HON 110 Dream Life Project


	Honors Scholars Program

HON 110-304:

Honors Freshman Seminar:

The University Experience and the Life of the Mind

Section Theme: The Internet as a Community
Ms. Sue Cody

FALL 2006

Individual Project: Your Dream Life

This project is designed to get you to think about your long-range future, and to consider what you should be doing now to prepare for it. You will investigate a career you would consider your "dream job." It should be in your major area of study. If you don't know yet what your major will be, this will give you a chance to explore jobs in one of the majors you are considering. Many students change majors before graduation, and this gives you a chance to critically examine a career you are considering. You aren't signing up "for life" in this project. But, use this opportunity to DREAM BIG!

This project is more than just a career exploration, however. We also want you to contemplate what is important to your quality of life and how you will balance multiple priorities of career, family, civic engagement, and recreation/relaxation. What is your personal definition of "living well?"

You will produce a research paper at least five pages long (double-spaced, 10-12 point font) AND make a 10-minute presentation to the class. PowerPoint and Internet access will be available for your presentation.

Format:

Five page paper in which you investigate and begin to plan your possible future (typed and double-spaced) with sources cited.

Ten minute Oral Presentation of your project in which you should use visual aids (PowerPoint is recommended.)

Method and Content:

1. Select your dream job. For assistance, consider completing the "Assessment of Career Interests" surveys available through UNCW Career Services http://www.uncw.edu/stuaff/career/students/assessments.htm or at MyCoolCareer.com. What did you learn about your career interests from the Career Key you completed for the Career Services workshop?

2. Interview as least two people about the career. One should be someone who has your dream job and/or hires college graduates for that career. The other can be a student studying for that career or a faculty member who teaches a course to prepare students for the career. Some questions to ask:

What do you expect college graduates to know?
What skills are important?
How did you get where you are?
Why did you choose this career?
What would you do differently?
How do you balance your work, service and personal life?

3. Check resources (your workshops with Career Services and Randall Library will be very useful!) You should use (and properly cite) at least four sources, two of which are published sources (the remaining two can be "free web" sources or additional published sources. See the Randall Library Resource Guide for Career Information at http://library.uncw.edu/web/research/topic/careers.html . Specifically, try to answer these questions:

What education is needed?
What skills do job ads require/prefer?
What are the starting salaries?

You may use any standard citation style, e.g., APA, MLA, Turabian. For guidance, you will find style manuals at the Randall Library Reference Desk. Basic information is available at: http://library.uncw.edu/web/research/citation/citingsources.html

4. Make a plan that would prepare you for your dream job and describe it in your paper:

What courses should you take?
What volunteer and/or extra-curricular activities would enhance your resume?
What other experiences or training would be of benefit?
If grad school is required, which one(s) would you prefer and why?
Talk with a junior or senior who is also interested in that dream job about their plan...

5. Describe your dream family, social and service life.

Where do you want to live?
Do you want to have children?
Will you belong to service/religious/social organizations?
What will you do for fun?
Who will your closest friends be? How will you meet them? What will you do together?
What will vacations be like? Will you travel? Where?
How will you balance your life and the demands on your time?

DUE DATES:

Topic choice: November 2
Names of Interviewees & when you will interview them: November 7
ALL Papers due on (or before) November 21
Individual Project Presentations: November 28, November 30 and December 5

GRADING:

Career Description: What is work like, what is required in terms of skills and education	5 points
Education Plan: What will you do to make yourself qualified?	2 points
Interview: Conducted 2 interviews, included analysis of what you learned	2 points
Personal Balance: Analysis of family, social, service life	3 points
Presentation: Organization of content, speaking skills, PowerPoint	4 points
Use of print/electronic sources	2 points
Form of paper: length, readibility, grammar, spelling, citations	2 points

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