Journal Entry #4

In this journal entry I am going to go over the Malaria Project my group and I are working on, what we're doing and how far along we are. My group and the Capstone group have joined forces to organize a 5k race to help raise money and awareness of families in Africa dying of Malaria spread by mosquitoes. In case you don't know, malaria is a fatal sometimes fatal disease, spread by mosquitoes, that affects 300-500 million people each year. People who suffer from malaria get very sick, high fevers, chills, achy muscles. Mainly flu-like symptoms. It is also said that every 30 seconds, a child in Africa dies from malaria.
Our 5k has a 15 dollar cover charge that covers the cost of 3 nets that we will send to African villages to help them sleep at night without being bit by mosquitoes. But that's not all. Clarke Mosquito Control has also offered to match each donation made at the 5k. Both groups have had their hand at tremendous efforts of getting the word out. We've made flyers that inside contain the registration form. That way people can sign up while learning about malaria, what they can do to help, and what our group is trying to do to help. We call it Two Classes: One Solution. We also put the registration form up online, giving us a chance to catch people who might not get a flyer.
The Capstone group has hit many of the places around town, from Fort Myers to Naples, trying to get people to help out with the cause. Brandon from our group met with an athletic director and together they set up the actual race, the course, arrows pointing the racers in the right direction and spots where volunteers will hand out water. We have also set up information booths around the FGCU campus that we sit at and hand out flyers and/or try to sell Malaria Project bracelets and coozies. Any type of donation makes a difference. We have booths reserved for us to sit at all next week. Hopefully these booths help spread the word around the campus and get other students involved. We had one kind gentlemen who bought a lot of stuff from us because he was doing a similar project with a group trying to raise money for families in Haiti. He knew how much each donation would help us. It's great when people come together for a cause that could help save the lives of other families who are in need.
I myself plan on going to help out with the info booth on Thursday next week. I also sat in on one last week with some members of my group as well as one from the capstone group. I am also going to mention the race and what were trying to do to my Social Problems professor who is huge on running 5k's. He also gives the class a chance at extra credit if they go out and participate in the local 5k's. So hopefully that gets some of my classmates out to help with the cause.

Journal Entry #3

I want to start this journal entry talking about a video we watched in class recently. Randy Pausch's Last Lecture. This "lecture" was amazing in my opinion. The way he talked about how you can help those around you WITHOUT repeating himself, how to achieve your childhood dreams and how to do it while benefiting others. The lecture really spoke to me. It was serious, comical and delivered important points without boring the listeners. Even the stories he told were full of excitement. I don't know if it's because his stories were through video and Paul Loeb's through words, but I found Randy Pausch's attempt at teaching us how to live and lead our lives a much more successful one. The virtual reality projects that Pausch went over and showed the audience were incredible. I really enjoyed listening to him speak of all the programs he helped install and instruct. I almost felt like Pausch would pull through his sickness and not die. He seemed too nice and caring to be dying. The fact that he WAS dying didn't affect him at all, which was equally amazing. He came out and delivered this lecture and didn't show any signs of regret, sadness or anything negative. He truly lived his life to the fullest. I also love how he brought his wife on stage and got the entire audience to sing happy birthday to her. He must have been a great husband and truly loved his wife.
Another thing I enjoyed about Pausch's performance, an aspect I think helped make his point a more effective one, was the fact that all his stories were personal. Most if not all of Loeb's stories are about his friends or people he is acquainted with. Not much of his stories are about things he's done, besides actually writing the book. All of Pausch's stories were about things that he's accomplished in life, how he changed other people's lives, and how he changed programs all around the world. Just another little additive that I think made Pausch's lecture a better and more effective one.
After listening to Pausch's lecture I really want to visit Carnegie Mellon and see for myself the programs that go on there. The virtual reality projects that he briefly showed during the lecture were just the tip of the ice burg. I would really enjoy visiting the school in person, witnessing the things he helped create and change, and see the projects that students work on. I feel Loeb's attempt at a "lecture" almost has a negative affect. After reading all his repetitive stories about other people, I don't feel motivated at all to go out and do something, something that Pausch definitely succeeded in doing.
The fact that Randy Pausch's video "The Last Lecture" has over 11 million views on YouTube only shows that huge amounts of people are being affected and changed by this professors words and insights. I wish I could have gotten a chance to meet this remarkable person before he passed. RIP Randy.