Going into Senior Project, I initially wanted to do something hands-on to learn about a topic I’m interested in. I planned to spend the six weeks volunteering on various farms and speaking to those involved in sustainable farming, because I knew that I learn best when I am actively doing the work. When that experience became impossible because of quarantine, I decided that I wouldn’t be able to have the same kind of fulfilling experience about sustainable farming, so I chose a different topic to focus on that I could learn about hands-on: community in the time of Covid-19. My essential question is, “How can communities stay engaged during a global pandemic?” This project has allowed me to learn from how I continue to stay connected with my various groups in real time, while also observing how other communities are changing as everything moves online. 

Throughout my process, I realized that the moments I felt most disconnected with my project and bored with it was when I wasn’t interacting as much with my communities.  I felt I was getting the most out of my experiences when actively planning events for my different communities (like workshops for Hebrew school students and jGirls magazine.) When I had to figure out to best engage others over zoom and other virtual platforms, I was actively exploring my essential question. However, when I simply was reading articles about different aspects of community and virtual experiences, I felt much less invested in what I was learning.

In the final week of my project, I hope to hear from others about their experiences with community engagement right now through interviews. Since this is something I think many people have been focusing on to stay connected, I think I will hear a lot of interesting and thoughtful responses.