Eddie+Connolly

=Concussions= media type="youtube" key="fFkWTGKNLT8" height="349" width="560"

Goals:
The plan of attack in this research into concussions is very simple. The first part is to interview some friends and people that have had concussions to see what their experience was like dealing with a concussion. The second part of the project is to speak with Mr. Doherty in the athletic trainers room and take a look at the Impact test that they administer to all the students that participate in athletics at Belmont Hill. Also part of the project will be to gain a greater understanding of how Mr. Doherty and Mr. Chin diagnose concussions and what they do to treat the kids that have sustained a concussion. By doing this project I hope to learn more about concussions and how they are diagnosed as well as how they are treated. I would also like to learn what can be done to prevent concussions so I know how to protect myself as well as others against concussions and maybe someday coming up with an idea of how to diagnose or even prevent concussions completely from happening. I hope to learn more about this growing problem as well as how Mr. Doherty’s job works by doing project.

Discoveries:
Doing a project on concussions was a both a rewarding experience as well as an enlightening one. Unanticipated in this project I began to sharpen my people skills as well as learn about how a concussion impacts the lives of people around me. By interviewing people I learned how to communicate with people as well as listen to their stories and be mindful of how painful that experience may have been for them. By talking with Mr. Doherty it seemed to strengthen a prior relationship we had had prior to my doing this experiment. It also gave me an opportunity to truly appreciate what Mr. Doherty and Mr. Chin do as it is not easy to do the job that they do. That is what I learned in terms of dealing with people from this project. In terms of actually learning about concussions I gained a great wealth of knowledge from doing this project. While interviewing people I learned about how difficult sustaining multiple concussions had been for them and the great impact it had on their life. I had no idea that having a concussion could alter someone’s memory so greatly, impacting their grades, or impact their social life. By interviewing people I also learned about the varying degrees of impact a concussion can have from little to no impact at all to completely altering the way that the person lives their life. I learned about how these individuals rehabbed their concussions from just resting to taking medicine to doing physical therapy. Coming back from a concussion can be very time consuming and take a lot of effort and I did not know this before starting the project. From Mr. Doherty I learned about how he diagnoses concussions, what he does when he suspects there is a concussion, and his opinions on concussion related issues such as developing a new blood test to test for concussions. In talking to Mr. Doherty I also learned the ins and outs of the Impact test that all Belmont Hill students take. Both of these environments offered me a lot to learn from. Personal experiences are what drove me to do this project. In freshman football I suffered a concussion myself. Because it was a mild concussion I did not think much of it and did not pay much attention to it. A big reason why I chose this project was because someone very important to me has been dealing with having sustained multiple concussions for a while now. It has had a major impact on this person’s life and I wanted to learn more to see if there was anything I could do to help this person who is very close to me. I believe that by doing this project it will alert others to the dangers of concussions, the signs of a concussion, and what to do if they or someone they know suffers a concussion. Hopefully this may spark an interest in someone to research concussions and see if there is any new information that may be found on concussions so that someone may make a change. The best part of the experience was talking to people and learning more about their stories and what they had to say. It was good to have a conversation and learn a little more about the person that I was interviewing. I would definitely do this again because it was a rewarding experience and allowed me to learn more about something that affects someone very close to me. By doing this project it allowed me to learn a lot about myself and even sparked an interest on this subject in me. If I have the opportunity to in the future I would like to continue pursuing this topic even further than I have currently. I would like to discover new ways to diagnosis a a concussion, ways to prevent and protect athletes and people from concussions, as well as help people come back from a concussion.

Challenges:
There were a few challenges while I did this project. The first challenge was finding time for the project. Because this was not exactly a shadowing project it took many different people to put it together. Scheduling with many different people often took a while to plan out. Another challenge is that this is a topic that not many people know a lot about. Because there is not a lot known about concussions it was difficult at times to find out things that I needed to know. The third was putting the project together. It was a weird set up for a project so at first I was not sure how to do it.

Solutions:
To solve these problems i scheduled meetings when I could and the other people could meet. As for the research part I asked the librarians to help me find information and things I needed. To put the project together I asked Mrs. Sweeney for help on what to do.

Looking Back:
Looking back I would have started much earlier. If I had known how much time the project was going to take me such a long time I would have started earlier. Looking back I started too late. I also would have met with more professionals. Meeting with professionals could have enriched my knowledge and made my experience andproject better all around also. I would have met with Mrs. Sweeney moreoften. Mrs. Sweeney could have helped to plan my project more effectively and helped me have a better understanding of how my project was going to work. Lookingback I should have asked for help more often.

5 things I wish I knew:
1) Mrs. Sweeney will help (A LOT) 2)Librarians can help a lot with research and help finding materials 3)Start Earlier 4)Devote more time to project 5)Edit your paper often toc