Did we make an impact?

By Kathleen

[T]his project helped me keep perspective and made me re-evaluate my feelings on all that is happening in the world. This situation is far from ideal, but we made it work and I do feel like we still made an impact to the client.

Well, the past month has not turned out how I expected it to. I was hoping to have returned from Brazil refreshed, rejuvenated and motivated to put together our final report to provide the greatest impact to our client. I also was hoping that I came back with a more global perspective of the world and an appreciation for Brazilian culture. While I do have a new perspective on life after this past month, it unfortunately was not because I traveled to a new country. COVID-19 has brought a new way of life for the entire world and continuing working on this project during social distancing and being away from campus has pushed me to think more creatively and forced me into trying to have a positive mindset while completing this course.

Initially, I wasn’t sure how to react when the trip was cancelled. It definitely was the right decision, but I knew this class and this project would not be the same. “What is the point?” I thought to myself as I continued researching and putting together our presentation for a client. After the initial sadness wore off, I dove in full force into researching and providing the best presentation we could do for the client. When it all came together for our initial presentation to our client I was not sure what we provided was going to be exactly what he was looking for. Additionally, I was sure that the virtual presentation was not going to be the same as what it would be like getting to meet in person and having it more as a conversation rather than a presentation. However, during the presentation I realized how meaningful connecting with someone – even virtually – and providing insight and feedback for them was.

Even though we were not able to meet in person, the work we did prior to the trip and leading up to it was important and I think because we were not in Brazil, we dived deeper into certain things we researched since we weren’t going to have that firsthand experience. Our client was so appreciative of the work we did and understood the disappointment we felt not being able to travel. He made the presentation much more of a conversation and was able to provide us really good insights on what our next steps in the research process should be. Going into our meeting I had a very negative outlook on presenting virtual and the overall impact we were going to make. However, afterwards, and after talking with our client for a while, I realized that the work we were doing was still impactful regardless of if we were there in person or not. While yes, it would have been better for both of us if we were able to meet in person, I had an appreciation for technology and the way the world can connect nowadays.

The fact that we were able to connect and meet during a global pandemic was satisfying, but the ability to present and recommend ideas to our client was impactful.

I came out of the meeting with an appreciation that while although we are all quarantining and practicing social distancing, without the technology we have we would be in a far worse place. This class would not have been able to continue and much of our work would have gone to waste. While I am still disappointed, this project helped me keep perspective and made me re-evaluate my feelings on all that is happening in the world. This situation is far from ideal, but we made it work and I do feel like we still made an impact to the client. At the very least, it provided me with the perspective I need to take to get through these next several months while the world adapts to a post-pandemic society. I am grateful for technology, and grateful for the opportunity to connect across cultures during a time when I am connecting in person with very few people on a regular basis.

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