Project successes
I am happy to say that many of the challenges in my project were very minimal in comparison to the successes.
One of my greatest successes in this project was that I was able to learn throughout my project, with research, hearing other real life stories and also in creating a manageable amount of work to finish in the time I had. I had a main goal of not only getting to understand what a job requires as education, or entails, but mainly wanted to learn about what a day in the life of real people working in these jobs look like. With the various people I had learned about, I am happy to say I better understand what is truly involved in a major project like a space mission, and was able to share it to others via my book, which I see as a huge success. By creating an interactive end piece I am happy to say that I can continue sharing my knowledge with readers and also share it with you today.
Throughout my project I was also able to better understand the differences within major space entities, one example was the vastly different requirements of American and Canadian astronauts, and pieces of information like these were what made my novel interesting! Getting to hear about facts myself that I otherwise would not have heard without my research through this project was something I am very grateful for.
The Challenges
The beginning of my project involved a lot of planning, and part of this included making a point of being aware of what challenges I could possibly face in the future. By pre-planning challenges that may come up, I gave myself backup plans and also many things to look out for! Here you can see a challenge that had been essentially pre-planned!
Challenge
Finding and using resources from a variety of sources at the beginning did not seem like a challenge, until I realized that many of my sources were American and given the many differences, in education and requirements to actively contribute to a mission, this was a concern that should be quickly addressed!
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Challenge
Original designs for a children's book cover are definitely not as easy as they may seem! I had tried my best to find some inspiration from other authors on books in a similar area, but I still found myself very lost when starting on my illustrations, but then I had realized that I had probably put too much focus on a certain art style and then thought of the challenge in a different way.
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Solution
Once I had realized the differences between the American and Canadian space agencies I had begun to take a look at the CSA and also European Space Agency's resources to get more variety in the jobs and education required. Ultimately I did choose to focus on Canadian education requirements and with the help from some sites, I was able to get very specific education plans to get to the careers necessary.
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Solution
Once I had realized how much trouble this was causing, I decided to begin sketching with less planning and just make many covers to choose from rather than focusing all my time on one art piece that was very complicated. After this sketching process, I made 3 possibilities for the cover and ultimately chose this one because of the simplicity and colours which I thought were really striking and could be something even I would pull off a shelf!
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Some of my original cover plans
Challenge
My original plans of just highlighting many careers proved to be too minimal, and narrowing down the careers to highlight was very difficult. When researching it was hard to choose which careers to highlight because so many were very interesting and because I wanted to make the book as readable and concise as possible this required some effort to sort into which careers would be the best to look into more deeply.
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Solution
Eventually, I decided to research careers of two types, to give some variety to my book. I decided to write up on overlooked careers that many don't consider when thinking of space missions, and then a deeper dive into more typically thought of careers like those of engineers or astronauts. By sorting into these categories, I feel like the readers would be exposed to a great variety of fields related to the space industry, and my main hope was to show all the jobs required to make everything in the mission work, so this worked out perfectly!
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Skills learned and Links to the future
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Skills Learned:
My project allowed me to expand my knowledge in many areas. Some new skills were learned, and some of my already existing interests were a basis for learning more. Something very new for me was digital art, and through my time creating my book cover and drawings, I was able to learn basic skills that I could use in the future for sharing my ideas in a more visual way. I also got a chance to expand my knowledge in digital design, the idea of a Wix website seemed pretty daunting at first, as I was used to typing code to make more visual displays on a website before, but working through creating my website I had found that the system Wix provides is far simpler for grouping ideas together!
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I was also able to gain time management skills by setting goals and accomplishing them throughout my process, which set me up to have plenty of time to research and collect my ideas at the end as well. The skill that I found most useful through this process was probably regarding my research, and although I was used to finding proper sources from experience in sciences before, I was able in this process to get not only reliable sources but also compare them. Noticing differences in sources, and finding a midpoint to write about in my book was a common skill found when comparing the careers in different countries, especially with the astronaut career because of all the differences in qualification it requires from space agency to space agency. The skill of narrowing down what is relevant is a skill I can continue to use in my school and future work life, to keep my notes, projects or even speeches relevant and brief.
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Links to the future:
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By choosing to research careers of interest I was able to think about my own path and how it could progress into one of these careers. I had learned about more variety in the space industry myself with my topic and by seeing what a day in the life of these careers would be, I was able to see my own interests align with many of the careers, some of which I may choose to pursue in the future. Some of the other skills I learned throughout can be carried on in my future academics as well, but the fact that I was able to better understand what it truly means to be working as a part of a large space agency was definitely the most rewarding.
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My advice
If I were asked to give advice to someone interested in a similar product or passion project, what I would begin by saying is that sources are everything! Getting quality information to go into my writing was a very large part of my project, and finding good sources lead to finding even more interesting stories, topics and ideas surrounding my topic. I would also say to make connections to your reader if you choose to make a similar product, and would recommend keeping the readers in mind throughout. Be aware of your age range and what would be most engaging to them! By adding real-life stories and connections to the material they have seen now, I believe that I was able to give them hope to genuinely get somewhere within these careers and get a connection with my readers, something very valuable.
Profile of a graduate
What is it?
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To me, the attributes in the profile of a graduate are goals to strive for, every BH student knows them and wishes to embody them through their school lives, and within my passion project, I was able to set an example of many of these important qualities which you can see here.
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Independent
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This was an attribute that was seen throughout the majority of my project, when preparing items to show to my advisor, preparing early drafts and when researching. This skill is one that I have continued to develop because of my passion project and along with my independence I was able to learn from my advisor and collaborate more efficiently than ever, with my focus on accomplishing my goals myself. By creating my own goals, setting deadlines and showing my work to my advisor through meetings, I was able to get feedback and ideas to incorporate that I otherwise would not have gotten had I not put a focus on time management and independent work.
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Reflective
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By pre-planning many of my goals and outlining where I would be months ahead, I was able to step back from what I was doing and review my steps to see if I was in a spot where I should be at the time. I was able to use reflection to benefit me and check up on my own progress and with my pre-planning, I was able to reflect throughout my project and use this skill to my advantage.
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Problem Solvers
With many ambitious goals as a part of my book creation, I had gotten into many challenges along the way but was able to push through them to get my end product. One example of my problem solving was within my cover, and as I discussed before I had no experience in digital art prior to making this book and only after getting through problems of scale, design and technical issues was I able to get my final product. Because my time spent problem-solving led to the development of many new skills I believe it was well worth it!
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