Will McKeever

October 7, 2016

Project Proposal

A. ABSTRACT

This projects objectives will be to raise awareness of heroin addiction and treatment within the

Virginia Beach community and to raise money for a non-profit organization that helps recovering addicts

and educates the public on heroin. I picked heroin addiction and treatment as my topic due to the recent

rise of heroin usage and deaths that have increased within the Virginia Beach area in the past year. I feel

this is a threat to our community and could even become worse in the near future. My research on the

subject will be led by these questions:

What are the legal procedures and punishments for people charged with heroin possession and for the

people charged with heroin disruption?

How does heroin usage impact communities and how does the impact of heroin compare with other drugs

such as crack cocaine?

How is addiction treated by correctional institutions?
How do rehabilitation facilities help recovering addicts and how accessible are the facilities to the general

population?
What are some ways people can deal with pain without turning to heroin and other opiates?

In order to meet the objectives of the project, I will conduct a dodgeball tournament that will involve

student and adult participants alike. The tournament will be entitled, Smack Out Smack. Before the

tournament begins, I will give a short speech on how heroin addiction and usage has become a serious

problem within the Virginia Beach community. I will tell the audience how heroin deaths within our area

have dramatically increased and that we are in the midst of a heroin epidemic. After the tournament ends,

the participants will be tired and possibly sore. I feel this would be the opportune moment to talk to the

participants about the proper ways to deal with pain and not to turn to pain-numbing drugs such as heroin.
 Also at the tournament, I will provide information on how heroin addiction is currently being treated

within this country, as well as any useful information I obtained in my research. To raise money, I will

have athletic participants pay a fee to play in the tournament and I will have a donation box set up so

spectators can donate the amount of money they choose while theyre at the tournament. In order to make

my project happen, I will need to secure a venue, advertise the tournament, volunteers and secure

participants for the tournament. I will develop an organized set-up plan for this project to ensure that all

necessary aspects are covered.

B. LEARNING SKILLS

I will need to learn the following skills:

Tournament organization
Advertising
Venue preparation
Creating a fun and lively but safe environment
Being the master of ceremonies of a large event
Professional correspondence

I will need to enhance the following skills:

Public speaking
Communication
Cooperation
Research

C. MARKETING PLAN

The target audience for my project will be for students and parents alike. With the recent rise of heroin in

our area, the drug has become far more present within our community. Its presence can threaten the health

and lives of unwary students and adults. With both students and parents knowing about the nature and

presence of the drug, they would be more informed on why not to use heroin and more importantly, how

to combat its effects on the community. To ensure that I will have my targeted demographic, I will place

advertisements for the dodgeball tournament around places where students congregate such as schools. To
achieve this, I will ask permission from schools to allow me to place flyers within the school. Within the

advertisement, I will encourage student participants and spectators to bring their parents along so they can

also have fun and become informed on the topic. The venue for my project is yet to be decided at the time

of this proposal, but I do have several candidates in mind. I am thinking about possibly having the

tournament at a nearby school such as Virginia Beach Middle or at a nearby country club. Either venue

can provide a gymnasium where I can set up the tournament and host a large amount of people in.

D. PROJECT STEPS

STEPS DESCRIPTION TIME

Preliminary Email a potential venue and then 5 hours

secure a venue, plan out

tournament layout and finance,

create advertisements for

tournament, contact charity

organization, discuss process

with consultant

Midway Ask for permission to distribute 5 hours

advertisements from schools and

then distribute ads if permission

is granted, secure participants and

volunteers for the tournament,

revise any aspects of the

tournament, possibly request a

charity representative to come to

project
Latter Steps Host tournament, create bracket 6 hours

for the tournament, give speech

on topic, thank everyone for

coming to tournament, collect

donations

Follow Up Clean up area, give money to 4 hours

charity, write thank you notes

E. PROJECT DOCUMENTATION

I will document my project in the following ways:

Photographs

Video footage

Printouts of emails

Receipts

Advertisements used for the project

F. PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
 This project will involve organizing a large event, maintain steady communication between several

people and facilities, fundraising for a charity and speaking to a large crowd on a matter that is not taken

lightly. Almost everything this project involves I have not done before. This project would definitely be a

stretch for me because my skill range for organization, communication and education has never exceeded

anything outside a small-scale project where ten people were involved in at the very most. This project

will definitely be out of my comfort zone, which would be the full intention.

G. PROJECT-PAPER CONNECTION

The research that I will conduct in my paper will connect with my project through several ways. My

research can show how socially destructive heroin is and the legal ramifications of heroin which will

allow me to find out what charities or other organizations help with this problem. Learning about how

rehabilitation is handled and how accessible rehabilitation is can help educate the audience and athletes

that show up to the tournament about the issue. My paper will also provide substance to my talk to the

athletes after the tournament on how to deal with pain without using drugs. Most importantly, the

tournament will raise money for heroin treatment and education. It is important that I have a large

audience in attendance in order to raise as much money as possible for a charity that deals with the issue.

The more money raised, the greater of a difference this project will make. The tournament will be the best

format to gain an audience due to the fun it provides to both the spectators and participants. I choose

dodgeball as the sport of the tournament because dodgeball provides a fun experience that is based off of

teamwork. It is entertaining to both athletes and spectators alike.

H. ACADEMIC HONESTY

I understand that any academic dishonesty by me on any part of the project will result in failure of the

Senior Project and forfeiture of the Legal Studies Seal on my High School diploma.

Personally, Academic Honesty means to me not only to remain truthful in how you conduct your

research and writing, but also to put forth your best effort in your project, paper or research. Academic
 Honesty also means that you shall not plagiarize. Plagiarism is stealing the work of another individual and

passing it off as your own. Any attempt or act of plagiarism would be a complete violation of Academic

Honesty for it is dishonest and it is not putting forth your best effort.

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