Capstone Interview and Final Thoughts

To wrap up my experience in N420 Capstone preparation class, it was only fitting to be required to attend the event and interview one of the 19 Capstone presenters. I reconzied Garin Grist from a previous class and remembered how impressive his video project was to me and the rest of the class. I wanted to see what he came up with for his Capstone and how the experience was for him.

This was my interview with Garin:

1. What has this week been like for you?
1. Garin explained the late nights leading up to his Capstone presentation while still balancing the other class projects he has to finish up.
2. If you could change anything in how you did your capstone, what would it be?
1. Garin did change his Capstone during the production. Initially, it was going to be about babies behind bars featuring what it is like for pregnant women and their babies that are born while their mother's are incarcerated. After filming the content, he realized there was not going to be enough content so he went back to the prison to tell the story of the Long Road Home.
3. How close is the final outcome to what you originally thought it would be?
1. As explained in the previous question, it is quite different than his original thought. The environment (jail cells, prison) remained the same as the original thought, but the content and the vision changed. Once he realized there was not enough content to make a feature film on babies behind bars, he re-shot the footage to show the perspective of the choices the prisoners made and how their journey home has affected them.
4. If you had one more month to work on the project what would you do?
•  News Anchor Russ McQuaid (not sure of the spelling) viewed his project and featured the film on the Fox website. If he had more time he would try to get more exposure for his work.
5. What advice do you have for me about working on my capstone?
• His advice to me was to do something that I like and am passionate about. He said when there is a meaning behind the project it is always there to push and drive me to do better, more.

This semester, specifically this class, has really helped me narrow in on my idea for a Capstone project. This class helped me understand how I need to breakdown my project's development and determine an accurate and meaningful timeline for me to try to stick to next semester. I feel it was helpful to hear from a student's point of view what the Capstone experience was like for them. It helped me to have a realistic perspective of what I can expect when I am consumed by the all-consuming Capstone. The most helpful assignment for me was to break down my project's timeline. Despite the fact that I have changed my Capstone since I made the timeline in class, I was able to more quickly create a new timeline that reflected my new project. It also helped me realize how much work it is going to be and that I needed to get going. Personally, I didn't find a great amount of use from the assignment that asked us to find 3 potential mentors and an adviser for my Capstone. At that point, I was already enrolled in an independent study with Skip Comer and he had already agreed to be my Capstone adviser so finding so many additional professors didn't completely resonate with me. I do, however, acknowledge the fact that this assignment could be especially helpful for those who did not have an adviser established or a professor for an independent study.

Overall I really appreciated having this class to prepare me for the Capstone semester. I was glad to have this class as somewhat of a sounding board to bounce ideas off of and explore new possibilities.