Proposal


 * Senior Thesis Proposal**

I would like to volunteer taking care of a hospice patient. I plan on volunteering with Patty Borzellino and help her take care of her patient, Cecelia Drach, at the patient’s home in Cheltenham. Mrs. Drach suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure after being exposed to second hand smoke from her late husband’s excessive smoking. From the experience I hope to gain an understanding of what it is like for the people living with hospice care, knowing that they may pass away at any time. I would like to hear her opinions about teen smoking and smoking in general. It is easy to research the facts and statistics related to smoking, but I wish to see first-hand the affects smoking has on people’s lives. My plan for completing my project hours is to go visit over the weekends and days that we have off from school when possible. Since I play soccer in the fall and basketball in the winter, I don’t have time to volunteer on week days. However, if I go each week consistently, I believe that I can complete the 30 required hours fairly quickly. I don’t really need any resources to complete my project. Mrs. Borzellino has already agreed to be my mentor. My research topic revolves around anti-cigarette smoking. Primarily, I want to address teenagers in my presentation. I chose this topic because three of my four grandparents smoked cigarettes, which inevitably to their various health issues and untimely deaths. I want to reinforce in teens’ minds that smoking is bad for them. Many teenagers only think about the “now” and don’t think about how their actions will affect them down the line. I want to make teens aware that they are not as invincible as they may believe and that smoking cigarettes is slowly killing them. I want teens to question, how do the choices you make as a teenager affect your adulthood? I have very little prior experience dealing with people in severe health conditions. Therefore, I want to take this experience to really connect with the patient and try and put myself in their shoes. My intention is that teenagers, as well as adults, will benefit from my research investigation. I want people to learn about how bad smoking truly is for them. I hope teens will either never begin or stop smoking after hearing my presentation. I also want to make the elderly woman who I will visit happy and brighten her days. To get some outsider perspective, I would like to discuss with my mom and dad what their feelings are regarding their parents’ smoking and consequential health problems. I also plan to talk with both people who do and do not smoke cigarettes, with their ages ranging from teenagers to adults, to hear about their feelings toward smoking. If I work hard, I believe the entire experience can be beneficial and informative for me as well as my peers.