She told me that she will get the baby bottles to me before that time to ensure that all of her work-related responsibilities are filled before taking the month off to rest and connect more with God. I am excited for Molly and PC, my pastor and her husband, although am a little nervous for the month ahead as she may not answer my questions or needs as quickly as possible. In November as well, volleyball will be over and I would love to start interning at ABC so I am hoping to get in contact with one of Molly’s team members so I can start that, while Molly is out of the office.
October 21, 2016
Today I was able to finish and submit all of my college applications. I sat down with Mrs. Dionne and we went through each application one by one and got it complete. I am excited now that I can focus more on Capstone and my research paper for that. The Capstone students had their five sources due today, printed and annotated. As of today, I have two sources chosen, although they are not printed or annotated, so I feel a little bit behind in that sense. I am hoping that this weekend I can get a large chunk of this essay done because I need to turn in a rough draft for Mrs. Bout to accept my final draft.
October 26, 2016
Tonight after practice I was able to go to the library and find two very helpful books that seem to be beneficial to my research. In most research papers that I have done, books have always been easier for me to use than online sources. I feel better about using books because there is a smaller chance of bias within nonfiction literature. I am hoping these two books, along with my handful of online sources will be enough to start my paper within the upcoming days.
November 4, 2016
The other day I spoke to Mrs. Boutilier and was able to get on the schedule at the upcoming PTO meeting this weekend to speak on behalf of my project and ABC Women’s Center. Tonight I labeled the baby bottles to ensure I don’t lose any and printed out all necessary documents for the meeting tomorrow. I may be able to hand out a few bottles so this gets me excited. The campaign will be running from November 7th until November 22nd.
Also my Capstone rough draft is due on the 14th and this is approaching very fast. My best work on long essays gets done when I sit down for a long period of time and just write, so I am hoping to have time to get a large chunk of the paper done this weekend. I also have my sociology research paper due soon as well. Dealing with the two topics at the same time is difficult and can be confusing since I am doing research on two topics for two different papers. I am hoping to keep my ideas separate and outline soon for Capstone and Sociology.
November 5, 2016
This morning I spoke at the PTO meeting. It was intimidating speaking in front of the parents. Mr. Laverty introduced me and I spoke briefly about ABC Women’s Center. After describing the Fill the Bottle Campaign, the PTO President suggested I pass around a bottle and have everyone fill a bottle right there to help kick start this drive. This small idea that the president did was super encouraging because within minutes a bottle was filled to the brim with cash and change.
I was shocked at the willingness to help donate immediately to a great cause. I also was able to sign out eight (8) bottles to parents to be filled and returned to me by the end of the collection. When I went home I counted the money in the bottle and the parents and teachers at the meeting helped me raise $43.13 to start this collection. I am eager and excited to see how the teachers at SMSA respond throughout the next two weeks.
November 7, 2016
This morning I set up my Capstone in the separate teacher lounges and was able to see people donate to support life and ABC Women’s Center. I am eager to see where this fundraiser goes. Two weeks, here we go!
November 14, 2016
Today I was given back my first baby bottle and immediately went to the bank with my mom to cash the change. This was given to me by Mr. Rodriguez. He said he took many bottles and was handing them out at his church. Many of the members at his church were more than willing to give to this cause and center so he felt the need to take multiple baby bottles. I am very grateful for his generosity. To exchange the all of the coins for cash, all I have to do is go to my local Webster Bank and use their coin machine. It is super simple and convenient because I do not even need to count the change beforehand.
November 21, 2016
Today was a big day. I met with Mrs. Boutilier to speak about her comments on my rough draft on my research paper. She pretty much tore it apart and said it wasn’t a research paper but more of a persuasive paper because of my bias in it. I had already heard this comment once before from Mr. Rutigliano moments after I submitted it to Mrs. Boutilier because I shared my paper with him for comments. I know this is something I have to change but I didn’t think I have to change it to this extent. The way Mrs. Boutilier was talking, I have to change my entire topic, thesis, everything. She also said my sources weren’t scholarly enough, but one was a book. I feel bummed out and know I have a lot of work to do.
But on the bright side, today I also started to intern at ABC Women’s Center. I left school early around 12:30 and headed to ABC. There I helped them empty their baby bottles and refill them will small information papers. This took about an hour to write receipts for those that wanted one and empty the 30+ bottles that the center received from over the weekend. After this Jamie, the fundraising coordinator, and I went to the bank to deposit money and tried to use the coin machine to get cash and deposit it for the baby bottles I just emptied, but the coin machine was out of service. We still deposited money that ABC had and made a quick trip to Starbucks before heading back to the center. I then was to start working on donations. They have a separate room designated for donations where all the new donations need to be sorted into bins by their sizes. I spent about an hour and a half sorting through bags and bags full of clothes, boys and girls, and was able to fill most of the baskets, that were lacking. By now the center was closing and my day was over, but I was very content knowing I helped so much, where I could.
November 30, 2016
Mrs. Boutilier and I have been going back and forth trying to clarify what will make my essay better. I did not completely understand her comments the first time around, leading me to write a new thesis. I thought if I was to write a new thesis, I would need to write an entire new essay because this was completely different from the one I had turned in to Mrs. Bout. We spoke today and I was able to get some clarity on the issue and understand, more so, the direction my paper needs to go in. I need to revise my thesis, add a lot more scholarly research, and remove all of the bias in the paper. I feel very passionate about the pro-life decision so writing about this is difficult to do when trying to not be biased.
I want to have this, hopefully, revised by the end of the weekend and show Mrs. Boutilier again because the deadline is approaching quickly. Some of my friends who have a capstone class have said that their teachers have yet to read their papers so the teacher may push back the final draft date. This seems likely for some classes, but for now, my due date is still next Friday. This will approach quickly, especially with me wanting to intern again, maybe next Wednesday, with ABC Women’s Center again.
December 6, 2016
Today I spoke to my mentor about upcoming plans for my capstone. I have decided to donate half of the $550 I have raised through the “Fill the Baby Bottle Campaign” to ABC Women’s Center. This money will be to ensure the services this center gives remains free to the approximately 360 patients the center sees yearly. The other half of this money collected will be used to buy a material item that they center could need to better the quality of their services. I also will be doing a Book drive instead of another baby bottle campaign. Molly believes each will be beneficial to the center but I believe giving books to the mothers and children the center sees, could be helpful. At ABC there is a Baby Boutique where current mothers can “shop” for their children, free of charge, for a set number of outfits per season. In this Boutique, the books I donate can be added as well.
December 12, 2016
Today I interned with Molly again. The main purpose for me to come into the center was for me to donate half of the funds I raised from the “Fill the Baby Bottle Campaign” to ABC. In total, I raised a little more than $600. I have decided to donate $300 now to ABC Women’s Center and use the remaining money to buy a material item that can be of use. Molly and I will go shopping together shortly after the New Year. We have not yet discussed what item I will be purchasing but that will be sorted out soon. This was a shorter visit but I was able to get a lot done. I filled about 150 bottles with small slips that need to go in them. When I first got to the center there was a man from a local church donating at least six boxes of food and other necessities. I, then, finished this task and went downstairs to help with the recent donations. I sorted through and labeled the foods with the expiration dates. Seeing all of these donations that people willingly give to ABC humbles me immensely. I try to be this giving to the opportunities around me as well.
December 18, 2016
My capstone paper is due tomorrow and today I have been in bed all day working on my paper. My main goal is to add in more research, take out all of the bias phrases and underlying messages, and overall revise my paper to the best of my ability. This is a decently hard task to do because I was not given the rubric before initially writing my paper. This made the whole process slightly more difficult but still achievable.
It is now 10:30pm at night and I have completed, proofread, and edited/revised my paper one more time and I am happy with it. Today I rewrote my thesis and changed the shift of my paper. I think I was more successful this time around. I just emailed it to Mrs. Boutilier and feel a huge weight off of my shoulders. I am now complete with another step of this capstone project.
January 4, 2017
Today I interned at ABC again. I left school slightly early and went to visit the center. ABC was going through their old files to sort out clients that have not been actively in the center or given services. Files had already been taken out of the cabinet, so all that was needed to be done was to deactivate their accounts on the database ABC uses. I was taught how to do this by Molly then proceeded to deactivate over 100 clients with a volunteer working that day as well.
When I finished I was able to speak to a mother who is expecting her second child and she was full of joy. The volunteers at ABC were working with her to provide her with clothes for her soon to be baby. I worked quickly with another volunteer (I forgot her name) to make three layettes. These were the gift bags put together for women to have the essential necessities for their children. These gift bags were about 3-4 feet tall filled with clothes, blankets, plates, plastic silverware, bottles, diapers, powder, shampoo, body wash, toys, and stuffed animals. Filling these layettes with everything a mother would need for her newborn was extremely fulfilling. ABC Women’s Center’s donation room is almost always full from floor to ceiling and it felt as if I was shopping through the donations for a newborn and their family.
Molly and I also spoke about the two of us, accompanied by some of the ABC staff, going to Washington D.C. for an event that is towards the end of January. This event is called the March for Life. Thousands upon thousands of people from all around the nation go to the capital to march from the Washington monument to the U.S. capital in hopes of raising awareness for the beauty of life. Last year there was a major snow storm so Molly and her staff were unable to go. Although, this year is especially important because the March for Life committee members are hoping to have President-elect Donald Trump speak at the event because he is the first pro-life president since George W. Bush that was in office from 2001-2009. This event takes place a week after the presidential inauguration. Molly and I are hoping to leave Thursday the 26th of January and return that Saturday.
The march is on Friday January 27, 2017 in the morning. We would need to get a hotel room in a surrounding town for two nights and three days. On Friday, after the march, I believe there will be speakers at the capital. We would be staying until Saturday because Molly’s main receptionist, Christina, will be speaking at the Students for Life conference. The Students for Life organization is in many college campuses where students get together to speak on social issues, all with the same viewpoint of being pro-life. Molly would love to see Christina speak and I wouldn’t mind to learn more on the topic as well.
I am excited to go and be surrounded by like-minded people, all while raising awareness for this sensitive topic. I am looking forward to being in the capital for this important annual event.
January 9, 2017
Today Molly texted myself and some other girls from my youth group about going to the March for Life. She gave us the rundown of the costs and itinerary. There is two options for us to go to the march.
Firstly, we can drive there on Thursday and stay until Saturday. Friday is the march and Saturday Christina, Molly’s receptionist, is speaking at the Students for Life conference. This means we will be getting a hotel room and taking the train to downtown D.C. for us to go to the march. This option costs $210, including the conference on Saturday.
The other option is to hop onto a 24-hour bus leaving from Connecticut. It will leave around 11:45 from Cromwell and return Friday night around 11pm. I would rather not do this option because it is hard for me to sleep on a bus, and I would be exhausted throughout the entire day. The biggest reason I would rather to get a hotel is because I want to see Christina speak. I have gotten fairly close with her and would love to see her speak on behalf of the pro-life opinion. This choice costs significantly less since there is no hotel cost.
I have to tell Molly which option is better for me by Friday. I am hoping my parents will allow me to go and experience this national march. This year especially is significant because President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated only a week beforehand. Along with this, Planned Parenthood will be holding their “1 Million strong” march a week earlier than the March for Life.
I am looking forward to being in the capital to celebrate the gift of life.
January 11, 2017
Today was a half day at school so I was planning on going to see Molly then go to my physical therapy appointment later on in the day. I felt very sick and had to cancel everything for the day. I’m bummed that I couldn’t see Molly but know I have to take care of myself first.
January 13, 2017
My parents said yes for me to go Washington D.C. Molly said we will be going on a 24 hour bus trip, leaving Thursday the 26th at 11pm. I am excited and this is the cheaper option, which helps as well. By Monday, Molly will be securing our spots on the bus. I believe myself, Molly, her fundraising coordinator Jaime, and two other friends of mine from my youth group, Molly and Tejal, will all be going together. I am looking forward to this trip.
January 18, 2017
I have no finals today and tomorrow so I had plans with Molly. Today I was supposed to go to ABC, then head up to Hartford to watch Molly and Christina speak on PRC’s and rebuttal Planned Parenthood, as they have a representative speaking as well. I was eager to participate in this event, although I have an appointment at 3pm and the times were conflicting. So, I am not able to go but will be praying for them as they speak today. I am excited to hear about the experience from Molly.
Also, second semester starts on Monday so I am hoping to start visiting her every Monday. This will give me a set schedule to meet with her and Christina weekly. I am hoping this works well so then I can be actively engaged in ABC Women’s Center. I also plan on donating the other $300 I raised from the baby bottle drive to the center next time that I am able to visit. This will ensure their services continue to be given free of charge, along with any other expenses they have that I could possibly help in. I am looking forward to hopefully working with a client soon as well, as I have not been able to yet. Lastly, March for Life is only a week or so away so this is coming up soon too.
January 23, 2017
I was able to intern with Molly today. This made me so excited. ABC got over 1,000 new baby bottles for their coin drives and I was helping get them ready to be sent out. I was helping in putting a tag on them, with their logo and information. I had tagged about three boxes worth of bottles in the two hours I was there. It was a very productive day. It was also an intense day for Molly. She told me how she has been actively representing pro-life pregnancy resource centers around Connecticut. Today was her second day at the capitol, trying to speak against Planned Parenthood.
I am incredibly proud to be interning with Molly and trying to help fight the good fight in our state. She expressed to me that in CT, there is not a law that requires consent for minor girls, or even letting their parent know. This shocked me. This idea means that if a minor comes into a Planned Parenthood to get an abortion, she is not, by law, required to inform her parents that this happening. It is not even asking for consent but telling the parents. THIS IS NOT OKAY. A minor should not be able to get an abortion without her parent or guardian even knowing about the surgical procedure.
January 25, 2017
We leave for the March for Life late tomorrow night. I will be going with Emily, Tejal, Molly, and Jaime, ABC’s fundraising coordinator. I am very excited to go and hope that I can sleep on the bus going down there. I will be making signs with Emily and Tejal tomorrow before we leave for the bus. I am incredibly happy and cannot wait to be in Washington D.C. surrounded by like-minded people. It’s getting closer!!!
January 28, 2017
Two days ago I left my house around 7pm to go to my friend Emily’s house to make signs for the March for Life. I had a bag packed, my travel pillow in hand and an eager attitude to get to the capitol. We made signs for each of the girls going with us and were picked up at Emily’s house by 10pm. We got on the bus in Waterbury around 11pm and I tried to fall asleep. I even took melatonin and wasn’t able to sleep well. The bus driver made three stops throughout the night for bathroom breaks and food/drinks if people needed them. I slept for maybe three hours in total. By 7am on January 27, 2017, we were in the capitol and got dropped off at the wrong stop by accident. We ended up in Alexandria, VA. This was a huge mistake but we ended up finding a coffee and bagel shop that was close to where we got dropped off. It was a yummy and fairly inexpensive breakfast. We had to take the metro back into the city.
From there we started to walk to the rally site and made it through security. There was secret service and police all around, clearly labeled as well. To say the least, I felt very secure there. The rally was at the foot of the Washington Monument and there was what seemed to be about 500,000+ people there. The rally was incredible. The speakers called out Planned Parenthood for their sales of unborn children, along with how we as Americans need to be adopting children as well. As a large group surrounded in the capitol, we also praised and worshipped Jesus Christ. This was huge. Even Mike Pence said “Life is winning in America.” This statement hit home quite a bit. I was empowered and eager for this coming year with the actions President Donald Trump can possibly make to benefit and work towards ending abortions around the nation.
One of the speakers was Mia Love. She is the first black republican congresswoman elected into office in her state. She started speaking about a story of a mother who had previous children, got pregnant unexpectedly, and had a planned abortion for their child. When at the hospital, someone spoke to the mother and she immediately ran out, after spending about $600+ on the procedure. Mia was on the bridge of tears. It was freezing outside, and she said, “and that almost aborted child was me.” The crowd was silent. Chills overflowed my body. Mia Love’s story stuck with me. I remember her speech. I will still keep watching and rewatching her speech on YouTube even following the rally. Mia Love was empowering and eye opening.
Another speaker that spoke was named Eric Metaxas. He is a host of a radio show I believe and he has a very bold personality. He was calling out many flaws of Planned Parenthood and although I don’t remember exactly what he was saying he would continually say, “Do you hear that ABC?” or “Are you covering this New York Times?.” He was somewhat acting like Donald Trump in that he was asking if the news outlets were covering a pro-life organization and March as much as they do the Women’s March a week before. He was a lot of fun to listen to, whereas the other speakers were more emotional and heart breaking, to an extent.
Following the rally we marched from the Washington Monument up to the capitol building. Throughout the March and rally itself I did not see any opposition although I heard there was plenty. The bus was an hour late and I just now returned home at 2am. I am exhausted but this experience was life changing and I will forever hold it with me.
February 2, 2017
Today I interned with Molly again for about two hours. ABC Women’s center’s banquet is coming up within a few weeks. This is their biggest fundraiser throughout the year and will be held at the Saint Clements Castle in Portland. It is a business formal event that highlights the successes of their previous year. There is a keynote speaker and one family always speaks of their experience they had with ABC. I have been told this is an event that you should not miss and I hope to be taking part in it this year.
When being at ABC today, I helped stuff the invitations they send out to their entire mailing list. Molly wanted them stuffed with a respond card and envelop, the actual invitation, and a save the date card. I helped stuff over one hundred cards.
Being at ABC feels right and it fills me up knowing I am helping them in some way. If I was not there to help out, the volunteers that should be worrying about the clients, would have to take time out of their day to do these tasks I am doing.
February 6, 2017
Today I went to visit ABC again and helped in sealing and labeling the invitations for the upcoming banquet. On their mailing list, there is hundreds of people who receive snail mail from ABC. Along with this, they have an online newsletter that goes out once a month, too, I believe.
February 16, 2017
Today I went to ABC Women’s Center to help with normal activities that they need help with. I walked in and Molly screamed that she got a call from DCF. She and her husband, Chris but we call him PC, have been going through the adoption process to hopefully have a child. This day she called back DCF and was now certified to adopt a child in Connecticut. She ran out of her office screaming, jumping, and crying because of how happy she was. This moment was incredible to be a part of because I have seen her in pain of not having a child and this moment was absolutely incredible. Jaime and I were able to embrace her and be in the moment. It was absolutely breathtaking. Besides this, I believe I labeled more bottles with the tags and sorted through a few donations. When this was done, I helped set up several chairs for their annual, or monthly I’m not quite sure, volunteer meeting. They speak of their successes in the past year and welcome new volunteers to the wonderful organization.
February 25, 2017
I just worked on my website a bit more. I still don’t have my mission statement because I am not fully sure how to write one, but other than that, I am on track. I was able to scan in and upload my field work log, add several more photos to my gallery, and upload my proposal and final draft of the research paper. My website is coming along nicely and I am not 100% sure of when I can write the final reflection, or stop journaling because I plan on volunteering at ABC until I possibly can. I hope to keep going and volunteering until the school year is over, I hope.
March 8, 2017
My website is coming along pretty well and I am trying to put my own little flair on it by adding designs and a bible verse. This, by far, is the most fun part of the capstone for me, because I am able to be fully creative and then display it in front of judges in a few months. I am looking forward to finishing my website within a few days or so.