Turning Dreams into Action: My Capstone Adventure
Introduction
Twelve weeks ago, I took on my boldest challenge yet—an entirely self-driven project aimed at bettering myself and rounding out my experience with the Praxis program for personal and professional development. Known as the Capstone, every Praxis participant must complete this final phase of the program before graduating.
Despite getting off to a late start with an already narrow timeframe, I created six ambitious goals. Not only did I want to immerse myself in the job world, I also wanted to cultivate productive personal habits.
So, fueled with bucketloads of ambition and a dash of naive optimism, I embarked on what would become a defining chapter of self-discovery and growth. Join me in this brief overview of my Praxis Capstone as I recount the highs, the lows, and the lessons learned in just twelve weeks.
My Goals
Professional:
Build an impressive portfolio
“Impressive” meaning a portfolio I would be proud to show off. I wanted to create a digital space where all my skills and previous projects could be accessed easily.
Land an internship or part-time job in HR or social media
I longed to get out of my retail job and into a job that would force me to rapidly improve my copywriting or social media marketing skills.
Publish my Super Mini K-pop Shop website
Back in November, I wrote several blogs about K-pop with the intention of uploading them to my store website. Not only did that website need to be made public on the web, its domain name needed to be fixed before the blogs could be uploaded.
Personal:
Learn how to edit YouTube videos
YouTube videos, Instagram reels, TikToks— you name it. I simply needed to find out how people were filming clips and editing them together. Otherwise, my GenZ pass may have been revoked. If I could learn how to get past that first step, I figured I might as well start making some videos.
Figure out my classes for the fall semester
Surprise! I’m going to college. Before I know it, summer will be over and my gap year will have reached its conclusion. It was important to me to find an advisor and pick which classes I’ll be taking as soon as possible.
Finish at least 5 books on my reading list
I have always felt behind on my reading agenda. This past year, in particular, there were books from the program that I didn’t finish in time. Plus, there were business books my dad recommended which I had yet to read.
Results
Building My Portfolio
I’m very satisfied with how this goal played out! My resume hadn’t been updated in a year (since I graduated high school). I gave it a full makeover in terms of looks and function. I included links to my personal website and my LinkedIn profile. Additionally, I expanded my “experience” section with information about the small business I launched, my Super Mini K-pop Shop. That fulfilled part one of my goal.
Part two of my goal was my actual portfolio, but I needed my resume to be ready first. As for that, I made a webpage through Notion. It’s now a one-stop shop for all my latest projects and tech skills. The groundwork has been laid. From here on out, it will be easy to customize if I want to apply for jobs and create custom pitches. For example, I customized my original portfolio when I applied to IDEX Fire & Safety.
Landing a Job
I originally planned to achieve this goal by applying to five or more jobs a week. Over time, though, I found that creating custom pitches took me a lot more time than I bargained for. Therefore, I scaled back on my goal and instead focused in on just a few opportunities that I really wanted to go after and give my best shot.
One opportunity led me to create custom branded social media posts for an alternative educational institution called Apogee. I never heard back from them after I sent over the samples, but I had a blast making them anyway.
I had a different opportunity in the works for much longer. Back in February, my dad traveled to Germany to attend some meetings for the global fire and safety company, IDEX. I really wanted to go see the country, so I paid for my own ticket and flew there with him. Unexpectedly, I ended up being really intrigued by the meetings, and I was granted permission to sit in on most of them.
During that time, I talked to people working in product marketing, social media content creation, and human resources. Human resources stood out the most to me, so I began to follow that lead. Fast forward to April, and I ended up submitting a custom pitch to the VP of HR a week before we would meet in person at a fire & safety trade show. To my utter shock and excitement, I got pre-welcomed to the team that week!
I think it’s safe to say that I got an internship!
Publishing My Store Website
As I mentioned earlier, my store website had domain name issues for a long time. I had already purchased the rights to the Super Mini K-pop Shop name, but the issue arose after that name wouldn’t transfer over to SquareSpace. After too much troubleshooting, I was eventually able to connect the two and publish the website.
All the blogs I wrote in November were made public. Before that, I cleaned them up and added pictures. My goal was technically completed! However, I want to go further by adding inventory to my storefront. I also want to add an “about the owner” section to let people know why I’m so passionate about hosting K-pop events.
Right now, I’ve put a pause on creating an online storefront. Instead, I’m continuing to focus on getting rid of the merchandise from my first purchase by attending more in-person events until I break even. My next step once I’ve done that is to order another batch of merchandise from an official K-pop wholesaler.
Learning How to Edit
In the spirit of transparency, I must admit that I barely scratched the surface of this goal. I did not end up editing any videos. Although, I did find out from another Praxis participant, Kaitlyn, that YouTube videos can be edited on a phone using CapCut. Now that I know editing can be done so easily, I want to go down the rabbit hole of researching and practicing edits this summer.
Similarly, I want to explore the possibility of making user generated content. I randomly came across UGC content when I was looking through the requirements of social media related jobs on LinkedIn. I’m curious about the possibility of making shortform videos for Airbnbs or brands to put up on their pages. That way, I can be a creator without having to worry about building up my own personal audience.
Figuring Out College Classes
Life had a funny way of working out in regards to this goal. I’m attending classes at my local community college before I transfer into a larger university to study business. It’s a great way to save money, and I feel less pressure starting out at a technical school.
The only thing that bothered me was figuring out who to contact to determine my class schedule. I wondered if the technical school would know exactly which credits would carry over. I asked myself if I should contact the university I’m transferring into instead.
The answer came to me before I could seek it out! I was working at the register during a regular old shift at my current job, and the woman I was helping was wearing a staff shirt from my community college. We started talking about the college, and she told me she’s a student advisor! I got her contact information, and since then she’s been a great help to me as I’ve registered to become a student this fall.
Finishing Five Books
I have to be honest again. I did not finish all five books from my list. Did I technically read five books in the last twelve weeks? Yes. None of them were on my list, though. First, let me show you the books I had planned on reading. I put a star next to the ones I began reading but haven’t finished yet.
Essentialism*
Grit*
The Road to Character
Business Secrets of Trappist Monks
Tribes
Purple Cows
Now, let me show you the books I finished.
The Creative Act
Shoe Dog
How Will You Measure Your Life
Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop
Before the coffee gets cold
The first three titles in the second list were Praxis-assigned readings that the cohort discussed every other week on Zoom. The bookclub-esque environment of our calls held me accountable to read them in a timely manner. I ended up prioritizing those books over my own list. I think that if I had balanced my time properly I still could’ve read everything, though. I’ll know for next time!
After nine months of reading nothing but non-fiction, I accidentally ended up delving back into fiction in the final stretch of the program. The last two titles in the second list were books from the slice-of-life genre. I’m quickly getting into it and totally loving the peace and comfort that radiates from these stories!
From now on, I might pause a fictional book if I’m tearing through it to use as an incentive for finishing another non-fiction book. I can pick my fiction book back up when I complete something non-fiction first.
Lessons Learned
I’ve absorbed a ton of information in the last twelve weeks— from learning about job searching best practices, to gauging my own work pace, to receiving amazing tidbits of advice from my mentor along the way. To keep this overview of my Capstone brief, here are three lessons I’m taking away from my experience:
Shoot for the moon and land among the stars. Set your goals so high that if you fail to achieve them, you will be definitely better than where you were before. I didn’t apply to more than five jobs every week. Nor did I read all the books on my list. I didn’t even create a single video. Since my goals were set high, though, I picked up the pace real fast as the clock was ticking down. I got more things done in pursuit of some unrealistic goals than I would’ve in pursuit of reasonable goals that could’ve fit within the time frame.
Know your pace before you plan. I’m a slow reader and writer, but I hate facing that fact. I think I may have benefited from acknowledging my pace when I created my Capstone roadmap. The roadmap was a spreadsheet with weekly breakdowns of the steps it took me to achieve each of my goals. From now on, I want to find the balance between creating large goals that motivate me to hustle, and smaller goals that allow me to complete everything when the deadline is near.
Things have a miraculous way of working out, so don’t stress too much. Take my college class story as an example. I had never registered as a student before. I had my doubts about accidentally signing up too late, or choosing classes with credits that won’t transfer over to my next school. And then, randomly, I met an advisor who’s kind and trustworthy enough to help me find answers. Whether that was a coincidence or God’s grace, I think issues really do have a way of working themselves out. So we should take the pressure off ourselves!
Conclusion
Through the Capstone experience, I learned the importance of setting clear, achievable goals, maintaining consistency and discipline, and embracing challenges as opportunities for growth. I also had fun seeing what I could come up with left to my own devices. Overall, the Capstone served as a transformative journey that has equipped me with more confidence, and a do-it-yourself mindset necessary to thrive in both the personal and professional aspects of life.
