Blog #8

 For my senior project, I decided to dive deeper into one of my passions. I chose baking because it has become a huge part of my life and has allowed me to get my mind off when school or extracurricular activities have become stressful. Overall, I think that my project went quite well. Even though it was not exactly what I had expected, I have been able to take away many valuable lessons. Originally going into this project, I thought the project would be more focused on the baking aspect and learning different pastry techniques. However, the project became much more than just baking. I was able to learn a lot about marketing strategies and the business-related aspects of running a franchise. I have also been able to learn about customer service and customer satisfaction. I feel as though I was quite engaged because we were doing different things every day and meeting different people every day. Every time I walked into the bakery, I was excited as to what was to come of the day. One thing that I wish my project contained more of was being able to learn how different types of pastries. Although we were able to learn how to bake different flavors of bundt cakes, we did not get to experiment with new recipes as much as I would have liked. I think that Hawken could partner with Nothing Bundt Cakes by providing students with part-time jobs in the future as well as maybe a catering service every so often to share this treat with our community. My advice to the underclassmen is to not be afraid to try something new because they may never have the opportunity to do so in the future. I also advise that they truly try to connect and form a relationship with their mentors because it makes the entire experience that much more special and worthwhile. Additionally, I would advise that they try to find a mentor as soon as they have some idea of what they want to do so that they do not miss out on any opportunities. Lastly, do something you enjoy and are passionate about because this is an opportunity to further discover your interests and decide whether or not you may want to pursue them in the future. Overall, my biggest takeaway from this project is that communication is essential in any field of work and results in the most success. I wanted to thank Amber Hamilton, Jannette Looney, Dennis Looney, and the employees at Nothing Bundt Cakes South Euclid for giving us the opportunity to work with them and making our senior project an experience that I will never forget.

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