Now that it's coming to a close, what are your impressions about your project? Is there anything you can do to improve the lasting impact of your work this year?

I have the fortune to reflect on my legacy project for today's blog entry in the aftermath of our final presentation. Kylie and I volunteered to present first, which I believe speaks to how far we've come this year, as just a few months ago we had no idea which direction we were going to take with our project and its mission. I can honestly say, however, that I'm incredibly proud of what we accomplished, which far exceeded my expectations.

The final commitment of our team to Rescue Her, the organization with which we were working, was to create a "promo packet" for the Glam Girls event that we put on in early March. The success that Kylie and I had with that event (the first time Glam Girls had been done in a high school, in Fort Worth, and with that many girls!) was driving Gena, our contact, to think even bigger in terms of what that program could do. Kylie and I were the first to recommend the idea of a promo packet to Gena and I'm really pleased with our outcome.

Although I believe we did an outstanding job in the end, there's always room for improvement. If we were to go back, I would have liked to see us deal with volunteers more effectively, considering we had most of our TCU girls back out within the 48 hours leading up to our Glam Girls event. Since neither of us had coordinated volunteers before, it was difficult for us to know how to communicate our need with them the best, which could have been remedied with some research into the subject. A clear statement of requirements and need for the event, as well as further contact with the girls prior to the event might have helped our issue.

Finally, I believe that the lasting impact of our work this year can be improved through mine and Kylie's continued contact with Rescue Her and Gena. Because we were critical in developing a product that will soon allow Rescue Her to communicate the Glam Girls mission nationally, it's important that we stay in touch throughout the development of our materials. Although we will both be working full-time for another company, staying in touch every other month via email or phone calls should suffice going forward. I look forward to having the opportunity to impact Rescue Her again, perhaps as a volunteer.

This semester has been hard for me in a different way than I'm used to. Rather than struggling with something specific such as a relationship, schoolwork, or the job hunt, I seemed to have it all together on those fronts. I've lined up an incredible job for next year, I've moved into a new apartment with roommates I actually enjoy spending time with, and I'm only taking 10 hours of classes. However it's been one of the most disorganized semesters I've ever had and it's for a reason I can't really control-- my depression.

It's hard to believe that even in a semester where I felt like I've got everything together, I can have days, even weeks, of a downward spiral of depression. After several days of spending all day in bed, canceling plans and not eating, my roommates voiced their concern for me. I made an appointment to see my therapist, who decided that my antidepressants weren't doing their job and decided to 'up' my dosage. I left the office hoping that I would do better after that and that my tendency to let a little bad news affect my entire day would be tempered.

However, a few weeks later, I had some bad days that caused me to miss class and sleep for almost 16 hours straight. Now, I realized that I couldn't rely on medication alone to get me through this and I certainly couldn't let it affect my professional/academic life anymore. Understanding that even though my personal life is separate from my professional life in so many other ways, this aspect is blurring the line. I have to reevaluate my coping mechanisms in order to cater to my professional/academic reputation, which can be severely affected by my days in bed.

In order to work though my depression, I've created an active lifestyle for myself which, although doesn't completely solve the problem, definitely helps my mood. I work out nearly every day and have begun eating fruits and vegetables on a daily basis, as well as cooking most of my meals. Not only is my body feeling healthier, but I feel more fulfilled knowing I'm taking care of myself.

Although I still have days when it's hard to get out of bed, they're fewer and farther in between. And while I would probably have just let my body work through this on its own otherwise, my professional life and that reputation have caused me to look for any and all solutions. That's what I've seen as a meaningful connection between personal and professional and it's taught me to take control of things that I may not have complete control over, because the more effort I put into it, the better the outcome that I will see.

I always enjoy a fresh start; be it a new year, a new semester, or a new day, I like taking advantage of fresh perspective and renewed energy and motivation. This new year and new semester is different in a major way-- it's my last semester in college. Hard to wrap my mind around, but also overwhelming in the sense that I want to make the most of it in regards to academics, social life, and my community. I plan on directing some of this energy towards my legacy project with Kylie where I'll have the opportunity to affect my academics and my impact on the community.

Last year, in our final paper, Kylie and I set a goal for ourselves to meet once a week, regularly, to update each other on individual progress and reconnect on group goals and objectives. Since starting school, we've already set up such meetings and have even upped our meeting schedule to twice a week in order to gain momentum in the semester. Our contacts have become more eager to work with us, and I believe that's in part due to our more organized approach to maintaining contact with them. We have established the professionalism to respond in a timely manner and clearly state our objectives for the relationship. In doing this, we have already been able to solidify a date for our big event of the semester-- Glam Girls.

Kylie and I, in addition to have created a more organized and structured approach to our week-by-week progress, have also come together as a strong team in our constant consideration of how we can make this project an impact on our community, rather than simply an event. We constantly pose questions to each other, such as "How is this going to affect the issue long-term?" or "What else could we do to bring more awareness to the TCU community?". By doing this, not only are we keeping the thought fresh, but also allowing our ideas to develop over time and morph into concepts that are unique and effective. Acting on these concepts will be what makes our project an impact by the end of April.

I've enjoyed working with Kylie thus far, although I will admit I was concerned about our partnership at first. We're very similar people, both very type-A, direct, and take-charge, but I believe it has worked well for us to partner because we've also discovered some key differences that balance each other out. I tend to be better at managing our relationships with third parties whereas Kylie is effective at keeping us on task and on schedule. We've learned to use the differences to our advantage and to temper the similarities when we become overwhelming as a team. This partnership has even more meaning to me since we'll be coworkers starting this summer, and I'll have the opportunity to work with her again.

I look forward to our New Leader Update next week where we'll have the opportunity to share some of our further progress, which will be developed even more after one of our weekly meetings tomorrow.