An Enjoyable Experience
I did not mind working in a group, however, I preferred to work alone. It was much simpler that way since I would know what I had to do and was not to be held accountable for anyone else’s responsibilities. At the beginning of this project, I felt as if I was thrown into a group with random people who I was only working with because we all put down Coney Island as our primary choice. Leo, Dalya, and Kate. I heard their names before, but never really spoke to any of them. When we first addressed the project, it seemed impossible. Who was going to do what? Initially, no one could come up with how to divide the work because everyone had different ideas of where to take the assignment. It was a mess until the last few weeks.
Initially, all we knew was that we wanted to preserve the sentimental value of Coney Island; we wanted to make sure it remained a place where families could come and relax. However, we knew no one would invest in keeping the amusement park open, so we investigated the idea of building a casino since it seemed the most probable way to increase economic productivity. There was a contradiction here. How could we build a casino and still preserve sentimental value? We went back and forth until the words of the people we spoke to in Coney Island set our minds in one direction (instead of four).
People’s reponses were almost unanimous. We had to not only keep the amusement park, but extend it. Our only problem left was to fugure out how to make it a year round establishment that brought in the money. After several suggestions we all agreed upon a multiplex cinema with surrounding restaurants. Once this was established, the rest came easy. Everyone expressed an interest in an aspect crucial to the formation of the new Coney Island. Kate, for instance, agreed to investigate safety of both the rides in the park and the neighborhood. I jumped at the idea of building a model and Leo and Dalya both took on finances and video work.
We all went about doing our own research, but constantly kept in touch through e-mail, text, and phone calls. Whether it was help that I needed with Photoshop or a website concerning issues of park safety in Coney Island we all helped each other by sending one another information. Even the video soon came to be the product of each of our opinions. Meeting together helped smooth transitions from one topic to another. Each of us soon became an expert on the other’s research.
I am extremely proud of our accomplishments and was surprised when I began missing the times all of us stayed up till 3am in Leo’s room adding finishing touches to the presentation. All we needed was a direction, and once we found it, we were set.
-Sapna Kishnani