Proposal
Maleyna Rodriguez
Sport and Medical Sciences Academy
280 Huyshope Avenue
Hartford, CT 06106
Dear Mrs. Boutilier:
For my capstone project I chose to focus on coping strategies. I plan to present a lesson to junior and sophomore students on all the different options they can use to cope and different resources that are out there. After my presentation, I would like to choose one or two days out of the week to do these activities with the students. The activities include drawing, journaling, doing an activity to get the kids moving, and other activities the students might suggest. I plan on giving these lessons in Mr. Greene’s, Mr. Labombard’s, Mr. Rodriguez’s, and Mrs. Petrillo’s advisory classes. I chose to carry out this project because it is very personal to me and it is something I wish I would’ve gotten the chance to participate in. As I was growing up, I didn’t have the best ways to cope which led me into a lot of trouble and led me to experience traumas that I could've avoided by doing things differently. As a 17 year old now, I am still struggling finding better ways to deal with stress. I hope that not only do the students I work with gain something from this experience, but that I gain something from this as well.
My research question is what is the difference between coping and suppressing stress. This research question ties in with my capstone because when people are stressed, they look for a way to feel better. The thing is everybody does this differently. Or at least is affected differently. Some people lean towards drugs and alcohol to cope as a way to forget about their stress or keep them in an apathetic state. This can lead to a lifetime struggle and not everyone realizes that. Most people think that it is the only option they have that will work for them. This is because they are not aware of all the positive things that they can do or have never tried better ways to cope and see it’s effectiveness for themselves.
Finally, I chose Mrs. Rubelmann to be my mentor for this capstone. Her email is LENTS001@hartfordschools.org. She is the school counselor at SMSA for kids whose last name starts with M through Z. She will be giving feedback on my presentation and providing me with different resources to use for my research. She will also help me understand what activities I will be able to do with the students and how to incorporate them with lessons. I think this project will push me to do self reflection on my end as well. I feel like this would be a bit challenging in the aspect that this is very personal to me and I am holding high expectations for myself and this project.
Sincerely,
​
Maleyna Rodriguez