Proposal

Expected Project Start Date: April 2018

Expected Project End Date: June 2018

Anticipated Year and Semester of Graduation: August 2018

Title of Project: Non-Trads to Grad School

Project Advisor: Linda Hudson

Abstract: 

My name is CieJae Briggs and I am a Senior here at Southern Utah University (SUU). My husband and I are non-traditional (non-trad) students with the aim of going to graduate school. My husband wants to go to medical school and I want to do a master’s in family life education/counseling. There are many aspects of graduate school that are unknown or not talked about for non-trad students. These factors include:financial aid, child care, housing, the rigors of graduate level programs and more. The purpose of my project is to address these issues and help fellow and future non-trad students here at SUU plan for a graduate program. 

To do this, I plan to volunteer and work with the non-trad office in developing brochures with information, advice, and resources for those students that are contemplating graduate school. To do this, I will contact our SUU graduate schools and interview them about their programs and the different options they offer for undergraduate students. To get additional information about resources that SUU providesas a whole for non-trad students, I will work with the non-trad office. Upon completion of this project, I hope to help students that are struggling with the idea of graduate school. These brochures will hopefully be encouraging for them to pursue their dreams in becoming professionals without feeling impeded by being a non-trad student. These brochures will also be physically availablein the non-trad office following completion for anyone interested.

Project Details

• How does the project connect with your personal motivations and career aspirations, what might be called the “larger purpose” of your project?

I have a two-year-old daughter and another on the way in September, that take a lot of energy and time. Sometimes it is difficult, but with the various resources, and advice from other non-trads, I have been able to make it through getting a bachelors. With my degree I want to be a Family Life Educator, which requires a master’s degree and will be hard to do with children. Putting these brochures together will not only help other students, but it will also help me stay motivated for graduate school. Family life educators work with struggling families to help make their situations better. This goes hand in hand with my brochures because I want to help other non-trad families better their lives by encouraging them to get a graduate degree.

• How does the project ties in with concepts of community engagement?

This project is considered community engagement because it is a volunteer project that will help those in our local community to pursue an advanced degree. The non-trad office is one that helps people with families get through school. The service I am doing for them is also considered community service.

• What are the high-quality and realistic “deliverables” that you expect to achieve through your EDGE project?  

The types of deliverables I can provide are the brochures I will be creating as well as a time sheet, if necessary. These brochures will be high-quality and offer real life advice from professionals that have been in their shoes. I can also create a presentation with pictures of my completed project.

• Provide a timeline for completion of each step of the project that clearly shows how and when you will achieve your minimum of 40 hours of active engagement.

I will work on the project both in the non-trad office, through volunteer hours there as well as at home working on the brochures. I will also be contacting professionals around SUU through email, over the phone, and in person. The timeline shouldn’t be too long, maybe a few weeks, as most of the time will be spent in the library or at home on the computer creating the brochures. I would estimate that I could do about 10-20 hours in the non-trad office and about 20-30 hours contacting professionals, interviewing them and creating the high-quality brochures (4-6 hours per pamphlet/graduate school).

• Provide a budget, with projected expenses and revenues, for your project.  The budget should be specific and balanced in showing how all expenses will be covered.

The cost should be minimal. The only cost associated with the project is the cost of high quality paper to print the brochures. If I print a few and then give the PDFs to the non-trad office for future use, I can keep costs at one ream (500 sheets) of high quality paper. The cost of which is less than $20 on Amazon.

• How will your personal strengths will help you complete your project, and how might this project might differentiate you from other students?

I am a focused and determined person. Because of this, I will stay on track and focus on this project until it is completed. I am confident that I will be able to complete this project in 3-4 weeks because I will stay on task until it is done. This project will set me apart from other students because it shows how I can think outside the box and connect with professionals to accomplish a goal. When the project is done, I will have developed those specific communication skills with other professionals that are good for a family life educator to have.  

• How will you will overcome your personal weaknesses and outside threats to complete your project?

A weakness I might have is procrastination. This will be overcome by staying on task. An outside threat I might have is that people might not be willing to participate in giving advice. I will overcome this by being respectful and kind. I will ask for their help and be persistent in a professional and grateful manner.