Personal Narrative: My Project Log

Many individuals told me that if I would not put thought into the topic of my senior project, I would never enjoy it. And they were correct, I have seen so many people do nothing but complain about the twenty hours they have to forge. Fortunately for me, I did not have to do that. I had no troubles getting the twenty hour requirement for this project, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Through my project log, I will describe how I decided my project, who I decided on as my mentor and why, how I completed my project, and what I learned from doing so.
As a junior, I had the rough task of deciding just how I wanted to complete my senior project. After talking with several family members, teachers, and those with past experience of doing the project,
I decided upon a children’s book. I decided to incorporate the field I will be majoring in into the books, to provide a unique read for children. This book would detail the process of what happens to someone who gets hurt and then their road to recovery with the help of certain people along the way. I thought that by writing this book, I could give children who may have to someday go through this some comfort to know that everything will be alright. I was nervous when I first gone through the process, and I hope that I can calm the fears these readers have of going to the athletic trainer of physical therapist. The next step of my project was finding a mentor.
Finding an individual to mentor me through this process was a much easier task than deciding what to do. For the past for football seasons, I had worked alongside Tara Bayer as her student athletic trainer. She helped me to understand how the field of athletic training works, and what all will be required of me in the future. I knew that she would be the greatest help to me to completing an accurate, successful senior project.
The most essential step to completing this project, was the project itself.
I wanted to make sure the book was as accurate as possible, so I followed the steps of a recovery process from the injury to the athlete returning to the field. I started by shadowing Tara Bayer during the boys’ varsity football mini-camp. Here I watched a number of injury evaluations, due to surgery and regular injuries from being an athlete. When I had helped during the season, I was more focused on helping to keep the players safe, and did not get to participate in the assessment of injuries like I was able to during my shadowing. I then spent three days working with physical therapist Leah Sheetz of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s (UPMC) Center for Rehabilitation. There, I watched the recovery from injuries sports and non-sports related. I kept a journal to detail what I had learned during both shadows.
With the information I gathered from shadowing both Tara Bayer and Leah Sheetz, I was able to construct my story from beginning to end. This task was more difficult than I originally had planned it to be. Editing and self-publishing a book even through a simplified system like Shutterfly took a great deal of effort, along with quite a bit of frustration. However after weeks of hard work, I was able to produce something that I take pride
in.
Throughout this project, I learned so many things, There are so many jobs in the sports medicine field that go unnoticed or receive little recognition. These individuals devote their lives to improving the quality at which we can lives ours. Also, I learned that authoring, editing, and putting together even just a twenty-page book is a difficult task, and the jobs of those who do that work are highly underappreciated. I hope that through this project, I was able to produce a successful story that will help children overcome their fear of coming to those who want to do nothing but help them. But I also gained a sense of how the work of some many hardworking individuals who devote their careers to entertaining us or aiding us in recovery go without thanks. I am thankful that unlike so many others in my grade, I was able to enjoy completing my graduation project.