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HONORS SELF- DESIGNED PROPOSAL

Basic Information
Full Name: Karleigh Smith
Title of Project: Captain UC Womens Club Lacrosse
Thematic Area(s): Leadership, Community Engagement
Expected Start Date: Approximately July 2016
Expected End Date: May 2019

1. Abstract
This experience is important to me because being part of a team has always been one of the things I
enjoy most in life. Leading that team would mean even more. Being captain of the UC Womens Club
Lacrosse team signifies for me trust, commitment, and responsibility. Ive enjoyed playing lacrosse from the
moment Ive picked up a stick when I was fifteen years old. In high school, I had taken on a leadership role
and developed unyielding bonds with my team without ever having the title of captain. Having this honor at
a collegiate level would be such an uplifting and rewarding, though trying, experience. With all the trials
that come with it, and the time commitment, and how much I would grow as a person and a leader because
of it, it only make sense for me to make one of my honors experiences.
As captain, I would basically be an unpaid coach for the team. I, along with my 3 other co-captains,
would schedule practices and games, run practice, be placed in charge of any paperwork/bureaucratic
responsibilities regarding club sports regulations, and organize team functions. So, those responsibilities
start to take affect for me by the start of orientation in about July of 2016. This is when recruitment starts.
The only way to field a team is to keep generating interest and to replenish our roster. Meetings with the
club sports director will have to take place between recruitment and the start of pre-season activities. After
that, in the fall (around August 20th), the captains will conduct tryouts in order to decide starters for the team
and positions for each player (attack, midfield, defense, or goalie). Then, tri-weekly practices begin directly
thereafter: 1 day of conditioning per week and 2 days of field/skills work. By mid-September we will have
had our first scrimmage against a separate university, which will become a weekly event until Thanksgiving
break or the first snow, whichever comes first. Following winter break, in 2017, scheduled team practices
will pick back up. Then, in February, the season starts officially and we will have our first game. Games will
be once or twice a week until May, when classes are over. Intermittently, team-bonding events such as team
dinners will be held. This cycle will repeat itself until I graduate in May of 2019, when I will no longer be a
captain.
My main goal as a captain is to form bonds with my team. I want to make lifelong friendships and
impact and motivate people in a positive manner. Also, I want us to be real competition. We have real talent
on our team. I want to hone in on this talent and guide it and develop it so that we may be a force with
which to be reckoned among other Womens Club Lacrosse Teams. Furthermore, I want to spread
engagement in lacrosse. It is a very much up-and-coming sport. I would love us to get involved with
Cincinnati youth to teach them how to catch and throw with a stick and make it a much more common
extracurricular activity. I want so much for my team, and in seeing these goals become accomplished one by
one, and by learning from the failures, I would develop more and more as a person, as well.

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Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

Brief description of the experience

Personal connection to the experience
Identified goals for the experience
Timeline from start to finish
*Itinerary (international experiences only)
**Explanation of differentiated experience
from what is required of other students

2. Experience Advisor
Jeff Logsdon
Program Coordinator of Club Sports, University of Cincinnati
jeffery.logsdon@uc.edu
I chose Mr. Logsdon as my advisor because he is in charge of the proceedings of the club sports teams at
UC, so he would have an infinite amount of invaluable information about what routes to take and how to
solve problems that may arise. I plan to meet with him after winter break this year by scheduling a meeting
when he is available. That way, Ill have ample time before recruiting season starts in order to have a
laundry list of responsibilities I must fulfill as Captain.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

Experience advisor name and contact

information
Description of why advisor was selected
Specific plans to engage with advisor

3. Connection to Learning Outcomes

Community Engagement: Explain how education, advocacy, mobilization, or public policy can influence
social issues and transform communities.
One activity that would pertain to this learning outcome would be taking the time to coach children in the
Cincinnati area. Educating them about the benefits about an extracurricular activity, especially those
involving health that go hand in hand with physical activity, would contribute to a better community. More
involved children become more motivated children and thus blossom into contributing adults.
Leadership: Formulate and manage a shared vision and develop goals towards its achievement.
Before the start of our scrimmages, the co-captains and I will get together with our team and develop a list
of goals for our team (have a winning record, have at least X number of players score per game, have at
least X number of blocked goals/forced turnovers by our defense, etc.). This shared vision will allow us all
to work toward a finite set of goals.

Leadership: Develop strategies to identify and respond to challenges and obstacles.

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After each game, I will evaluate the effectiveness of our plays, certain player to player interactions, and the
response of the team to the motivation to the captains methods of leadership. If something isnt working, or
if we didnt reach the outcome we should have, then something needs to be changed in the leadership in
order for the desired effect to trickle down to the whole team. It could be a need to change around positions,
to change the method of motivation, to change the plays we run, or whatever works in the most optimal way.

Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

3 learning outcomes explicitly identified

from any thematic area(s)
Examples of activities and explanation of
how each will assist the progress towards
the chosen learning outcome
Estimated time commitment for each
activity

4. Academic Resources Connected to the Learning Outcomes

Article Title: Leadership Styles
Author: Nanjundeswaraswamy, T.S. and Swamy D.R.
This article weighs the benefits of different styles of leadership. This is useful in my being captain of the UC Womens
Club Lacrosse team as it helps me make conscious decisions about what type of leader do I want to be. How I
motivate my team will directly reflect on how we play together. It is essential to the pursuit of our goals and my
personal goals that my leadership style be appropriate, and if not I must be able to make the necessary adjustments.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:
1-2 academic resources connected to the
learning outcomes
Title and author of each resource
Description of how resources will help
make progress towards learning outcomes
and execution of experience

5. On-going Reflection

Required Revisions:

Effective:

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My method for reflection will be to keep a captains journal. Such topics I will reflect on include our goals
as a team, work out regimens, plays, specific games, scores, and to-do lists. Not only will it be effective in
reflection, but it will also help me be a more effective captain by providing myself with feedback on the
methods we employ as a team.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

Method for ongoing reflection

Reflection questions/topics clearly
specified

6. Sharing Your Learning

I plan to take over and maintain the teams twitter page after this years captains graduate. With such
followers as President Ono, our teams activities will be distributed widely among UC students, alumni, and
staff. This will raise awareness about our program and hopefully bring more and more people to our games.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

At least one method to actively share takeaways/learning from the experience

A specific audience and why the audience
was selected

7. Budget (if applicable)

This experience does not require a budget.
I will be fulfilling captain duties at least ten hours a week for 40 weeks out of the year for about 3 years.
Advisor Feedback
Notes:
Detailed budget of expenditures with
sources to justify budget estimates
*Indicates the number of hours per week
and number of weeks of participation

Required Revisions:

Effective: