What a year it has been. I am so happy with how far NAMI@Emma has come in its first year, and am even more excited to see what next year will hold for the club and its expansion to other schools.
I reflected in my previous blog post on my Signature presentation, but will again mention how I was inspired by some of the questions to improve my project by perhaps developing a way to quantify stigma, and thus develop a way to measure the effectiveness of certain NAMI@Emma programs. In terms of the challenges I faced, I would certainly say that the biggest one I faced was simply that I did not have enough time, enough team members, funding, etc. to do everything I wanted with the club. I think we did extremely well with what we had though, and am excited to see if we may be able to get funding from the school next year. My proudest moment from the project was probably the culmination of many small events when students and faculty would compliment the work NAMI@Emma was doing. Small, personal affirmation like this were very inspiring and heart-warming. Now, if I could give a future Signature student advice, I would recommend being flexible. Your project will probably not be the same or similar at all to your original idea, and perhaps that is a good thing. I’ve come to believe that the natural evolution of ideas produces the best product possible, and even though you may be hesitant to let go of your original idea, your core belief may be better suited with another project. Furthermore, I would hope that people would carve out a significant part of their schedule for their Signature. I certainly think running NAMI@Emma and doing my Signature was the most rewarding part of my year, and if I had perhaps made my schedule even more jam packed the club would not have been as successful. This is related to the fact that Signature is what you make of it, and that the program provides a great framework to work from and a good support system, but it still requires hard work. Originally I was going to do a STEAM Internship and run NAMI@Emma on the side. I am so happy that instead the year worked out so that I could invest all of my time into NAMI@Emma. There is little I would change about this year, and am thankful for the Signature program and its support.
1 Comment
Jon Calos
5/30/2016 07:21:34 am
Thanks for the final post!
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Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all. -Bill Clinton
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