C.A.S. Activity/Project Self-Evaluation Example: Senior Year High School

C.A.S. Activity/Project Self-Evaluation

Railway Museum of _______________
Approximate Hours: 70

The __________________is a local railway preservation initiative in _____, ____ located on ______’s old L&N DeCoursey Avenue Railroad Yard. The museum is non-profit and operated by a small group of tri-state area volunteers. Approximately 30 railcars, 5 locomotives, and countless railroad antiques are property of the museum and more than half of the collection is currently being renovated. I worked at the museum all of last summer.

In this project I performed many different tasks with many different people. The museum is operated by five dedicated volunteers. Nearly all of them were there on every weekend and Wednesday when the museum was open. The volunteers included one middle aged man and the other four were senior citizens. I worked closely with the middle-aged man and he is who I learned most from. Other people would volunteer but were not regulars. I also interacted with visitors in the museum. I often gave tours and was a guide on the annual open house day.

There are too many tasks for me to reflect upon so I will only include three major ones. First, my initial experience at the museum was restoring a Pennsylvania R.P.O. (Railroad Post Office). The museum had purchased mail bins and was installing them in the ceiling. I worked alongside two other guys in installing the 100 pound bins and aided in drilling holes in the sheet metal of the ceiling and fixing the bins to it. This was a long and heavy process. Because it was summer time and old railroad cars don’t have air conditioning, this was more than a sweat breaker. I learned a lot from this task though. We used many different tools of which I learned the names of and I also learned how to work with drilling through metal. This was not something I had to opportunity to learn at home.

The second task at the museum was preparing the axles and wheels to be painted. Since the museum hadn’t had any young volunteers for several years, the low and hard to reach projects were left up to me. Many of the axle sets to the railcars were rusting and the paint was chipping away. My job was to take a metal scraper (brush and scraper) and clean up the axle sets to be spray painted. In this task I was on my hands and knees wearing a dusk mask nearly turning black by the end of the day. Although this sounds like something a teenager shouldn’t be doing, I learned a lot. After I had cleaned up the axles, I was shown how to properly assemble, operate, and clean a spray painter. Since the museum is non-profit, much of the equipment is older and more complicated to use than newer tools. In the end, my labor paid off and the axles to the cars looked fresh out of the shop. This not only made me proud, it made the museum proud.

Lastly, I aided in the restoration of a Brookville Pusher. I’m unsure of the age but I believe it is over 50 years old. It is the size of a small car and, to my surprise, still operates. The museum hadn’t done much with it in the past few years they had it so since they had an extra hand (me) they saw it as a good opportunity to take on the task. First, I helped strip the roof of a canvas/tar coating that was slowly tearing away. This was a messy and tedious process. After that, I helped removed the overhead floodlights from the roof to help bring it back to its original look. The roof was then polished smooth after all of the tar was removed. Next, I helped prime the outer body of the locomotive to be painted. I learned how to do this as well as all other preparations for it to be painted. After spray painting the large portions of the body, I worked with a paintbrush to paint the more detailed parts including the hand railings and trim. During the entire restoration process of the locomotive I took photographs to show the progress being made. The results were incredible. In the end, the locomotive looked brand new and was now an impressive piece of railroad history for the museum to display.

Another experience at the museum that was less labor intensive but more educational was helping to prepare for the night time photo shoot open to the public. This involved meeting at the museum on a Wednesday evening and laying out a plan of what cars to move and on which track. This was the most exciting and dangerous experience at the museum because I learned how to work as a brakeman/conductor for the locomotive. The first order that evening was to pull the Pennsylvania E8 locomotive east approximately 50 feet. This involved firing up the GE Twin Engine Switcher, pulling north, operating a switch, and shoving back to make the connection. Many other incredible railroad experiences occurred that night but what is more important to me is what I learned. As I said before, the museum is non-profit and doesn’t have the funds to purchase new tools so during the night time switching, we signaled each other through historic railroad lanterns. I learned what movements of the lantern signal the engineer to do different things and how to properly carry and operate a lantern (there is more to it than one thinks). I also learned how to properly throw a switch and how to connect and disconnect the knuckles of two pieces of railroad equipment. I cannot fully explain everything I learned at the museum but in a brief statement, it was overall a life-changing experience.

My goal through my volunteer service at the museum was to help a local community organization through something I enjoyed. When committing to volunteering I had no idea what tasks were ahead of me and all I knew was that I wanted to help my community and through this benefit myself. I feel I was very successful in this because I learned many different trades from welding to carpentry and this is something I would never have learned at home. Through this education I was able to benefit the museum which in turn benefits the community.

There were many difficulties volunteering at the museum. There were many days I was too tired to go or would think to myself that my services there are a lost cause. I overcame this difficulty by, despite my thoughts, going to the museum and thoroughly enjoying myself. Although I had second thoughts on going, something kept drawing me back. Secondly, working every weekend and every Wednesday in the hot sun was not necessarily enjoyable. I overcame this difficulty by taking breaks and remaining hydrated. There were many days I went home early because it was just too hot.

In conclusion, most of my experiences at the museum involved learning something new in each task. This would not have been possible without the advisory and patience of Tim, the main volunteer. I am not perfect and would make mistakes but he always found the patience to help me through and make sure I learned from everything I did. I can apply what I learned to other life situations by someday using the same skills of patience and advisory as well as the trades I learned from them in home improvement or other tasks related to these projects. For example, if someone is drilling through several layers of sheet metal and aren’t sure which size drill bit to use or how to properly operate the drill, I have the experience and knowledge to know how to do so. Overall, my time and energy placed into my volunteer services at the museum were well worth it because I know I made a difference in my community by making things look a little nicer.