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HONORS SELF- DESIGNED PROPOSAL

Complete this proposal prior to your experiences start date and upload it in the UHP Database
(https://webapps.uc.edu/uchonorsstudent). Create an experience (Add a new record) in the Tracking Project
tab and upload your proposal document as an attachment. The deadline for submitting proposals is the 5th of
each month (excluding July).
Proposals are intended to be well developed plans for your experience. However, experiences are exploratory in
nature, and we are flexible with changes throughout the experience. If your experience changes after receiving
approval on your proposal, contact your honors advisor to verify the changes still satisfy the requirements of an
honors experience.

Basic Information
Full Name: Dylan Shoup
Title of Project: Compassion by the Book Associate Chair
Thematic Area(s): Community Engagement
Expected Start Date: December 15, 2015
Expected End Date: September 1, 2016

GUIDELINES
1. Proposal submission timeline: Proposals should be submitted at least one month prior to the expected
start date of the experience. International experiences require at least two months notice. Contact your
honors advisor immediately for any exceptions.
2. Proposal length: While the quality of the proposal is most important, strong proposals are typically 3-4
pages single-spaced.
3. Proposal format: Please maintain the proposal format (e.g. headers, layout)
4. Time commitment: Experiences should consist of at least 75-90 hours of preparation, execution, and
reflection. This is approximately equivalent to the commitment of honors seminars and pre-approved
experiences.

REQUIREMENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

All self-designed international travel experiences require two months notice and must be at least one week in
length. You will need to provide a detailed itinerary (dates, locations and activities). If participating in
independent travel (not with UC faculty, staff or student group), you must also fill out a Worldwide: Honors
Experience application via UC International.
Additionally, the Student Travel Policy restricts UC-sponsored travel to countries under a U.S. Department of
State Travel Warning. Those who wish to visit a country with a travel warning must seek an exemption through
UC International. Students traveling without a faculty or staff leader must individually request an exemption.
We cannot allow you to count this travel as an honors experience nor can we give you a grant without an
approved exemption.

1. Abstract
Briefly describe the experience.
What makes this experience personally meaningful?
What goals do you have for this experience?
What is your timeline for this experience?
**If you are developing this experience from an existing opportunity (class with a study tour, campus organization, co-op,
etc.) that is not already an honors seminar or pre-approved experience, how will you differentiate your experience from
what is already required of other students?

Compassion by the Book is a non-profit organization that is the catalyst for unlocking the untapped
potential of college students to change the world by realizing opportunities to make a difference and developing
a lifestyle of giving to meet the needs of others. As the Associate Chair on the Advisory board for the UC
Compassion by the Book start-up chapter, I will assist other board members and work directly with the Board
Chair to enhance communication and corporate organization. At CBTB, we will seek to invest our time
campaigning textbook fundraisers to financially support a nonprofit of our choice that focuses on early
childhood education. Over the course of the year, CBTB will seek to sell these collected books, therefore
generating revenue to be donated to the Literacy Network of Greater Cincinnati, resulting in the enhancement of
early childhood education around the Greater Cincinnati area
As of August 22, 2015, my small business start-up, S&F Lawn and Landscaping, was sold and the days
of caring for my customers concluded. Throughout the past three years of running S&F Lawn and Landscaping,
I didnt just generate revenue, but also personal relationships with every client. When the time came to sell my
dream business, the problem was not how much the company would sell for, but rather how my customers
would be cared for. With this in mind, I set out to find the best replacement company that would take care of my
clients for the rest of the year and in the future.
Transitioning my entrepreneurial spirit to the University of Cincinnati, I have been given the opportunity
to sit on the Advisory Board as Associate Chair of UCs first ever Compassion by the Book non-profit chapter.
By being a part of CBTB, I have the privilege of working with executive mentors from companies such as Ernst
& Young, Meritor, and 84.51 to assist each aspect of operations needed to reach set goals. Heading the start-up
of the CBTB UC Chapter not only presents me with opportunities to grow as a business professional, but also
allows me to use my skills to give back to the community and make a difference in others lives.
First and foremost, the goal is to generate revenue from the books that are sold. As a set goal, I have
reasoned that raising $5000.00 for first year operations of Compassion by the Book is very reasonable and with
precise strategic planning, is a very attainable estimation. With this being said, the goal for myself and the
organization as a whole is to significantly impact the Cincinnati community within the first year of operations.
This means that with this generated revenue being donated to the Literacy Network of Greater Cincinnati,
childrens education will be improved and expanded upon. Not only will CBTB and I seek to donate books and
generated revenue to further childhood education, we will also seek to become a part of the process. This means
and will incorporate CBTC sponsored events where myself and various volunteers can team up with the
Literacy Network of Greater Cincinnati and personally give these books to the students in need. In this way, I
am able to experience the giving for myself and see how these kids will develop and grow their education over
the years.
The timeline for the experience is exactly one year of operations. Operations will begin December 1,
2015 and will end December 1, 2016. As for the organization, the plan is to recruit a new advisory board that
will take our spots and lead the campaign for the next year. With this being said, I will only serve as the
Associate Chair for one year, but will continue to be involved with the growing organization throughout my
college career.
What makes Compassion by the Book different from anything else is that although I will be serving the
non-profit organization with my time and help, I will also at the same time be building it. Compassion by the
Book is the first chapter that the University of Cincinnati has had and is therefore considered a start-up non-

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profit organization. Therefore, I will not only be giving my time to better early childhood education within the
greater Cincinnati area, I will also be developing a business in which I can learn and grow upon professionally.

Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

Brief description of the experience

Personal connection to the experience
Identified goals for the experience
Timeline from start to finish
*Itinerary (international experiences only)
**Explanation of differentiated experience
from what is required of other students

2. Experience Advisor
Identify an experience advisor and provide their contact information.
Explain why you chose this person and how you plan to utilize your advisor for this experience.
Note: Advisor(s) should have knowledge or expertise in an area related to the experience. Honors advisors, undergraduate
students, and family members cannot be experience advisors.

My experienced advisor will be:

Rachel Bucalo
Email: Rachel.Bucalo@8451.com
I chose Rachel because she is one of my Kolodzik Business Scholars mentors. I met Rachel during a
KBS Mentor-Mentee event and we automatically related to each other, as I am marketing major and she
graduated from the Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati as a Lindner Honors Plus
Scholar with a major in marketing. She is very experienced with non-profit organizations and start-up
companies as she is an employee at 84.51 and also very involved with the Brandery in downtown Cincinnati.
CBTB and I will utilize Rachel and her expertise by placing her on the Advisory Board as an Executive Mentor.
As an Executive Mentor, Rachel will attend bi-weekly meetings with the rest of the Advisory Board to offer
new ideas and critiques. Ultimately, Rachel is a very valuable member of the team as she will serve to help
develop the core of the Compassion by the Book organization. In addition to Rachels input, the Advisory Board
will also ask for her to reach out to her vast network of business professionals and bring in other guest
executives that will be able to provide useful information and ideas for the organization.

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Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

Experience advisor name and contact

information
Description of why advisor was selected
Specific plans to engage with advisor

3. Connection to Learning Outcomes

List 3 learning outcomes from any thematic area(s).
Provide specific activities you plan to engage in to help you make progress towards the chosen learning outcomes.
Describe how you expect each activity to help your progress. Include an estimated time commitment for those activities.

1) Identify and differentiate multiple ways to contribute towards the development or achievement of the
communitys goals.
As the Associate Chair of Compassion by the Book, I am in charge of assisting each board member with
various tasks in which they will need help with. At Compassion by the Book, the mission is to notably impact
the Greater Cincinnati area in regards to early childhood education. As a board member, I will be focused on
generating revenue from used student textbooks and selling them online as a seller of Amazon.com. This
activity will therefore allow for the generation of revenue that will in turn be donated to the Literacy Network of
Greater Cincinnati and be used in various ways to support the community goal of educating young children.
Additionally, as Associate Chair, I will assist other members in developing various book drives in which any
book can be donated. With each book donated, there will be businesses that will match each book given with a
monetary donation, further generating additional revenue to be donated to the Literacy Network of Greater
Cincinnati along with extra books that can also be donated to various schools around the Cincinnati area. As for
both of these events, the timeline to complete them will be a year, but the process and development of each
activity will begin as soon as the organization start date begins. Compassion by the Book is looking to have the
first book drive at the beginning of January and have accounted for inventory by the following week in order to
being selling textbooks online.
2) Explain how education, advocacy, mobilization, or public policy can influence social issues and
transform communities.
As it has already been stated, the main goal is to impact and improve early childhood education in the
Greater Cincinnati area. With this goal in mind, the development of the two above actions are crucial in order to
make Compassion by the Book a success. As the Associate Chair, I will seek to specifically help the Marketing
Chair and OM Chair to develop strategic plans to best work with the organization and meet specified goals. As
for assistance with marketing, I will be given various marketing tasks such as cold calls to various companies to
developing strategic advertising plans to advertise the organization and upcoming events. As for OM activities,
taking inventory of books and entering them into our inventory tracking system will be crucial for keeping
inventory up to date and in order. I will help in various areas from labeling books to packaging and shipping
books once they have been ordered. As these are very broad jobs, timelines are not specified due to each activity
being continuously done throughout the year.
3) Articulate the purpose of service on a social issue or public policy and how service mutually enhances
individual growth and the common good.
The purpose of Compassion by the Book is to ultimately better society and enhance individual growth and
the common good through early childhood education. In order to better articulate and understand the purpose of
service, board members such as myself will be able to personally give the donated books to local schools in
need to new books. In this way, I will be able to interact first hand with children in need of a higher education.
In a numerous amount of ways such as reading books to children and attending school reading events, I will be
given the opportunity to help children and see how my efforts have given them the opportunity to grow strongly

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as individuals. As for a timeline, there will be various opportunities throughout the year long operation and will
require a few hours a week to set up meetings, appointments and school trips.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

3 learning outcomes explicitly identified

from any thematic area(s)
Examples of activities and explanation of
how each will assist the progress towards
the chosen learning outcome
Estimated time commitment for each
activity

4. Academic Resources Connected to the Learning Outcomes

List 1-2 academic resources you plan to use to enhance your understanding of the learning outcomes.
Explain how each resource connects to your learning outcome(s) and helps you execute your experience.
Please include the title and author/creator for each resource.
Note: Academic resources are professional works that can be used to assist your understanding of the topic. Some
examples are books, documentaries, videos, or research journals.
The one academic resource that I will use to help enhance my understanding of the learning outcomes is the book
How to win friends and Influence people by Dale Carnegie. The reason that I chose this book is that it will help me to
develop a concrete understanding of each learning outcome. As the book relates greatly to each of the learning outcomes
that I chose, it will allow me to better discern multiple ways to contribute towards a communitys goals by learning how to
influence people in the community and better relate to them for the betterment of the community. In addition to the
betterment of the community, the resource I chose will also help me understand how education can influence social issues,
such as early childhood education, and transform communities. Lastly, Carnegies wonderful book will teach me how to
articulate the purpose of the services of Compassion by the Book and how it mutually enhances personal my growth as an
individual and also the common good of the Greater Cincinnati area.
Dale Carnegies book with also allow me to execute my experience and be able to make the most of my
experience as Associate Chair. As the title implies, the book will assist me with better ways to make friends, relating
directly to the relationships with companies partnering that will support our cause. Additionally, the book will allow me to
influence people, which will relate directly to the marketing development of the organization. As a non-profit
organization, we will have to influence donors to be a part of our cause. As Associate Chair, I take my position very
seriously and will use this academic resource to further develop and articulate my experience.

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Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

1-2 academic resources connected to the

learning outcomes
Title and author of each resource
Description of how resources will help
make progress towards learning outcomes
and execution of experience

5. On-going Reflection
The on-going reflection should help you process the experience and progress toward your chosen learning outcomes.
Describe your method for reflecting throughout the experience. Indicate specific reflection questions/topics you plan to
use to guide your reflective process.
Note: A variety of methods can be used for on-going reflection. Some examples are videos, drawings, blogs, songs, and
journals. Reflection topics to consider include your ideas/insights about the experience, connection to other areas of
involvement, and your progress towards the learning outcomes.

Throughout the experience, I plan to heavily reflect on everything that I do and to analyze the outcome
of each major action. As I look back on each experience, I will analyze how my actions affected different types
of people and what kind of outcome it caused in that particular situation. Two specific questions I will ask
myself when I look back and analyze my actions are How did this action have a significant impact on others
and How did this impact the overall goal of the organization. By using these two questions, I will be able to
analyze my performance and track how effective my actions are during my experience. Lastly I will ask myself
How has this action impacted my overall progress of reaching the main goal. By analyzing and answering this
question, it will allow me to keep track of my progress and stay focused on the main goal for the betterment of
the organization.

Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

Method for ongoing reflection

Reflection questions/topics clearly
specified

6. Sharing Your Learning

Describe how you plan to actively share what youve taken away from this experience with a targeted audience.
Explain why you chose this specific audience.
Note: While social media can be an effective platform for sharing, only posting on your personal learning portfolio or
social media account(s) does not reach a targeted audience.

I plan to actively share my experience with a very specific targeted audience. I will share my
experiences as Associate Chair with the future leaders of Compassion by the Book in order to help them further
the program in the years to come. I have chosen this specific audience, the future Advisory Board, because I
want the organization to flourish throughout the years and have a significant impact on early childhood
education in the Greater Cincinnati area region. I will seek to share my experience with the future Advisory
Aboard by being a mentor and attending the bi-weekly meetings in order to give my input and guide the new
board through the process. Additionally, I will seek to also be a mentor by offering my time as a volunteer by

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helping with book drives, advertising, and operations management in order to still be a part of the organization.
By sharing my experience with the future Advisory Board, my hope is that I will be able to positively impact
the way in which the organization is run and tangibly effect the increased development of early childhood
education through the Literacy Network of Greater Cincinnati.

Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

At least one method to actively share takeaways/learning from the experience

A specific audience and why the audience
was selected

7. Budget (if applicable)

Provide an itemized budget and indicate your source for cost information.
*If you are engaged in an unpaid internship or research, please indicate the number of weeks and hours per week you
plan to participate.
Not Applicable (Ask Advisor)

Advisor Feedback
Notes:
Detailed budget of expenditures with
sources to justify budget estimates
*Indicates the number of hours per week
and number of weeks of participation

Required Revisions:

Effective:

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THEMATIC AREA LEARNING OUTCOMES
Learning Outcomes for the Community Engagement Thematic Area:
By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to

Identify and differentiate multiple ways to contribute towards the development or

achievement of the communitys goals.
Develop a thorough understanding of the world view, beliefs, experiences, selfconsciousness, or history of community members through collaboration.
Articulate the purpose of service on a social issue or public policy and how service
mutually enhances individual growth and the common good.
Explain how education, advocacy, mobilization, or public policy can influence social
issues and transform communities.

Learning Outcomes for the Creativity Thematic Area:

By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to

Discover new techniques to gain knowledge, consider options, make new connections,
and ask questions.
Explore a new creative competency/medium or seek new ways to engage an existing
competency/medium.
Understand and optimize the use of people, technology, physical resources or community
in a creative process.
Articulate the broader significance of a creative project and the value of its contributions.

Learning Outcomes for the Global Studies Thematic Area:

By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to

Develop practical travel skills that promote safe, stimulating, and productive travel
throughout your life.
Summarize the interconnectedness of geography, history, cultural traits and world issues.
Articulate the interdependence of professional fields to address current and impending
global issues such as technology, the environment, human rights, or politics.
Demonstrate an understanding of cultural diversity by acknowledging the impact of their
own identity and the experience of social norms, customs, or beliefs that are different
from their own.
Demonstrate a sense of empathy, respect, and appreciation for others to build meaningful
cross-cultural collaborations toward mutual growth and prosperity.

Learning Outcomes for the Leadership Thematic Area:

By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to

Formulate and manage a shared vision and develop goals towards its achievement.
Motivate and collaborate effectively with others towards completion of shared projects or
goals.
Develop strategies to identify and respond to challenges and obstacles.
Identify personal strengths and areas of growth and evaluate opportunities to maximize
skills and abilities.
Synthesize the current trends related to a specific issue or field and evaluate how
thought-leaders are currently addressing them.

Learning Outcomes for the Research Thematic Area:

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By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to

Demonstrate the ability to locate, interpret, and critically evaluate primary sources
appropriate to field.
Identify and apply appropriate methods to collect and organize data for analysis.
Analyze and interpret the meaning of results.
Produce dissemination appropriate to the field in order to share the results or impact
of the research.
Articulate the broader significance of the research project and its relationship to other
fields, research and ideas.