As quickly as this journey with the learning project started it shall come to an end in the same way. It has been a long but valuable four months of learning back at the University after completing internship. It was nice being back around the school and in classes with close friends who you were dying to catch up with. I found a fresh feeling of happiness and excitement for the semester ahead and all the learning opportunities to come. 
With this amazing opportunity to challenge myself in the learning project came a sense of pride to finally cross something off the list I have been waiting to do for years. In my mind this was something that was definitely attainable with a little hard work and a little research. I mean hey how hard could it really be to dunk a basketball right?
Wrong! I found out really quick that this was going to be harder than I had anticipated. I quickly turned my focus to online resources that focused on dunking and even more specifically jump programs. Even though I knew I was a natural jumper from volleyball in my past, there were still some major limitations I was facing. The more research I did the more I started to realize that I was not properly stretching and did not have full motion of my muscles for jumping. My success was being diminished from the lack of flexibility I had in my body which essentially held me on the ground.
I made it my goal to take this new found knowledge I had comprehended from my online resources and readings and apply it in the weight room. Focusing on activities that improved my range of motion with my muscles and also strengthened my explosive fast twitch muscle movement. I did what the experts told me to do which was an array of squats, lunges, box jumps, leg press, jump rope, and sprints. By implementing these activities into my weekly regiment I started to find some success in my jumping ability.
Throughout the course of the semester I challenged myself at least once a week to go into the gym and attempt to dunk, even though I knew I was no where close. This often ended in frustration and anger as the fail videos kept taking up so much space on my phone. But I was determined to make it happen and tried all of the different techniques that I had seen online. Trying things like one foot jumping, two foot jumping, alley oops, different sized balls, etc, nothing was getting the job done.
In the end I have more fail attempts than makes and that is a heart breaking thing for me as I wanted to share in at least one successful dunk. The process has truly helped me embrace the idea that slow and steady wins the race as they say. The learning journey and what was learned along the way is much more important than the end product or the results. Placing myself in a situation where I couldn’t just rely on training and practice by themselves, but actually had to do some research online for the learning as well. The use of technology is a wonderful thing and all the answers to lives questions an be answered at the tip of your fingers. 
We should embrace the online world as it is here to stay regardless of our feelings towards this new craze hitting the streets. It is something that can be used responsibly by our students and for people to engage in essential learning opportunities like shown with the learning project. Did you enjoy this learning project as much as I did? What were some of the struggles or moments of excitement that you went through along your process? Would you recommend online learning for others who are trying to accomplish a daunting or challenging task?
Catlyn Todorovich 