Reflection

What did you enjoy about this project?

This project was very unique, in that not only did it require the students to research, but it required them to research about their own school.  Conducting this research was actually very interesting, contrary to some reasearch projects that are required throughout undergraduate's degrees.  I enjoyed finding information and stories that not many people at Trinity knew about.  It was like writing a book, and the staring and ending points were up to me.

What surprised you about this project?

For me in particular, I was surprised at Trinity's involvement with club rugby in the 1960's through the 1990's.  Rugby is a sport that does not seem to have much hold on the University nowadays and it was interesting see and hear people's perspective on playing the sport. 

What was the most challenging aspect of the project, and how did you manage it?

I was surprised at how much information was actually available about rugby at Trinity.  While this made for an interesting project, it was difficult to pick and choose what information to include and what not to include.  There were a plethora of avenues for which to take this project, so trying to tell the full story (which was my main goal from the start) without leaving out too much information and making sure to include all of the high points was very challenging for me.

If you could start over, what would you do differently? 

In retrospect, I believe my project turned out quite nicely.  With that being said it is never a bad idea to spend more time than neccesary on a project like this. If I could start over, the only thing I would really do differently would be to start researching a little bit earlier in order see what other information I could find.  I would've also like to try and reach out to a few more people that could have helped my narrations of the story.

What did you learn about history and/or the historical process through this project?

I learned that whether we are aware of it or not, occurences in our society have some degree of an affect on all of us.  If it were not for this project I would have chalked up the presence of rugby at Trinity University to be a simple happening with no real reason behind it, a conincidence.  By digging a little deeper, though, I realized that there were, in fact, quite a few outside factors that influenced students' interest in Rugby at Trinity University as well as those all over the country.  It was also a reinforcement on the notion that there are many different perspectives on history and that there is not one that is right or wrong, only different views that affect history's reality for individuals.

What did you learn through this project that can be applied to life outside the classroom?

In terms of learning for the "working world," my researching skills have been thoroughly enhanced.  Being able to have an opinion and support it with real concrete evidence derived from relevant research is a skill that is very useful and neccessary in many facets of life.  On a more philosophical level, I learned to take into account perspectives.  Not everyone's is the same, and it is valuable to see others perspectives in order to develop your own opinions and ideas.  Reading people's work from years ago for this project, really put me in their shoes in some cases, and helped to reinforce this idea for me.