About how I work

I can’t say that I learned this during CreateAthon, but I did learn how much this attribute affects how I work with others. 

I am a control freak. I like to be in charge. I’m pretty organized with my work, not as much for the sake of organization, but more to make sure that I know where I am, to know where everyone stands that I’m working with. I have to make sure I have everything planned out ahead of time, that I have all the information I could possibly need. I don’t mean to make it sound like I’m completely obsessive about being in control either. Im just someone who’s ambitious (to put it lightly), yet independent. I like to stay on top of things.  

Being a team leader means that I had to let others take charge of certain projects, trust them to do things correctly, and trust their judgement. That is not easy for me. While I did check in on what everyone was doing constantly, and gave some feedback, I had to let my team members do their own thing as well. 

I’m pretty sure anyone who knows me, knows that I like things done my way. I like to be in control of how things are done. I’m extremely independent, which may factor into all this as well. 

Working with clients is..?

Stressful.

There’s no argument about that.

Don’t think of working with clients in a bad way though. The stressful part comes from the constant changing of the mind, wants and needs, and trying to figure out what it is that the client needs.

(the following is an example of client/designer interaction, not my interaction with my client)

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Communication is essential, but can be frustrating. Each party involved, the client as well as myself, has different areas of specialty. While the client’s specialty is their nonprofit, what it does and how it helps people, my specialty is design and seeing things from a graphics point of view. I think in terms of, how will this help my client, but how will it pull in the audience that we need?

Because of the differing points of view, this is where the needs can get confusing, so communication is essential to help clarify ideas, as well as what will work out best for both the client and you.

CreateAthon

Why is CreateAthon good? 

There’s so many answers to this question.

First off, the obvious. CreateAthon helps out the local community by providing thousands of dollars worth of advertising and deliverables to non-profits free of charge. 

Secondly, CreateAthon onCampus helps out students. It does this in many different ways. It helps students get real world experience dealing with real clients. Through school, many students deal with imaginary clients answering only to the professor. The professor judges the work, deciding whether or not it is what the client needs. With CreateAthon, students deal with real clients, and with this, students deal with real needs and problems. 
An example can be taken from my experience this year with CreateAthon. My client is VASS, or Virginia Advanced Study Strategies. I worked with the president and the board of VASS, narrowing down what it was they were essentially looking for, as well as what they truly needed. With my client, there was a lot of emails exchanged back and forth, probably 2-3 times weekly at first, and then as it got closer to the event, anywhere from 2-6 times daily. There were many different ideas exchanged, as well as other various needs that arose at different times. 
After the event had occurred, we received information from VASS that the direction that we had initially gone in was not the one that worked best for them. They had decided after seeing the work that they needed to focus less on the youth audience, and focus more on the corporate audience so that they could receive more funding. 
This was frustrating to hear, no doubt at all. But it’s a situation that you have to deal with in the real world. Clients constantly change their mind about what they want and need.  
This kind of experience, interacting with the clients, going through the needs and wants, and dealing with sudden changes of direction is amazing to have. It may not be the ideal situation, but it prepares you for the real world. 

And lastly, why CreateAthon is good. The process of brainstorming, creating, and executing condensed into 24 hours is a time period which is exhausting, yes, but leaves you feeling with an amazing feeling of accomplishment. You just stayed up for 24 hours, helping out a real client, a real organization. The thanks and gratitude that you receive for all the work you put in as well are overwhelming. They leave you with a feeling of warmth, a feeling of knowing that you did something good, that you helped someone who truly needed it. Giving up your time to help someone move forward. 

If nothing else, that last reason for why CreateAthon is good for students is one that I would recommend to anyone.

The Gender Factor: Girls in STEM education

If Unique Perceptions and VASS were to partner up for something, I feel like this would be the result. 
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And while I may not be an expert on the services that Unique Perceptions provides, I definitely know VASS. VASS is definitely trying to push the growth of STEM opportunities in our schools in Virginia. 

PS for more on Unique Perceptions Services check out http://aortathence.tumblr.com 

Source: engineeringdegree.net

The Event (part 1)

I know all of my previous posts are building up to the event of CreateAthon. 

So now, taking you through the event and the craziness that happened.
(this will probably be split up into different parts so that way it isn’t one humongously long post.  

(some of these pictures are mine, some aren’t)
the pre-CreateAthon jitters.. people arriving, handing stuff out, getting coffee and caffeine, and definitely just getting excited.

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Mentors, team leaders, team member, and a couple of stragglers hanging around in the background, everyone is excited. And with something like this, how can you not be?!!

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first things first, gotta get that group picture taken!! (and imagine trying to fit over 100 people into one picture)

So we split up into our teams after that. My team was in an extremely open space. The Hallway on the second floor of Temple. We did a little bit of chatting, talked about the brief, got comfy, went over what we would definitely be needing to accomplish.
Then, came the brainstorming. And since we didn’t have any whiteboards or chalkboards, we made use of what we did have.
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Windows! 
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We had people check in with us from time to time, going over brainstorming with us, and looking at different ideas and directions we had. We had people coming over, talking to us about logo design, different ideas to incorporate, and tons of different directions to go in.

And then, around 12, it was time for a break. Lunch. Which, VASS actually provided for us. YAY VASS! And you can guarantee, that with over 100 people, there were long lines waiting for food.
So people ate, relaxed for a bit, had some fun. We had bubbles going and were running up and down the halls.. and then about 30 minutes after that.. back to work!  

post-CreateAthon..

Well, it has been about 17 hours post-CreateAthon. I left, after helping out people for a class from the previous summer, and after Peyton told me to go home and get some sleep. Knowing me, I would’ve stayed there helping out until 3 or 4 pm if I could’ve, but I got kicked out. (insert sad face here)
But I had left the building, walking home in what seems almost like a blur, and went upstairs to sleep. I slept for about 5 hours (which would explain why I’m awake now), and shockingly enough, I was dreaming about CreateAthon. I was seeing the event happening again, skipping through some parts, and highlighting others, and then seeing clients interacting with the CreateAthon leaders and members. I saw Ian’s client, Sportable, using the spokecards for the wheelchairs that his group made for them. I saw Curtis’s client, CAT, completely transformed. I saw my own client, VASS, out there, using the deliverables that we had made for them, gaining support, funding, and signing on with even more schools, helping more and more students to achieve their hopes and dreams. 
I woke up after all this, and I was in this sort of enlightening haze. I felt like I was glowing on the inside (not radioactively or anything) from all the good that had just been accomplished earlier. 
I also have to say that, when I woke up, I also felt sad. The event was over. I know that there’s changes that need to be modified and what not, but.. I still want to be doing this more often. Once a year just isn’t enough for me.