My Impact
I believe my group's efforts have led to a successful project. We exceeded our expectations and met goals we didn't think we'd reach. We were most successful in bringing about improvement at the local level, spreading awareness about the issue of the lack of accommodation for women's needs in our own school, Austin High. Because we raised awareness of the issue within the school, administration took the issue into their own hands and installed the dispensers in the bathrooms for us, so the funds that we raised on our ed-backer and selling wristbands could go into the account that would continue to fund the refilling of the dispensers. Our original plan was to raise enough money to just buy dispensers and we didn't really have a plan for what would come next. Luckily, we thought to reach out to the LifeSkills class and they agreed to take the responsibility of managing the account and refilling the dispensers, since they focus on job training and it would be beneficial to them as well. They would also get to keep the extra funds for their class.
My personal contributions consisted of selling wristbands at lunch for two weeks, working on the website, selling wristbands out of school, reaching out to groups to donate to our cause, making posters, making feedback surveys, and helping with the account management. I am grateful to have had such productive and efficient project members that understood the importance of being punctual and persistent, and I wouldnt trade my group members for anyone else. I love you Daisy + Natalie :) |
Starkey Johnston wearing one of our AustinFlo wristbands
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Communication
Communication makes up the basis of our project. Without spreading the word or discussing the topic of feminine health and proper feminine hygiene, no one would have known that our topic was an issue in the first place. At first, the people I talked to about our project said things like "Girls should bring their own products to school," and "Why are you doing this? Tampons aren't even that expensive." But it is not necessarily just about the cost, but the accessibility. It needs to be a norm for feminine hygiene dispensers to be put in any facility where a woman is to be expected not just because she might not be able to afford a product, but that she has the ability to take care of her body at any given time. By talking about our issue we took away some of the embarrassment surrounding the topic and also opened people's eyes to the necessity of proper feminine hygiene.
We changed our plan quite a bit, and there was a lot of lag time between meeting with people and getting technicalities sorted out. Our first change was to sell wristbands, our original idea was to sell pins, but they were not cost-effective. The next change we faced was what we were going to raise money for, since the school paid for and installed the dispensers for us. We decided to use the money for the refilling of the dispensers. Our last change was who was going to manage the account when we graduated. We talked to the Life Skills class and they agreed to take on the responsibility of the account to further their educational experience.
We changed our plan quite a bit, and there was a lot of lag time between meeting with people and getting technicalities sorted out. Our first change was to sell wristbands, our original idea was to sell pins, but they were not cost-effective. The next change we faced was what we were going to raise money for, since the school paid for and installed the dispensers for us. We decided to use the money for the refilling of the dispensers. Our last change was who was going to manage the account when we graduated. We talked to the Life Skills class and they agreed to take on the responsibility of the account to further their educational experience.
What I Learned
This project taught me that the biggest changes start at the smallest levels. We chose to focus in on a local issue and were able to carry it out AND raise awareness within our school, and hopefully to other schools as well. I also learned to think practically. Our original idea was very hard to tackle and broad in its nature, and we instead thought of something we could achieve that was smaller-scale, but still effective. I learned a lot about teamwork, and how to propose ideas and opinions in a way that is beneficial to the progress of a group. We faced a lot of challenges, and had to talk to many people, and I learned how to communicate effectively from that as well.
If I were to do something differently, I would probably have reached out to more groups and took more initiative to really make the most of our ed-backer fundraising account. We still were able to raise a lot of money with the efforts that we made, but I could have put in more work in that area for the improvement of our group's progress. I would probably also try to focus on the education portion of our project as well, and maybe have organized a lesson to teach advisory classes about feminine health and hygiene to benefit the girls at Austin High.
If I were to do something differently, I would probably have reached out to more groups and took more initiative to really make the most of our ed-backer fundraising account. We still were able to raise a lot of money with the efforts that we made, but I could have put in more work in that area for the improvement of our group's progress. I would probably also try to focus on the education portion of our project as well, and maybe have organized a lesson to teach advisory classes about feminine health and hygiene to benefit the girls at Austin High.