Capstone Experience

Being in my last semester of the MPA program, I am currently completing my capstone. The capstone process actually begins the semester before you plan on completing the project. In the fall I met with Dr. Ahmed, the current capstone coordinator. I did not have any ideas on what to do or even really where to begin. During our meeting she suggested working with To The Ends of the Earth, a nonprofit organization that had reached out asking for assistance on a grant. One of the individuals involved in the organization is also a current MPA student. I accepted the suggested and set off on my next steps. I had a Zoom meeting with a couple people from the organization to discuss what it is that they do, what they were hoping to accomplish with the grant, and what to expect from me and my timeline. 

Being that the project was not officially for me to work on until spring, I focused on my fall coursework and had the grant application on the back burner. Once courses started this semester, I sat down to work on the grant and was stumped on where to really begin. My mom has a lot of grant writing experience through her work and looked over the application for me. It was then that we realized the initial steps for the application were due in spring of 2020. I quickly scheduled a meeting with Dr. Ahmed to discuss what I was to do next. We adjusted my project to compiling a personalized database of available grants for the organization and work on a grant application or two. With this plan, I reached out everyone I was working with at the organization to receive approval and make sure we were all on the same page with the new plan. 

Going into capstone, I expected to be able to work on the grant application without any issues. While my experience has not matched my expectations, it has not been a dreadful experience. Dr. Ahmed has been very helpful solving problems that I bring her way, answering questions and being a guide in this process. There is still some work to do, but everything is manageable based on the set up of capstone.