SENIOR PROJECT SELF-EVALUATION

Name: Savannah Clinton Project Start Date: January 27, 2017

Title of Project: The Psychology in Prison Policy Project Completion Date: 4-27-17

1. In 40 words or more describe who your project benefited and how. In other words, what
was the impact of your project?
My project was mainly impactful in educating the students and the adults who attended. The
majority of my audience new little to none about the topic of correctional psychology, but they
are now armed with the knowledge of just how important rehabilitation programs are to the
inmates who participate in them. This may even make them a little more likely to choose
candidates who favor expanding or simply maintaining these programs. My overall goal,
however, was simply to raise awareness about a rarely discussed subject. My surveys showed
that this was a success; everyone indicated that theyd earned new information, and 96 percent of
participants said that this led to having a deeper level of understanding of the rehabilitation
model. In fact, half of the people who circled retribution as the preferable system switched
sides by the end of the event, which indicates to me that I posed a fairly good argument,
especially as the debates allowed both sides of the issue to be presented. One response informed
me that that they felt more sympathetic toward the situations of inmates, and many wrote that
they realized theyd been quite uninformed as the seminar progressed. I got a lot of verbal
feedback that people were surprised at just how complex the issues can get, and most thought the
debates were a very good idea as they balanced out my very pro-rehabilitation presentation,
painting an accurate picture of the system.

2. In at least 40 words explain how the project challenged you. How was this a stretch for
you?

The most challenging aspect of this project was meeting the requirement that my audience have
at least 20 people. I am not a social person at all, so my ability to interest people had to be solely
on how I presented my event. I could not just rely on friends and family members to meet that
number. I printed out (and cut out) about 200 bookmarks, all containing a description of the
event and information like the date, and I passed these out to every person in each of my classes.
I also gave a little spiel on how great it would be, emphasizing the food and prizes in the hopes
of catching their attention. I put up dozens of flyers, making two different kinds. One was meant
to appeal to a more academically-focused group of students, giving detailed info on the event,
and the other was meant to appeal to the artsy kids by headlining the costume contest portion. I
made a few posts on Instagram for my 8 followers to see, and a couple of friends reposted them
to meet a larger audience. I used prizes as further incentive to go. The bookmarks and flyers were
distributed among both First Colonial High School and Landstown High School. Once project
day came, I met an audience made up of strangers; I knew probably less than a quarter of the
people who came. This was really great because it gave me the opportunity to discuss legal
issues with students outside of the academy. I also made it to 27 people, which was super
exciting.
The project was also challenging because I really wanted to get a good amount of audience
interaction and feedback as I was presenting. I did not want to stand there for an hour and a half
and just talk; that isnt at all engaging and an audience bored out of their minds wouldnt have
formed very strong opinions on the topics. I had to design activities that would serve to initially
break the ice (such as brain mapping), but later on prompt meaningful discussion and debate
among the crowd. Built-in time for discussion was also risky as theres always a chance people
wont be comfortable with that dynamic. Pleasantly, it actually went the other way; so many
people wanted to share that I had to call on people to keep the peace!

3. List and then describe 5-8 fundamental ideas/concepts/skills of your project, which you
learned/enhanced during your project. Please use a table format as shown in the example
below.

Flexibility Things will always go wrong! As stubborn as I am, I had to learn to give a bit.
For example, I made great flyer with Hannibal Lecter on it. It was approved for
First Colonial with no problem, but Landstown would not approve it because
the Student Activities Coordinator thought that it would bring bad juju to the
building. My lovely plan of attracting two different types of people was foiled,
at least at LHS. I adapted by making extra copies of the other one, though I was
a bit disappointed.
Time- I may or may not have been stapling stuff together that morning. Its very easy
managemen for me to get caught up in perfecting all the minor details, often
t underestimating how much time Ill need to do the more basic stuff. Having
nice little touches here and there is great, but I quickly learned not to prioritize
them. I spent hours hand-making the trophies, and in retrospect that time
probably could have been better spent doing run-throughs of my presentation.
Luckily that presentation still went pretty well, and winners seemed to be very
excited about the trophies. One person actually posted it on Instagram, which
was pretty cool.
Cooperation I do not like letting other people help me with stuff. I am very particular and
often feel that I am the only one who will do things the right way. I also dont
like to compromise. But as I was contacting Landstown, trying to secure a date
and time in a process that took weeks of back-and-forth emailing, I realized that
sometimes you have to let the other guy have a couple of wins in order to move
forward. I also had to let two of my friends set up my stations; originally I
planned to do it, but some computer issues forced me to focus my attention
elsewhere. Making sure that I could go through my PowerPoint was a bit more
important than micro-managing how the food table was set up.
Penny- Budgeting was very tough for me throughout the process. I do not have a job,
pinching so I didnt have a lot of extra cash to use to fund my project. Thats the biggest
reason I was willing to wait for weeks to get a straight answer from Landstown
about what I could do there; using the school building saved me anywhere from
$100 to $200 dollars. While my parents were kind enough to put in quite a bit
of what I needed, this restriction also kept me realistic. Originally Id wanted to
 get little doll heads for the phrenology activity, but as I started to buy supplies I
had to change that to a paper version. That being said, ink is expensive!
The This is slightly related to the things I mentioned earlier in regards to finding the
importance right audience. While I definitely like me-time, it would have been great to
of social- have had the security of knowing that Id have enough people from the start. I
networking only ever got about 15 RSVPs, with no one contacting the email I set up. I
emailed about half a dozen teachers asking them to offer extra credit to students
who attended, but none ever got back to me.
Outside of that, I also experienced a bit of an advantage from the professional
interview we did during the paper portion of the year. The person Id been into
contact with sent me a real-life example of a psychological evaluation, which
she gave me permission to hand out at my project. It was a great addition to my
activities packet (the MSE handout).

4. List and describe 4-8 problems/obstacles/issues you encountered in your project, and
briefly describe how you solved each.

The room was The screen for the presentation was not down when I got there, and it was
not ready when much too high to reach from the ground. Luckily a friend of mine managed
I arrived to find a remote that lowered it. What we could not find a remote for,
however, was the actual projector. He had to climb onto a chair, and then
use a cane (a prop for a costume actually) to reach the buttons to get it
turned on.
Connectivity In order to use the projector, you have to be able to plug your laptop into a
Issues special cable. Because my personal laptop was much newer than the school
ones, it did not have the correct outlet for the cable. I had to get logged into
a school computer in order to pull up my PowerPoint, which got stuck on
the welcome screen of course. After trying three or four and letting them
sit for a while, a friend who actually goes to that school tried logging in.
Because the computer recognized his info, it was able to connect much
more quickly. I used this laptop.
I also was unable to get the internet to work well enough to be able to play
the Kahoot Id originally planned, but after hearing the rich discussions
about the topics I went over, I felt that this wasnt necessary anyway. I gave
that prize to a costume contest winner.
Sound would When I tried to play the two videos Id embedded into my PowerPoint, the
not work sound did not work despite having all of the proper cables plugged in. I
explained what was going on in the first video, but when we took a break so
that people could change into their costumes, we took a second look at the
laptop. After some fidgeting and getting nowhere, I decided to just verbally
explain that one too, as it played in the background.
A rough start After all of the technical difficulties I was having, which led to starting
about ten minutes late, my stress levels were pretty high. I had a couple of
blunders or awkward pauses right at the beginning of giving my
presentation, and I forgot what I was saying at one point. I simply admitted
outright that Id lost my thought and that I was going to move on, and since
that only happened once it was no big deal. By about the third slide I was
fine and gave the rest of my presentation without issue.

5. List materials used.

Flyers
Bookmarks
Signs
Balloons
PowerPoint
Various Handouts
o Before and after surveys
o Phrenology handouts
o Mental Status Examination handouts
o Pre-made note-sheet
o Ballots: special- rules round and normal round
Craft Stuff
o Pens
o Colored pencils
o Glue
o Scissors
o Construction paper brains

Trophies
o 1st place
o 2nd place
o 3rd place
Gift card prizes
o Buffalo Wild Wings- 1st place
o Starbucks- 2nd place
Candy bar prizes- 3rd place
Box of cookies prize- special-rules round winner
Food
o Doughnuts
o Chips
o Assorted pastries
o Etc.
Drinks
 6. List all people who helped you on the project and briefly describe the help given.

Devin Wise Put up flyers and passed out bookmarks at Landstown, helped set up the
room
Jacob Pricenski Helped set up the room, got the projector working
Katelyn Minor Helped set up the room, took pictures
Parents Funding, picture taking

7. How does your completed project compare to the picture you had in mind when you
started the project? Explain the reason behind any changes from your proposal.

Overall my project followed what I put in my proposal pretty closely. My goal was to have10
people compete in the contest, and I had 8. This worked out though; it was definitely enough to
get my point across and still be fun for viewers. I also decided to let everyone vote rather than
just the people who didnt dress up, and unfortunately my Kahoot wasnt able to work due to
connection issues.

I also wanted to have it earlier in the year, however I had to schedule it right at the end of senior
project season in order to use Landstowns building. The date also prevented my project
consultant from being able to attend.

8. If given the opportunity, explain what you would have done differently now that you
speak from experience?

If anything, I would probably have printed out a paper version of the Kahoot as a back-up. It was
a shame I had to cancel it, especially as Id planned on using it to show that my seminar was
effective. Aside from how the scores in general would have been, I put a few questions on the
pre-seminar survey that were repeated on the Kahoot. The idea was that I would be able to
compare how many people got them right each time. Id hoped to use it a way to measure growth
that was not self-reported; my survey did ask if they learned anything, but I wanted to also have
a performance-based assessment.

9. Beyond the project itself, what did you learn about yourself?

The biggest thing that I had to learn about myself is that my usual stubbornness is not always an
asset. I wasnt able to plan for everything, and so I had to be a lot more flexible than I am used to
being. Additionally, I had to cooperate with several key people throughout the process. Whether
it was Landstowns Student Activities Coordinator or my project consultant, working out
scheduling took a lot of compromise. Unfortunately, by the end of that process my consultant
had an unexpected scheduling conflict. He is a baseball coach, and bad weather caused a game to
be cancelled earlier in the month. Naturally, it was rescheduled for the date and time of my
project. I had to make that work, so I made sure to have an extra check-in and to put a little extra
thoroughness into completing the Weebly so that he was able to accurately appraise and evaluate
the efforts I put into my event.

What grade would you give yourself on the project? Justify the evaluation of your grade in at
least 25 words.

Grade: 95

Justification: My project went as expected for the most part, and each activity was carefully
planned and moderated by myself. Some were meant to give participants something to take home
and reflect on, such as the MSE example and the notes. The craft, surveys, debates, and costume
contest were all very structured. I made sure to monitor the amount of time spent on each in
order to ensure we got to everything. In regards to the unexpected technology problems that I
encountered, I adapted pretty well. I did have a couple of blunders while giving my presentation,
but I do not feel that they were significant enough to warrant a lower grade than I indicated.