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Kathryn Wan
Ms. Sharma
January 24, 2021
Career Life Connections 12
Capstone Reflection Paper

I have always been interested in the sciences, with this project I was able to do research and learn
about COVID-19, which has drastically changed the way we live today. With the dream to become a
doctor, I have always loved to assist others, being able to spread awareness and valuable information to
others gives me a feeling of accomplishment. Another aspect I have been interested in is coding. In recent
years we have learnt the basics of coding in python, but for this project, I wanted to discover a completely
different coding aspect, though HTML is not a coding language, it is a language used to create websites.
HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. I chose to use this markup language to challenge myself
instead of doing it the easy way and using a premade website maker, like Weebly or Wix. Also,
completing this project helped by expanded my views on potential careers I could possibly be interested
in for the future.
I have never been the best when it comes to understanding computer terms, and one challenge
that took a lot of mental strain out of me was finding a way to publish my website for others to look at.
Though it seems like an easy task to be done, in one day, I spent over an hour going through multiple
websites, lots of videos and even downloaded many different applications to try and find one that I
understood and that worked. Looking through each one took some time as most of them spoke with terms
that were not familiar and I struggled to understand what some of them meant. After that time I was very
flustered and decided to call it a day, I took some time to relax to recollect myself. The next day I went in
with fresh eyes and in the first video I watched, I understood and followed their instructions, and I was
finally able to publish my website.
During this project, I have acquired many skills, including a new skill, coding HTML. I used my
analyzing, critical thinking and time-management skills as well. This project has not let me master any of
these skills as mastering critical thinking skills is next to impossible, but it has helped me to improve all
of those useful skills that will be helpful in the future. As for learning to code in HTML, with this
timeline, I was only able to learn the basics, but if I continue, I will be able to master it. Coding HTML is
quite repetitive and only requires you to remember multiple complex attributes. I used my critical
thinking skills to teach myself how to code HTML, testing the code I wrote as well as finding the small
errors here and there. Analyzing skills were used to research and taking notes on the information I
included on my website. As for time-management, during the beginning of this course I procrastinated
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and thought I had all the time in the world, but as time went by I realized that I needed to focus on
finishing my project. To do this, I made myself a schedule on what I needed to accomplish weekly, I
think the weekly journals helped me stay on track. In the end, I accomplished my goal and doing that I
found a way to improve my time management.
Looking back I would have loved to add more attributes, but unfortunately did not have the time
to fully learn and understand the more complex attributes in HTML. When I was learning the basics of
HTML, I tried to master those basics, like remembering how to add paragraphs, headings, pictures and
websites. Scanning over the w3schools.com website, where I learnt HTML, I saw many exciting
attributes, I could have grasped and used in my website. There are the input attributes, where you can ask
the user their input of information and store that data for later use. I was thinking if I could have added a
small screening quiz to either test their knowledge of what they had learnt reading my website or to test
their symptoms if they checked any of the boxes. Adding all these features, I think I could have made my
website, more engaging and useful for others to go to.
I learnt the basics of HTML coding in about 1 month, and though it had been challenging, I
persevered and understood enough to create my own website. During this time I struggled to find how to
add specific parts, and had to do a little more research and considered Google as my mentor. When I was
able to see my published website, realizing what I had accomplished in such a short period of time was
amazing. From seeing the messy code to seeing what that turned into was amazing, and it made all that
hard work and time worth it. Knowing that I had achieved this from scratch and by mostly teaching
myself everything along the way has given me a sense of fulfillment.
This project has been an enjoyable educational experience, I was able to learn a new skill, and
work on other essential skills. With the Capstone project, I believe you must find something you are
enthusiastic or curious about, as you are going to spend a lot of time researching, creating and/or learning
that topic. Since you are able to choose your own topic, it is an excellent opportunity to explore yourself
and find something you will enjoy learning. In the beginning, choosing a topic was the hardest part of this
project, but I think the key is to connect what you want to learn with something you are passionate about.
I choose to create a website on COVID-19 because I have always been interested in the sciences and
though coding is not my forte, I wanted to challenge myself and discover if this was something I would
be interested in. Another piece of advice would be not to procrastinate, if you have 10 weeks or the whole
year, do not leave it all to the last 2 weeks or months. Work on it at least once a week and you will see
how much a difference it will make in your end product, doing this will also make the process much
easier. Overall, this project gave me a sense of independence, let me practice life skills and pursue a
passion and I encourage everyone to put in all their effort.