CAPPING PROJECT: week 12

And here it is, the final week of our senior capstone project! I truly cannot believe how fast this semester flew by, and how this project has evolved throughout the course of twelve short weeks. This week we are preparing our presentation to the class; where we will make a powerpoint describing our project background/results etc., hand out flyers and brochures to peers which we used for our event, and show the class how we incorporated social media into our project plan. We have a lot to discuss in an assigned ten minute presentation slot, which makes it a challenge to be concise but also bring the point across.

To prepare for the tournament we will also be running around like madmen (or women) trying to make sure everything we have planned goes flawlessly. We have a million (or so it seems) to do- lists, preparations, and organization to get ready for the event, which is this Saturday! In all, although this project has had minor setbacks too to Hurricane Sandy, I believe we will be able to achieve and even surpass our initial goals. We are hoping for a large turnout to give 100% of the proceeds made at the tournament back to the Friends of Jaclyn foundation to help other children undergoing brain tumors and extensive surgery. #hapcap

CAPPING PROJECT: week 11

This week was monumental. After consulting with our professor, contacting all of our participating teams, assessors, and friends we decided to move our tournament to Saturday, December 8th. Due to Hurricane Sandy several teams could no longer participate in the tournament because of rescheduling issues, resulting in a smaller turnout. Our goal is to have the greatest amount of players and observers possible in order to earn the most money and awareness for the Friends of Jaclyn cause.

This being said, we have to almost “redo” all of the necessary steps we took in order to gain attention about the event. We had to re-call all of the teams, coaches, and professors. We had to change the social networking information, as well. These next two weeks will be crucial to ensure that our tournament is even greater than ever, and we will be taking all the steps necessary to reach out to players, friends, family, professors, sponsors and more. 

CAPPING PROJECT: week 10

Today was extremely successful, as we are putting together the final pieces for the event. As a group we went and bought decorations, bake sale goods, and many other items for the event. We have a lot of work ahead of us for the next week, but today was a great start! We also put together for our adoptee, Jaimie, which includes over 50 personal letters written to her, small gifts, and Marist apparel. 

As a group we have worked extremely hard this week to contact as many people as we can- including Marist security, local coaches, athletic trainers, different organizations on campus, and sponsors. We have gotten mostly positive feedback from all of these people/organizations and many said they will help out in any way that they can to help make this event a success.

The next few days are crucial- as these are the final steps leading up to our event! We are still trying to reach out to as many youth soccer teams as possible to get the greatest turnout for Jaimie, and for the Friends of Jaclyn foundation in general. 

CAPPING POST: week 9

Let the madness begin…. only 11 all too short days away from our tournament! This week starts crunch time as we try to reach out to as many kids as we can to play in the tournament, as well as gain any donations we can from parents/students/teachers and more! Unfortunately we haven’t had a large response to the flyers we handed out two weeks ago, so we are hoping our new approach to gain players will be more successful.

In addition to gaining more players- we are putting the final “pieces of the puzzles” together. Decorations, posters, raffles, and sponsors all need to be finalized this week. We want to make this event fun, colorful, and the same theme of the Friends of Jaclyn foundation. Since Jaimie is only eight years old we want to make this event as kid friendly as possible!

I have also contacted both professors which will help assess my work for the duration of this project- and they both have plans of attending. I look forward to hearing their insight on my project in general, and look forward to seeing them at the event!

 

CAPPING PROJECT: week 8

This week we were able to reach all of our target audiences via flyers. As a team we went to local Poughkeepsie venues, businesses, and restaurants to help promote our event. Everyone was accepting and eager to hang our flyer in their window because they believed in the cause, and our mission. Our hopes are to receive emails regarding player participation starting this week in response to the flyers, where we can then start making brackets for players in the tournament.

In addition, we have contacted the Marist Women’s Soccer assistant coach, Chris, who also coaches a local Poughkeepsie youth soccer team. We hope that he will spread the word about the tournament, leading to more participants and therefore more donations to the Friends of Jaclyn foundation.

This week we also hope to accomplish making posters and gathering decorations to decorate the tournament and make it a fun, young, and “girly” theme for the players, and mostly our adoptee, Jaimie from the Friends of Jaclyn foundation.

CAPPING PROJECT: week 7

This week has been very productive, thus far, as we completed our flyer to promote the event and have almost completed the brochure. We printed out 20 copies of the flyer to hang up at different local venues and businesses in hopes of targeting our key audience- families. With only 5-10 year olds being able to participate in our event we hope that parents will encourage their children and friends to play, and will observe the event as well. WIth parents and adults being at the event we hope they will participate in the bake sale and raffle events, and therefore donate accordingly.

We have also almost completed our brochure, which is more of an “informational packet” which will be distributed to all people who attend the event. This brochure will talk little about the event, and more about the Friends of Jaclyn foundation- the foundations’ story, mission, and other details. By the end of this week the brochure will be completed, and the registration sign up sheet will be made to give to all attendees! Let the games begin!

CAPPING PROJECT: week 6

This week we finally figured out a DATE, major! November 18th 2012 is the official date for the soccer tournament to help promote and honor Jaimie (our adoptee) and the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation as a whole. With an official date it will begin the planning process including: getting sponsors, promoting and advertising the event, and other details. Our goal is to have at least 75 players and 200 people total (including people that just came to watch). We haven’t starting selling tickets yet, because we still need to collect more information, so once that is settled we will be able to get a further grasp on the expected attendance.

The Facebook page is coming along as well, we have increased our “likes”, although not at the rate that we hoped for. We published videos and status updates regarding the tournament and the foundation in order to gain attention and awareness about our project. We also started a separate blog on WORDPRESS to discuss the tournament, in hopes of handing it over to the Friends of Jaclyn foundation upon completion. This will be another big week ahead of us- as we hope to promote the event even more by creating brochures and posters to hang around the Marist College campus, as well as finalize some crucial details!