Nicole Smith conducted a senior project where she organized a 5k race to raise money for her church. She faced several challenges along the way, such as getting city approval for her course map and coordinating with the police. Through patience and problem-solving, she overcame these issues. On the day of the race, over 50 people participated and $1,210 was raised. The process taught Smith the importance of managing stress and communicating effectively with others. She plans to apply these lessons as she pursues her dream of becoming a teacher and coach in college.

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Nicole Smith
Mrs. Lester
Advanced Grammar/Composition
12 March 2012
Senior Project Speech
“What kind of crazy nut would spend two or three hours a day just running”
(Prefontaine)?This is one of the most famous running quotes from Prefontaine who holds many
sprinting records to this day.Maybe he is wrong or maybe he is right about his interpretation of
running, but let me tell you about my experience with running. I love to go out and run as hard as
I can.I love the feeling I get after I have reached my personal time goal that I have set for
myself.I even love the pain I feel at the end of a race that I have done my best at.I love
everything about what running makes me feel.I remember exactly when I found this love.I was
running the mile for the presidential physical fitness test in middle school, and I realized that I
was one of the fastest runners. I was even beating most of the guys in the class. Prior to this, I
had played softball for five years and I really thought that was the sport that was going to carry
me through High School.Nearing the end of my eighth grade year, I hurt my shoulder and I could
no longer throw like I had been able to. It was then that I decided I was going to have to quit this
sport because I realized I would never make it onto the High School team. Of course I was
devastated, but it was then that all my friends decided we should all try track out together.
Knowing the love for running I had just discovered, I decided that I would give it a try. I did not
realize it at that time, but since then, this decision has become one of the best decisions I have
ever made in my entire life. Since the day I started this sport, I have grown tremendously in my
running career.I started out as third best on the team and, slowly but surely; I have improved my

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times tremendously. I have gone from running in the 20 minutes for my 5k to running in the 18
minutes.My mile time has gone from about a 6:15 to a 5:34. I have set school records and made
the all-county and all-state teams.I have qualified for state for three years, and I have been
offered scholarships from five different colleges this year. Running has carried me through high
school in many ways. For example, I have made many friends with my four years of experience.
There are people that I had no idea who they were and now we are best friends because of the
fact that I met them through running on the team.Rachel Dorris, for instance is one of the best
friends I have ever had, and I never would have met her if I had not have started running my
freshman year.She would do anything for me and help me in any situation, and I value that more
than anyone could ever possibly know. Good friends are hard to find in the world we live in
today, but my team is the truest friendship I could ever have. These are very simple facts, but
they are a big part of the reason I choose to host a 5k race for my senior project.
To begin with, I will tell you that the research question for this senior project was: “What
problems do runners face?”The next big question that I am going to answer is: how does this
topic link to a possible career in the future? My personal reason for choosing this topic is
because of the fact that when I get through with college, I would like to become a teacher. In
addition to being a teacher, however, I would like to be a full time track or cross country coach.
Knowing about possible problems and injuries will be very helpful to me for possibly helping
my future athletes. In the end, the topic of running and my reason for choosing to research these
issues, ties to my product because, in the end, I wanted to host a 5k race. The researched
information, and the experience of putting together a race, helped me get the experience I wanted
because I wanted to know what it would be like to organize a whole race by myself. Choosing
the product was not really a hard thing for me once I saw that I could help the church that I grew

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up in. The church that I belong to is a very special place to me, and all the people in it are like
family.At conference one day, it was decided that we were going to have to do something about
our parking lot. There are potholes, dents, and the lines need repainted. It was becoming a really
bad problem. Putting this knowledge with the fact that I already knew I wanted to host a race, I
decided that all the money I raised from the race would go to the church. I made my decision
right then that my product was going to be the benefit money I raised to give the church.Now
that understand how my research led me to host a 5k race for my senior project, let’s get to the
big picture… the product.
To begin with, I had to pick a project facilitator. This person was Mr. Blake Beardon.I
knew I needed someone with a good background in running, preferably someone with a lot of
knowledge about road races. I needed someone who would know all about what kind of things
go on at road races. I did not necessarily need someone who had hosted a road race themself, but
someone who would have information about it. At first I was thinking about my coach, Mr. Ty
Brown. However, when I thought a little harder I realized that there was another person I knew
that would probably know even more than Coach Brown. That person was my secondary coach,
Mr. Blake Beardon. Coach Beardon has been my coach since I was a freshman here at
Creekview, and over the years we have gotten to know each other very well. He has talked about
countless races he has been in and I knew that he could give me many tips in the process of
hosting my very own road race. So, I asked him what he would think about being my facilitator
and he agreed. It was set. Coach Beardon was going to be my project facilitator.At this point in
the process, I was ready to actually begin working toward the product, which was raising the
money for the church. There were some problems along the way though.

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The steps in the process of achieving my ultimate goal were pretty easy to follow.
However, there were some issues along the way that I had to work through. Before I could do
anything, I had to get permission from the city of Ballground to host the race in town. I made the
course map with Coach Beardon. I took it to city hall to show them my map and ask permission.
The lady in charge, Miss Karen Jordan, gave me permission to have the race in town, but she
turned down my course because she said it was too complicated. This was my first problem. I
redid the course and took it back, but she said that there was only one course I could use, and that
course was going to be really hilly. I had worked hard on making the maps that I made so I was
very disappointed to hear that I could not use any of them. Not to mention the fact that, I simply
did not want to use the course they picked. The course that they picked however was the course
that the library and elementary school used for their races, so I had no choice and it was too late
to move the race to another location. I decided to go with the change of plans and work with the
course I was given.After this, I had to finalize my plans with the police chief, Sargent Reeves,
because they were going to have to block off the roads for the race. This is where my second
problem came into effect. I am not sure if any of you have had to deal with police before, but
they are very difficult. He was never there when I went in and then I would miss his call. He
would leave me messages, but when I would call him back he would not pick up so I would
leave him messages. We went around in circles like this for about a month. Finally, we got in
touch and the plans were made for February 4th, 2012. I solved my problem by sticking to my
efforts to get in touch with sergeant Reeves.After that, I moved forward by making a list of
everything I needed to get for the race. I knew I needed race numbers, bananas, snacks, and
water. I thought it would be a problem with money, but as the time for the race got closer and
closer, my friends, and people from my church, started donating money and supplies.The

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possible problem seemed to just work itself out. Before I knew it, the race was almost here and I
did not have any cost out of my pocket. It was a huge blessing to have so many people help me
with this project and support my cause. The next step was getting people to actually run the
race.I only had about 10 people pre-register, and the date was getting closer and closer. This was
my fourth problem. I really thought that I was not going to have any people come, but I waited to
see what would happen. I had already made flyers and given them to over 20 people personally,
put the flyer up at Boling Park which is a very prominent running spot, sent an email to all the
teachers at the school asking them to tell their students, and put a flyer up at the Kroger in
Macedonia.I had done everything I could possibly do, so I just waited to see what would happen
on the day of the race. This patient waiting was how I solved my problem of worrying about
people showing up at the race.I ended up having about 55 people do the race and I raised
$1,210.00 for the church. The registration papers are in the blue folder on the table along with
my race maps and race numbers I used for the race. I was finally done with my senior project
and all I could do at that point was say a prayer thanking God for letting everything go well and
helping me make a difference in a church that I love so much. Overall, there were many steps in
making my product a reality. There were also many problems along the way, but, in the end,
everything worked out pretty well.
Through this whole process, I have learned that I have to keep my stress level down when
things get hard. Through prayer and trusting that everything will work out the way it is supposed
to, I can get a lot more accomplished.I always get so worried when something does not work out
the first time I try it, and I have been that way my whole life. I had to learn to control this
problem during this project because, if not, I honestly do not think I would have successfully
finished. I would have been so worried about having to get everything done that I would not have

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actually gotten anything done, if that makes since. I realize that sometimes things do not go
exactly to plan, but there is a reason for that. There is a bigger plan to everything that I cannot
always see, so I just need to tweak my plans and make them work another way. In the end, it will
all work out if I stick to it and do not give up. I have also learned how to communicate with
people better. Through this whole process, there were several people I had to meet and plan with.
Because of this, I learned how to not be shy and ask questions when I have them. I learned how
to be a leader.All in all, this whole project has been difficult at times, but it has made me realize
that I like a challenge. I know that pursuing my dream of becoming a teacher/coach is going to
be difficult at times, but I am willing to work for it.
I will be attending Young Harris College in the fall to pursue my dream of becoming a
teacher, and this knowledge of how to handle stressful situations will really come in handy. I am
going on a full scholarship for grades and cross country which is going to be a lot to maintain
when I get to college. I will have a full schedule with classes and two a day practices, and I
cannot afford to let my grades or my running fall behind. Now, from this project, I know that,
when I start thinking about how hard and stressful all of this is, I can calm down, pray about it,
and try new ways. Everything will be ok if I just do these things. Also, this idea will keep me
healthier because too much stress is not good for the human body. In fact, from experience
through this project, I have learned that a person’s stress level can literally make them sick.
Overall, what I have learned through this project will help me in college and when I get out into
the stresses of the work world.
Thank you, judges, for your time. I hope you enjoyed my presentation because I was very
excited to get to walk you through my experience. If you have any questions, I would love to
answer them.

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