Personality Theory

5.5 Assignment. Journal - Brainstorming About Your Capstone Project

Getting Started

Here is the tale of two young people and how their choices led them down very different paths.

Mark is 20 years old and currently lives at home with his parents. He’s started college a couple of times but dropped out each time when he wasn’t getting the grades he had hoped for. “Maybe I’m not the studious type,” Mark tells himself. He is currently working part-time at a local grocery store stocking shelves. His parents are not asking him to move out or pay rent, so he assumes he can stay there indefinitely. The meager amount of money he makes at the store is typically spent on eating out, gas for his car, video games, and hanging out with friends. He doesn’t currently have a plan for his future but is content with his life for now and assumes his path will become clearer with time.

Theo is also 20 years old and in his third year of college, majoring in public health, which he became interested in after spending a summer as an intern at an inner-city ministry outreach to poor urban families. He’s currently collaborating with community leaders to start a nonprofit organization to address the many unmet emotional needs of poor children in the inner city. After he graduates from college, he wants to go on for his master’s degree in public health and work on policy issues. In his spare time, he volunteers as a Big Brother to a couple of boys he met while working at the inner-city ministry outreach.

What is the standout difference between Mark and Theo’s lives? It is purpose. Mark lacks purpose for his life. Nothing compelling is going on in his life, largely because he isn’t pursuing anything. He lets life come to him, and there is not much coming his way.

In contrast, Theo has a purpose that propels him toward goals that matter. His purpose, in a broad sense, is to do something that makes a difference in the world. He sees many possible options for how to use his limited time and energy but chooses those that line up with his core purpose: helping the urban poor.

How would you state the core purpose of your life at present? If you are not clear on that yet, you are in good company. Most people can’t succinctly state a core purpose. But this journal entry is designed to at least get you thinking about it. The clearer you are on that purpose, the more intrinsic motivation you will have for the things that are in line with that purpose.

The inspiring commencement address by actor Denzel Washington will help jump-start that thinking. The hope is that as you contemplate your core purpose it will also bring clarity on a possible capstone project that you might consider doing later in the curriculum.

Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:

· Reflect on your life purpose and how that might inspire your future capstone project.

Resources

· Video & Transcript: Put God First: Denzel Washington Motivational and Inspiring Commencement Speech

· Website: Academic Writer

· Website: OCLS Evaluating Sources Page

Background Information

Before you begin the written portion of this journal entry, watch the inspiring video, Put God First: Denzel Washington Motivational and Inspiring Commencement Speech. It is a commencement speech given by the actor Denzel Washington.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.

2. Watch the video,  Put God First: Denzel Washington Motivational and Inspiring Commencement Speech  (8:36 min)

a. Transcript of the video .

3. Review the list of your most significant life events you compiled from Workshop Two.

4. The three main takeaways from the Denzel Washington address were:

a. Put God first in what you do

b. Do what you are passionate about

c. Make a difference

5. Open your ongoing  Capstone Reflection Journal that you have saved in a Word document.

6. Title this new journal entry 5.5 Brainstorming About Your Capstone Project, <Day, Month Year>.  Create a new journal entry with those three takeaways in mind. Write three paragraphs about a possible capstone topic or project that would meet all those criteria. 

a. In the first paragraph, explain what your project might possibly be about. You are not committing to a topic at this point, only brainstorming.

b. In a second paragraph, explain whether you envision your capstone project to be something personal about yourself that you want to explore, a service project that would benefit others, or a combination of the two.

c. In a third paragraph, explain how the one most significant life event you identified in assignment 2.4 might help you shape your capstone topic/project.

7. Your submission should be a minimum of three paragraphs in length.

8. All references and citations should be in APA format.