Finding a New Direction

by Jessica Gonzalez

Jessica and her art piece made of collected trash.

“Hey Jessica, did you get a head start on your project?” Mario asked me as soon as we walked into the library for our Advantage Testing Lesson on Friday morning. At first I was kind of confused as to what he was talking about, but when I looked around I noticed that there was a water dispenser in the wall.

After spending weeks researching the effects of human waste production, I had settled on narrowing my project to reducing the amount of disposable plastic water bottles used at Chinquapin. I wanted to achieve my goal by raising money to get a refillable water station, which was something Chinquapin lacked, and get it installed in a common space. So when I saw the new dispenser, I had to redirect my project because my project was already done for me.

“I had to redirect my project because my project was already done for me.”

Since I spent weeks researching what water dispensers would be the best and the cheapest to fundraise for I didn't want to let my hard work go to waste. I talked to Laura to see if they were going to spread the idea of refillable water stations and she said with all of the renovations taking place, they did plan to add new ones.

Winter break was stressful because I didn't know what I was going to do and I wasn’t expecting to find something that I was going to be passionate about. Throughout my entire two year project this was the setback that I was able to reflect on the most and truly see why it is important to take advantage of your surroundings.

Like previously noted, I spent my winter break stressing over a solution that was easily fixed through a conversation with Sarah. I tend to be the type of person that tries to solve everything by myself, and I never tell myself that it is ok to ask for help.

When we returned to school after break, I had a conference with Sarah where she quickly helped me think of a new idea for my project. This conversation allowed me to realize that people around me were paying attention to what I wanted to achieve. Had I taken some initiative and told Sarah about my problem when I first learned about it, I wouldn’t have felt as if I was carrying this burden all by myself. While there was more I wished to have accomplished with my project, I am overall satisfied from the lessons I learned, and I am grateful for all the support I was able to receive.