1.

There are a lot of reasons why I chose to do a capstone project this year; some are
meaningful, others are more self-serving. Surprisingly, I love writing research papers and
presenting and arguing points and opinions that I had arrived at after doing research. This
seemed like a great opportunity to spend a good chunk of time, time that couldn’t be
wasted obsessing over how little time I had to actually write about a topic I really cared
about. On the more self-serving side of things, a capstone project was a really great
addition to college applications, especially to honors programs where thesis writing is a
big part of those courses. But the biggest reason why I took on a capstone, was to devote
time to researching something that mattered to me. Looking back, there are a ton of other,
smaller reasons why to take on a capstone; gaining time management skills and the
ability to reach out to various people, to name a few.
2. I came to my topic of rare and orphan diseases after about a month of deliberation at the
beginning of the year. There were a few other topics I was passionate about, including
first responder burnout (focusing on firefighters and EMTs, as I am a part of that
community), and inclusive medical education. I arrived at rare and orphan diseases
because it was the topic I had been wrestling with for the longest. My father had an
orphan disease called “Fabry’s Disease,” and it totally altered the way my life went. As a
fourth grader, I vowed to one day discover the cure for it so no one else had to go through
what my family went through. Besides managing difficult symptoms of this disease was
the total lack of awareness from both the medical community and the general public.
Nobody had any frame of reference for what he was going through, which can be
incredibly isolating. After debating what topic I should focus on for far too long, I also
debated, for far too long again, what to actually do with the information I had found. At
first I thought about doing a mock clinical trial, but upon further investigation, I would
have had to make this project my entire life to make it possible in nine months. Half way
through the year, I decided on the guide. It was something I knew I could do in a
reasonable amount of time, and would give me one more opportunity to flex my writing
skills in high school. Also, a lot more people can understand a ‘For Dummies’ styled
guide than a clinical trial study.
3. I worked on the project pretty consistently throughout the year, though I did have some
slumps throughout. During the first two trimesters, most of the work was done during 2nd
period, when I had class, and on weekends closer to mid-tri, and the end of the trimester.
During the third trimester, I worked a lot outside of class, as class time was being devoted
to my classmates’ projects. And I’ve been pretty good about using 4 to 5 hours a day on
capstone during intensive. I was not very good about meeting my mentor, I only met with
them about once a trimester.
4. Something I really struggled with was time management and motivation. And these
things kind of fed each other throughout the year. I’d go through a really productive
couple of weeks, and then something outside of capstone would come up, like a test or
essay, and I didn’t have enough time management skills not to get overwhelmed and put
 off one thing or the other. And then I’d get discouraged, because I thought I had to be
perfect at everything, all the time, without ever making a mistake, and lo and behold, I
lost motivation. A particularly bad time was at the end of tri 2, and the beginning of tri 3.
Besides a lot of academic stuff going on, there was a lot of drama within the senior class.
This led to a lot of rehashing in class, which is where I did most of my work. Also, rare
and orphan diseases could be an intense thing to be focused on for a long time. I watched
my father struggle through it for the majority of my life, and there were times when the
research brought up painful memories. I haven’t really figured out how to get out of that
cycle. Eventually, my lack of motivation scared me more than the research made me sad,
and I got back into the swing of things. By the end of the year though, I’ve gotten way
better at managing my time; I learned that I really benefit from setting aside an hour or
two at the top of the month or every two weeks, to set a schedule. I would sit down with
my calendar, make a to do list, and try to piece it all together. It really helped to have it
written down somewhere and if something unexpected came up, like a test, I didn’t have
to work out my schedule in my head and obsess over it. The schedule also helped me
manage my procrastination, because at the beginning of the year, I would flounder away
30 minutes of class time trying to figure out what I was going to do that time.
5. Like I mentioned before, the biggest thing I struggled with was time management and the
capstone experience really helped instill those skills with me. I tried various methods
throughout the year; daily to-do lists, color-coding my agenda, and a multitude of ‘how I
organize my life’ videos from YouTube. I discovered that either carving out an hour on
Sunday, or spending Monday’s class on setting out assignments for the week, and
estimating how much time I would need to spend on it. This was especially helpful for
the intensive time, because I learned that I really struggle with self-directing, so taking
the time to map out the three weeks and writing out everything I had to do, helped my
anxiety over getting things done, and kept me in check throughout the process.
6. My original goals were vastly different from my end project. Again, it took me a long
time to settle on a topic. Once I finally did however, I had a lot of ideas about how to
bring awareness to rare and orphan diseases. Originally I had wanted to do a mock
clinical trial, to expose just how hard it is to get one off the ground, nevermind how
impossible it is with such a small patient population, like it is with orphan diseases. But,
along with the amount of time it would have taken (I would have barely scratched the
surface by the end of the school year), it wouldn’t have done much more than expose a
problem- it wouldn’t have been a part of the solution. After I decided to abandon the
clinical trial, I decided to play to my strengths which is writing and research. And that’s
where I figured on the whole guide idea. My topic is the awareness of rare and orphan
diseases, and I feel like breaking it down, and hopefully making it easy to understand
without having to specialize in it for 10 years, accomplishes that goal, is sort of a
solution. Also, at the beginning of the year, I wanted to do “disease profiles” which go
 through the symptoms and diagnosing process of various diseases, and that is a part of
my final product.
7. I don’t think I challenged myself, so much as the nature of the class challenged me. As
mentioned, I have struggled with task management, and with talking in front of people
(particularly small groups of people). I’ve already spoken on time management, but
signing up for this class came with some hesitations about the end of year presentation. I
have always had reservations about public speaking, but it seems to get worse when it’s a
small group of people, that I know pretty well. And that is the definition of a capstone
course. Towards the end of April, we had to teach a class on something related to our
capstone. This was terrifying to me because, not only did I have to get in front of a small
group of people, but I had to manage them, and tell them what to do. Leadership is also
something that I’ve struggled with, especially in ‘the stand in front of people and pass
myself off as an expert’ type of leadership. But I did it. I think the class went really well;
I took them through the diagnosing process with a fake patient. They had access to some
of my disease profiles, and were told that the patient would have one of those diseases. I
actually lied, and it was one of the profiles that I didn’t give out to them. It was supposed
to show how frustrating it is on both parties when going through the diagnosing process. I
think I got my point across. And I wasn’t totally terrified to be telling a group of my
peers what to do. Maybe it was that it was a topic that I was passionate about, but I did
gain some confidence in my ability to direct my peers and whatnot.
8. The presentation went a lot better than I thought it would. Historically, whenever I have
to present something, I feel really confident until I actually have to get up there. And I
struggle even more when it’s a group of people I know, and can disappoint. Which is the
audience of these presentations. I also tend to get in my head, so the better the practices
went, the more I psyched myself out saying ‘I used up my good run.’ I truly recommend
having a script at first. It helps hone down what you actually want to say, and by the time
you actually get to the presentation, you’ll probably be off script. I actually surprised
myself with the actual presentation. Normally, I scare myself and no matter how well the
practices go I end up shaky and nervous and never make eye contact and stutter through
it. But that didn’t happen this time. I don’t know what happened that made me more
confident or feel better, but I wasn’t nearly as scared as I thought I would be while I was
up there. Normally, I’m so scared while I’m up there, I can’t remember anything about
the presentation when I’m done, but this time I can. It was really gratifying to see people
be engaged with me, and actually be interested in what I have to say. And I am so proud
of my fellow capstone people! All of the presentations were really interesting and I
learned a lot.

9. This capstone gave me a lot more than just an opportunity to research what I was
passionate about. It gave me a lot of skills, and confidence. There were a lot of times this
year when I felt like an imposter, when I didn’t feel like I was doing anything
 worthwhile. Like I didn’t deserve a spot in the class. But as I’ve been reflecting over the
past week, I realize that was more my anxiety than anything. But now, I realize that I
have accomplished a lot over the year. I’ve learned that I do have something worthwhile
to say, and I deserve airtime to say it. I’ve also learned that success isn’t immediate, and
doesn’t always look like I initially looked like at the start of the journey. And failure to
meet my own expectations does not mean that I haven’t accomplished anything.
10. I would say, keep your mind open. You never know what ideas your research will inspire,
and it’s ok to change your mind and your project.