Daniella Feijoo

Professor Robinson

CNS 220 Final Project

Part 1: Personal Action Plan

If you have a dream, you can spend a lifetime studying, planning, and getting ready for it.
What you should be doing is getting started.
-Drew Houston, Founder/CEO of Dropbox

The purpose of this project is to integrate and mobilize your new skills, resources, experiences
and knowledge into a plan you can use to create meaningful action toward your personal and
career-related goals. This final project, your Action Plan, along with your Meta-Reflection, will
allow you to consolidate your new competencies and understanding of yourself, as well as
options in the world of work that are relevant to you.

Checklist to complete this project:

Answer the following prompts and complete the action plan on the following
pages. Please complete this electronically by filling out this document.
Complete a career coaching appointment with a career coach in the OPCD to
review your action plan for feedback.
Write your meta-reflection based on the prompts provided after this action plan
worksheet.

Please follow the prompts listed here and integrate 8-10 resources from our course as supporting
material, evidence for your plan, or new information that informs your future actions. You will
start by reviewing your progress and citing the experiences that have created impact and
opportunity.

This project is a template you can use now and as your goals unfold, or shift in the future. Ive
provided this blank template for your Action Plan on Sakai and our ePortfolio website. Keep it
and feel free to use it in the future.

First, begin by answering these questions for yourself. Be as complete as you can, using a
sentences or two for each prompt:
I enrolled in this course for this primary purpose or because:
1. I enrolled in this course because I wanted to learn how to best utilize the OPCDs
resources including resume reviews and mock interviews.
When I started this class, I was considering this/these options in the world of work:
1. I was considering career fields such as public relations or politics/government.
At the beginning of our course, these were my initial assumptions/thoughts about myself
and the world of work as it related to me
1. I thought I was only really interested in working for the government or for a
nonprofit organization.
 2. I assumed I would end up working in Washington DC.
3. I thought I couldnt work in college athletics or for a consulting firm because I
hadnt taken any classes directly related to those fields.

Next, continue by considering the results of your self-assessment undertaken through our course.
You may wish to review the Self-Assessment section of your ePortfolio. Write a sentence or two
to answer these prompts:
What are the key points you have learned about yourself as it relates to your current ideas
related to career goals? Which projects, experiences or readings provided this learning? List
3-5 key learnings and the rationale/or sources for class that help clarify this self-assessment.
1. I learned that public service and religion are the two highest values to me. I
discovered this through the values lecture and the List of Personal Values worksheet.
2. I also learned that democracy, relationships, and love are all very important to me
and that they coincide in terms of finding a career path. Career fields such as politics and
nonprofit work all utilize these values very frequently. I learned this from the values
lecture and the List of Personal Values worksheet.
3. I learned that my theme descriptions are social, enterprising, and artistic, with
enterprising and artistic almost at the exact level. I discovered this through the strong
interest inventory.
4. I noticed that the values that seem to be reflected in my family include arts,
compassion, honesty, independence, meaningful work, integrity, spirituality. I discovered
this in the career genogram project.
5. Also when looking at my career genogram, I noticed that many family members
are open-ended explorers and killer excellence after expedience in terms of finding
their purpose in life and ultimately finding a career (from RoadTrip Nation).

What has been the most valuable piece of information you have learned about yourself as
it relates to opportunities of value to you? How did you learn this as part of our course?
1. The most valuable piece of information I have learned about myself is that
social is my highest rank in terms of my strong interests. This means that being a
teacher or a counselor could potentially be career paths of interest. I was able to explore
these careers through https://www.onetonline.org/.

Now, think about the exploration and research you have conducted and write a sentence or two to
answer the following for yourself. Again, you may wish to look at your Career Research and
Exploration section of your ePortfolio.
How did you explore and research career-related opportunities and options? How would
you summarize the resources/experiences that have been most helpful?
1. I used the OPCD website as well as the onetonline website to explore careers such
as public relations. The applied research project was very helpful. I enjoyed learning
about careers such as Sports Marketing and Translating and Interpreting. LinkedIn was
also a very helpful resource in connecting with WFU alumni.

What do you need to be doing now based on your class year at Wake Forest and the
options you are currently exploring? hint: take a look at the OPCD site (it lists activities by
 year and the explore careers tab here: http://career.opcd.wfu.edu/explore-careers gives a
timeline for specific career fields)
1. I need to start job shadowing lawyers in the Winston-Salem community.
2. I need to attend more law school events at WFU law school and sit in on classes.
3. I also want to look into the Presidential Management Fellows Program which I
discovered with the help of the OPCD explore careers feature.

My list of key points and valuable personal learning is the following:

Be flexible with career paths!
Take classes that may be outside of your comfort zone to see if they peak your
interest.
Job shadows are critical experiences!

My plans for growth are:

Rexamine my values once a month just to stay connected and to think about the
importance of my hard work and experiences.
Plan to conduct more informational interviews over the summer and into the fall
of 2017.

Options in the World of Work: Career Action Plan

[April 25, 2017]

Please type your action plan goals below and provide the rationale (the reason you plan to do
this) and course-related source for this goal. Excellent action plans will draw on 8-10 different
sources from class (e.g. projects, experiences, readings, lectures, resources). It is important to
anticipate barriers to reaching your goals. This may be as simple as time limitations during
finals week. If we can identify barriers or obstacles, we can also identify resources that will help
us overcome these obstacles so our momentum on reaching the goals is not diminished.

Step 1: Self-Assessment
Based on what you have learned about yourself, the world of work, values and career related
interests, list your most important information about yourself (column 1). I also expect you to
describe the rationale and source of this learning (e.g., Strong Interest Inventory, Career
Genogram, Values Lecture, journal entry, etc.).

Self-Assessment/Career Related Knowledge Course Citation/Experiential Source

SEA: Social, Enterprising, and Artistic are (Strong Interest Inventory)
my top descriptors which make career fields
such as a school administrator, an ESL
teacher or an attorney.

My family has a history of work in the Genogram

nonprofit sector and career fields that involve
working closely with others either in a team
in the corporate world and/or with my fathers
 culinary school for young children.

Family and faith are very important to me. Values lecture

This may suggest that career fields such as
Child Development or Social Work would be
a good fit.

Step 2: Short-Term Goals for the Next Thirty (30) Days

In Step 2, Im going to ask you to set some short-term goals based on what youve learned about
yourself above. These goals may be based on information you received in an informational
interview, from your job shadow, perspective gained at an OPCD workshop, data you explored
on particular career-related web sites or from our readings or experiences. Example short-term
goals might look like:
Apply for 10 different marketing related internships before April 30th. Rationale: I need to
build professional experience on my resume before junior year (source: informational
interview with alumni contacted through LinkedIn as part of Informational Interview
Projects).
Arrange 2 Job Shadows in hometown for June. Rationale: increasing my network gives
me more access to hidden job market (source: Job Shadow Preparation Presentation).

In this table, list two (2) short-term goals for next thirty (30) days and action steps to reach them.
Include a date to complete the goals and action steps (column 1). You should support your goal
with an appropriate rationale/source from the course or your exploration that explains your
reason or motivation for the short-term goals (column 2).
Short-Term Goals for the Next Thirty (30) Rationale/Source from Course or Exploration
Days
1. I learned the importance of connecting with WFU
alumni during our career exploration projects. Alumni
Goal 1: Reach out to alumni while Im in DC this are willing and excited to talk to current Wake students
summer for my internship. about their career paths.
Action Step a. Connect with Emmanuel
Caudillo, the Senior Advisor at White House
Initiative on Educational Excellence for 1a. I received Mr. Caudillos information from Ali in our
Hispanics and ask to meet in person if possible CNS 220 course when we had the Google Spreadsheet
for an informational interview (June 1). on the screen and were helping connect peers to contacts
in their field of interest.
Action Step b. Reach out to Jennifer Richwine 1b. I talked to Ms. Richwine for my informational
for advice and ask to tour the new Wake interview. I received her contact information from
Washington space. Professor Robinson.

2. Through the graduate school panel, I learned about

Goal 2: Tour Georgetown Universitys campus the importance of heavily researching the graduate
and their Latin American Studies program by programs you are interested in as well as the location of
June 1. the school.
Action Step a. Reach out to WFU alumni who 2a. Our in-class Linked tutorials have been helpful for
 have completed the Accelerated Masters
Degree in LAS to see their perspective on the
program and the University.
Action Step b. Network through Wake
community events in DC over the summer to
build a wider network .
learning how to professionally reach out adults in
these fields.
2b. The informational Interviews Process has provided
me with the skills and confidence I need to meet new
people in my field of interest.

Now that youve spent some time identifying your short-term goals for the next thirty (30) days,
I want you to think about any potential obstacles you may encounter in the process of reaching
these goals and completing your action steps. Additionally, please identify resources you may
use to overcome these obstacles (e.g., identify the tools, information, planning and/or people who
can help you).
Potential Obstacles to Completing Short-Term
Goals Resources to Overcome Potential Obstacles
1. My summer internships will take up weekend 1. Make a detailed plan for each week and
time that can be used for these informational set aside specific time to conduct these
interviews/events. interviews.
2. Contact Georgetown to see if they can get me in
touch with a Wake undergraduate student who also
2. Maybe not being able to connect with an alumn completed the LAS Masters Program. Maybe contact
who has completed the Georgetown LAS Dr. Siavelis from the Politics Department at Wake or
program from Wake. even Professor Robinson.
3. I will set aside a time (Friday at 4 pm) to complete
3. Being swamped with work and completing my my blogs while everything from the week is fresh in my
OPCD grant summer blog posts. mind.

Step 3: Long-Term Goals for the Next Three (3) Months

Now, in Step 3, I want you to set two (2) long-term goals and actions steps to help you reach
them. Example long-term goals might look like:
Join the Executive Committee of Wake and Shake. Rationale: recruiters like to see
leadership on a resume (source: Internship Presentation in Class & OPCD Job Search
Workshop)
Conduct informational interview with attorneys in my county by end of August. Rationale:
explore law schools that may network or offer recruiting options within my home state/region
to determine top choices for law school applications (Source: Graduate/Professional School
Panel information)
Take Computer Science course next semester. Rationale: basic programming important
skill for one of my industries of choice (Source: informational interview #2 with alumnus at
Red Ventures)

Long-Term Goals for the Next Three (3)
Months
Goal 1: Join the new Diversity and Inclusion
Committee for Wake Forest Student Government.
Action Step a. Talk to the SG President,
Rationale/Source from Course or Exploration
1. The Graduate and Professional School
Information Panel
1a. Values Lecture regarding democracy and wanting
 Spencer Schiller to discuss my role. to lead on a committee
Action Step b. Talk to the SG Cabinet about
how to best plan during the summer to be 1b. Preparation for and interaction with our Guest
successful in the fall semester. Speakers such as Mr. Chan.

Goal 2: Conduct informational interview with a

Congresswoman.
Action Step a. As a part of my internship, reach
out to a Congresswoman through their
communications director.
Action Step b. Reach out to organizations such
as Emilys List to get new connections and
conduct more informational interviews.
2. LinkedIn connections/updates
2a. Mr. Chans World of Work presentation about
building a network in a specific geographic location.
2b. Journal Entry #2: Krumboltzs Luck Is No
Accident

Just as you did with your short-term goals, I want you to think about any potential obstacles you
may encounter in the process of reaching your long-term goals and completing your action steps.
Additionally, please identify resources you may use to overcome these obstacles (e.g., identify
the tools, information, planning and/or people who can help you).
Potential Obstacles to Completing Long-Term
Goals Resources to Overcome Potential Obstacles
1. Rethink whether I want to continue
1. Im worried about being too busy participating as a leader in Volunteer Service
with extracurriculars in the fall semester Corps. Potentially, drop this obligation and have
because Im in the marching band and time to focus on the Diversity and Inclusion
Volunteer Service Corps. committee and academics.
2. Having difficulty getting in touch with a 2. Keep reaching out to the Congresswomans office and
Congresswoman. being persistent but also polite.
3. There are many leadership roles that I can take
advantage of on campus. I can serve on a different
3. Maybe I wont be chosen to be on the committee such as Academic Committee or even work
Diversity and Inclusion Committee by the to plan large service-oriented events on campus such as
Student Government Cabinet. Pro Humanitate Day,

**I met with Ms. Jessica Long in the OPCD on

Tuesday, April 25 to discuss my Action Plan and
she was able to give me some very helpful tips!
Accountability Partner (with whom will you share Rebecca Wiebke (my suitemate best friend at Wake)
this plan):

After you have completed the Action Plan and had it reviewed by a career coach in the OPCD,
take some time to write up your meta-reflection for the course using the prompts on the next
page.
 Part 2: Meta-Reflection

Now that you have a clear action plan developed for yourself, the second part of your final
project involves taking a step back and thinking about all that youve learned, in class, as well as
through your career research, exploration and experiences.
To begin your meta-reflection: Review your progress
First, take a few minutes to review the readings we used from the beginning of our
course (Path Finding, Road Trip Nation, Luck Is No Accident). Now, think about the career
beliefs and interests you had as you entered the course.
What did you believe about the world of work and specifically, your engagement
with or vision for yourself in it? You have explored a host of perspectives, had real
experiences and gained competencies that may have been new or refined though this
course. You have documented your progress and gained skills with the construction of
your ePortfolio.
What do you notice about your ePortfolio and what it says about your growth and
preparation?

Then, look at your ePortfolio. Review your results from the Strong Interest Inventory,
re-read your first informational interview and compare it to your last. Review your job
shadow or activities summaries.
What do you notice in the difference between the way you conducted or
synthesized information early in the course and how your thinking has evolved?
What was the process you used to select your informational interview subjects or
areas of exploration?
What kinds of activities items might you now be considering?

Think about how youve changed. What changes do you notice in your thinking as a
result of creating your ePortfolio and your experiences in class? What do you notice in your
ePortfolio? How do these examples demonstrate that you have learned (made a measurable
change) as a result of this process?

Focusing my attention on exploring the world of work has enabled me to expand my

horizons and grow my tree of knowledge and opportunities. I am much more open-minded and
flexible about possible career paths such as sports marketing, consulting, or even running for a
government office one day. I feel much more confident about my skills and am happy to know
what my weaknesses are so that I can work on those. For example, through my informational
interview with Dr. Lauren Wright, she stressed the importance of statistics and computer science
skills when working on a political campaign, which is something I had never thought about.
Now, I am trying to fit in a computer science class at Wake so that I can get to know the basics.
Some changes in my perspective include realizing that just because I havent taken business
classes or science classes, that I wont be working closely with those areas. I learned that career
fields are interconnected and that each individual brings unique aspects and talents to the table.
Speaking to WFU alumni and professionals in career fields of interest, helped me to realistically
plan next steps post-Wake Forest. For example, when talking to Ms. Mary Tribble, I realized that
my passion for Wake Forest University could be channelled and used to fundraise for the
University or in admissions/alumni engagement. After this class, I have decided to also take a
communications course, as well as a journalism course. These are two areas of interest to me that
Id like to explore at least the basics of. I also plan to talk to the pre-law adviser, Laura Grahm to
set up a time to meet and discuss the benefits of law school and whether or not it would be the
right fit for me right after receiving my undergraduate education. I would like to shadow a
lawyer in the Winston-Salem area, as well as one back at home in Illinois. I would also like to sit
in on a Wake Forest Law School class in order to see how the school operates and what exactly I
would be learning. I would like to do an informational interview with a friend of a friends
contact who went to law school in Boston and is now practicing in that area.
One of the most important pieces of advice I received from CNS 220 was from
Krumboltzs Luck Is No Accident. The go for the job and learn the skills on the job advice is
critical in this day and age when students are so concerned about the competitiveness of the work
force. I learned this hands-on through my job shadow experience with Mr. Noel Shepherd of the
Deacon Club. His career path fascinated me as he used to work for a local news station in
Winston-Salem (WXII12) and eventually decided to combine his love for the Demon Deacons,
student athletes, and his skills in communication and business. Using the E-Portfolio to
document my progress has been incredibly helpful. I plan to take Professor Robinsons advice
and set aside Fridays at 4 pm to write down each project I have completed that week, as well as
make a list of things I wish to accomplish in the coming week (s). This will keep me on track,
organized, and ultimately accountable. My favorite part of the E-Portfolio compilation was the
Job Campaign section with my informational interviews. I would encourage all of my
undergraduate peers to engage in this process because Wake alumni are so excited to talk to all of
us and willing to give pertinent information about their career path and how they ended up where
they are now. Speaking to alumni really helped to relieve my anxiety about where I would end up
after graduation and whether or not I would be employed immediately or not.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to have participated in CNS 220. I would encourage
all undergraduates students to take one or all of these courses. I have been so amazed at the
resources the OPCD offers to students and I am forever appreciative of Professor Robinsons
enthusiasm and excitement for learning and career development. I will never forget that
feedback is a GIFT!

Sincerely,
Daniella Feijoo
 Rubric Personal Action Plan

25 points total Sophisticated Competent Not Yet Competent

Action plan has two both
Action plan has both
academic or career-
Action plan academic and career-
related goals listed for Action plan has only
demonstrates short- related goals listed for
next 1-3 months (short academic or career goals
term career goals next 1 or 3 months and
and long term) and but not both; rationale
and rationale has rationale for some
includes, action steps, missing or incomplete
(7 points) but not all or rationale
rationale/source from
unrelated to coursework
coursework
Action plan has 2 goals,
Action plan has 2-3
time-bound action steps Action plan has 1-2 goals
Action plan action steps that created
created and cites more or action steps but does
demonstrates use of and citing 6-8 references
than three references not have both; or, does
long-term goals and from projects,
from projects, not cite learning from
rationale experiences or
experiences or course as rationale for
(7 points) information gained as
information gained as action steps
part of course objectives
part of course objectives
Action plan
includes name of
Name of accountability
accountability
partner is listed, Not located in ePortfolio
partner, potential
obstacles/barriers and and/or does not have
obstacles and
resources to overcome accountability partner
resources to
obstacles/barriers are listed
overcome
listed.
barriers/obstacles
(3.5 points)
Action plan
answers prompts Action plan includes a Action plan does not
Action plan includes
demonstrating few but not all answers include answers to
answers to prompts to
growth or to prompts/questions prompts/questions listed
questions listed for pre-
perspective from listed for pre-planning for pre-planning for
planning for document
start of course for document document
(3 points)
Student completes
career coaching Student attends coaching
appointment to session with career coach N/A N/A
review plan to review action plan
(3 points)
Action plan added
to ePortfolio and Action plan added to
printed copy turned ePortfolio and turned N/A N/A
in on time into class on time
(1.5 points)
 Rubric
Meta-Reflection

25 points total Sophisticated Competent Not Yet Competent

Reflection includes 3-4 Reflection includes 1-2
Reflection on Reflection includes 4-6
references of, and references of, and
overall experience specific references of,
reflections on, aspects of reflections on, aspects of
of and reflections on,
ePortfolio creation; lacks ePortfolio creation; lacks
ePortfolio creation aspects of ePortfolio
specificity in terms of specificity in terms of
(5 points) creation
examples or experiences examples or reflection
Reflection includes 3 Reflection includes 2 Reflection includes 1
references to actual references to actual reference to actual
Reflection on process of selecting process of selecting process of selecting
process artifacts, creating artifacts, creating artifacts, creating
(5 points) ePortfolio and editing ePortfolio and editing ePortfolio and editing
portfolio for a targeted portfolio for a targeted portfolio for a targeted
audience audience audience
Reflection includes 1-2
Reflection includes 3-5 Reflection includes 2-3 examples of students
examples of students examples of students specific personal
Reflection on
specific learning and specific personal learning and growth
growth and
growth achieved during learning and growth achieved during class
progress
class through specific achieved during class through experiences and
(5 points)
experiences and through experiences and activities, not specific or
activities activities, not specific tied to projects,
experiences or activities
Reflection indicates
Quality of Overall reflection Reflection indicates inadequate consideration
reflection indicates consideration some consideration of of topic and no planning;
(5 points) of topic and planning topic; feels rushed rushed quality to writing
and thought
Reflection meets writing Reflection meets some Reflection does not meet
Writing conventions; virtually writing conventions; writing conventions; 5 or
conventions zero punctuation, contains 2-4 more punctuation,
(2.5 points) grammar, formatting punctuation, grammar, grammar, formatting
errors formatting errors errors
Timeliness Meta-reflection added to
(2.5 points) ePortfolio and turned N/A N/A
into class on time