Journal Update #2 - 9/5/19
After sending my independent research proposal to the McBride Honors Program directors, Melanie and Toni, there followed a delay between sending out the draft and their critiques. However, they did include email responses, one of which contained a suggestion that I had completely forgotten: getting an instructor of record. For a three-credit hour independent study at CSM, the student is expected to complete 75 instructor contact hours and 90 independent work hours for a total of 11 hours per week on the study alone. I found this extremely absurd as I had nowhere near enough time to commit to such a workload. In addition, finding staff or faculty who would sit down with me five hours a week to discuss my progress would be near impossible I thought. Even if both of us decided to "fudge" some of the working hours, the time requirement would be extraordinarily burdening. Nonetheless, I decided to continue with my pursuit. I figured that the greater good of the research in mental health would outweigh any work that had to be done as a part of in. In addition, I did not like viewing myself as a quitter, I did not want others to know that I departed from this noble cause due to fear of "hard work."
On August 29, I was officially on the hunt for a instructor of record. As a peer educator who had contacts with staff from the counseling center and Title IX office, I decided that my three bosses would be a great place to start. Therefore, I contacted Sareen Lambright Dale, Lauren Jensen, and Emma Griffis to share with them my vision and proposal. In the meantime, pressures arose as the CSM census day was less than a week away, and I needed a faculty before Toni or Melanie could sign off on the independent study. I became very concerned and desperate to the point that I ridiculed myself on procrastinating on the project; I should have started earlier so I wouldn't be in that awful situation. However, the night of August 30 came with it a gift from Emma Griffis--a gift that would then on change the course of my project.
It was called Every Oredigger, and she described it was " a new mental health, suicide prevention, and resilience initiative" that was "very similar to [my] research proposal." In the email, she forwarded it to two very influential people who would take my project to extremely greater heights.
Before I would get to further share my ideas, I realized that census day was approaching. With homework ramping up and career day in the horizon, I decided that me acquiring an instructor of record was improbable. I emailed Toni and Melanie on September 2 about my progress in getting in touch the Associate Vice President of Student Life and Dean of Students. I set up a meeting time with both directors on the next day to hopefully discuss the elephant in the room: I haven't yet fulfilled my requirements for an independent study, and census day was tomorrow. When I met Toni in the afternoon, she suggested that I change my research platform to something that I had never considered.
A practicum. How could that have never crossed my mind. At first, Toni gave me the option of her being my instructor of record for the independent study, but we both agreed that a practicum would be more flexible and fitting to my ambitions. I decided that I would attempt to complete all deliverable of the practicum this semester, and that would definitely require the help of many people. Later that day, I filled Melanie in on my project update, and she also agreed that a practicum would be an excellent choice. From this point on, I would propose my efforts as "Mental Health and Well-being at Mines - Practicum for Ryan Evans."