Before starting any project, you need to do research and make sure that the project you have in mind is something wanted by the community, and the best way to do that is to talk with those people themselves! Plus, you’ll get to practice all of your professional communication skills and small talk you’ve learned in this module.

Pre-Interview: 15 minutes

• Today’s mission is to dive into your communities and passions by talking to real people in those communities. You need to find out the needs, strengths, and important issues of the community.
• Reach out to 3 stakeholders from at least 2 different communities for an interview in the next 2 weeks. Don’t give up if they don’t respond right away!
• Pick 5 questions from the list provided to ask in your interview. These questions can cover environmental, social, or economic topics. Of course, feel free to ask other questions as well to learn more about the community from their perspective!

Remember, you are a student of Project Wonder, a program tailored for high school students to explore social entrepreneurship, foster community involvement, and create a project that services a community’s needs. You are doing research to figure out what needs your community has so that you can start to brainstorm a small socially conscious project idea.

Interview

• Have your interview over the phone, video call, or in person. Take notes during the chat or ask if you can record it (with permission, of course!).

Post Interview

• After your interviews, take the time to write a thank you note for your interviewees. This thank you note should express at least 2 specific details you were grateful for during your meeting.
• Create a mind map using the template to organize what you learned. If you talked to 3 people from 3 communities, you’ll need a second mind map.
• Upload the mind map and your reflection to the path.
  • What surprised you about your community? Why?
  • What interested you about your community that you would like to explore more?
  • Now, let’s brainstorm some community project ideas. Pick 2 ideas from your mind map that tackle a community need and explain why each idea catches your interest.

To continue, return to the Module 2 Opportunity Card.