Research Update

To thank my gracious hosts and new friends at CFK, I did the culturally appropriate thing. Bought a cake. 

You know its gonna be good when there are apple slices on it. 

This has been my last week at CFK, a bittersweet moment to be sure. I am nothing short of thankful for the opportunity to be here. I have learned a ton, and not just pertaining to my project, but also ranging from the extremely profound (thoughts on organizations and leadership) to the mundane (the best way to avoid mud on linen pants).

The project is wrapping up this week and we will begin to transition into the 'continuing conversation' part. I have wrapped up all the interviews and tracked down the last of the documents. This week we held a productive meeting wrapping up the project and doing a SWOT analysis (thank you Dr. So) and talking about the next stages of the program. This meeting was with all of those involved with the program. It was exciting to have some sort of culminating event.

I think we have done a pretty good job at doing the retrospective part of the project. Next steps include compiling all the recommendations into some sort of document that can be used as the program moves on. More substantially, the next steps involve creating some sort of set of tools that can be used to do a better job at monitoring and evaluating the program. While this has been a great fit for me and I would not have changed my placement, working with an organization has added another interest into the project. This means I have to consider both the needs of CFK and the requirements back at school when considering my timeline for the fall. I will work that out in a couple weeks when I get back.

For now, its tying up loose ends, trying to have a few last adventures, and a few days at the coast with Amy.