Capstone Plans

I'm not completely finished with my project schedule but it's coming along. I have a blood donation appointment scheduled for Thursday this week and I will speak with my contact then about acquiring some facts and figures INOVA Blood services has on things such as the specific demographics and populations they are trying to reach. I'm also in the process of completing some questions I'd like to as Shepherd students to formulate a type of poll of who donates, who doesn't and why. I will also begin creating my website which will be linked to the pamphlets I will be creating so students and faculty alike have several different types of informative sources to report to.

I tried to attend the Richard Dreyfuss Speech yesterday at the Byrd Center but it was completely full. I signed a sheet gave out for students who couldn't attend but I Tivo'd his speech on CSPAN so I plan on watching it this week. Tonight I am attending the Philadelphia Phillies baseball game in Philly which I am plenty excited about. I was pleased to hear I could blog about this game as one of the 5 cultural events I have to attend this semester for my Capstone. Stay tuned....

Senior Capstone Project Idea

The capstone project I'd like to do is a public relations campaign on raising awareness of the importance of knowing and learning about your blood type. I also want to raise awareness on the different ways you can utilize your blood according to it's type. Certain blood types are in need of donations much more than others. For example, my blood type is type AB positive. This type represents about 3% of America's population so it is pretty rare but what makes it important is, this type is a universal donor for blood platelets which help clot the blood. There are shortages of spare blood platelets all over the nation which creates the importance for me to donate my blood. This donation process takes approximately 2 hours to complete compared to a typical 15 minute whole blood donation.

These are some of the things I'd like to bring to people's attention in my campaign. I'm aiming to learn about Shepherd's blood drives they have and hopefully help set up a blood drive by the end of this semester, where I could hand out pamphlets explaining the ins and outs of each blood type and how to best utilize their blood during donations.

I was also thinking about maybe creating a website which provides more information on blood and blood types and putting the link on the pamphlet for others to view.
Currently I'm still in brainstorming mode but fortunately I have a contact from INOVA BLOOD SERVICES where I frequently donate who could help with some research.