Bright Summer

As my junior year of undergraduate comes to an end, I begin to prepare myself for the summertime months. The next three months (June, July. August) will be exciting, challenging, and eventful. As an outcome, I expect to see tremendous growth in myself as a researcher. As talked about before, organization and proper time management can be the key to achieve all goals and aspirations that are on deadlines. Goals

- Get approval by IRB - Finalize my 12 backbone reliable articles with citation page - Construct a full-length literature review (final) draft - Have strong research tools (interview questions and survey) - Have strong research tools (interview questions and survey) - Finalize "characteristics" of interview participants - Finish all narrative interviews - Transcribe all narrative interviews for recordkeeping - Analyze interviews and surveys for similarities/differences - Construct Abstract section* - Construct Introduction section* - Construct History of Institution section* *Less of a priority can be pushed into Fall 2020 semester if needed. My summer will be extremely busy. Not only will I be focusing on my summer research, but I also have other priorities. I am currently employed at U.S. Bank and plan on keeping my part-time job throughout the summer. Being part-time, I am obligated to work a minimum of 15-20 hours per week, which is just about 4 shifts or so. In a perfect world, I would focus only on conducting research this summer, but unfortunately, I hold financial responsibilities. Along with working my part-time job, I also plan to begin studying for the GRE Exam throughout the summer. The GRE Exam is not required for most of the graduate programs I have been looking into, but I still believe I should take it. My biggest challenge this summer will be preparing for the GRE Exam. Preparing for the GRE will be time-consuming and stressful because I am not the greatest test taker and in order to perform at an average pace, I must put in 90% hard work, and 10% talent. This summer will consist of research, work, and GRE prep, every day. I have always had a lot on my plate, so I have learned how much I can handle before it's too much. Although it may seem like I have too many goals, with proper planning and hard work, it is possible to complete in three months. My eagerness drives my research curiosity, as it leads me to a different path with every finding I discover. I am excited to see where I will be by the end of month three, August, and look back on how far I have come.

As a new researcher, everything I do is a new step for me. I am creating my own path with every direction I take. When continuing onto graduate school, I will be lucky enough to be able to use this project as a guide for new research. Deciding to challenge myself with learning a new skill, researching, is something I never thought I would do. I always disliked reading and writing classes growing up, and I hated writing papers in any subject.

By teaching myself how to become a researcher, I have gained so many useful skills like knowing how to pace myself during a big project, breaking up the work into sections with deadlines, and most importantly, I learned how to have patience during the journey. I hope to continue to track my progress during the summer months and update my blog with new findings, new challenges, and new curiosities that arise.