As our group has continued developing Play It Forward: The Sustainable Sportswear Drive, the research we’ve done behind the scenes has shaped our project far more than someone might realize from simply seeing our final donation bins or promotional posters. This phase forced us to slow down and think about the deeper issues our project interacts with like sustainability, youth access to sports, and the life cycle of athletic apparel. According to the Habits of Mind, this is part of building an Integrative Perspective, because we had to bring together ideas from different disciplines and experiences to understand why our project truly matters.
One of the biggest things my research helped me understand was the environmental side of sportswear. Even though our final project won’t show graphs or statistics, learning about how much clothing ends up getting thrown away each year made our mission feel more urgent. I learned about how quickly sports gear gets replaced, especially for growing kids, and how much of it could still be used by someone else. This changed how we designed our donation categories, because we realized we needed to include cleaning, repairing, and sorting steps to make sure the clothing gets the longest life possible. Even though that behind-the-scenes work won’t be visible to most people, it’s a direct result of the research we’ve done about sustainability.
Another area we researched was youth access to sports. I’ve always understood that gear can be expensive, but I didn’t realize how often families choose not to participate because of cost, not from lack of interest, but lack of resources. This causes kids to miss out on a very important part of life. This pushed us to frame our project not just as a “clothing drive,” but as something that supports equity in sports and helps kids feel confident and included. This research also helped us think about how sports fashion, like wearing a team jersey or the right shoes, can affect how kids see themselves and how included they feel on a team. This reflection connects to Purposeful Communication because it’s influencing the tone and message we use in our posters, outreach, and social media posts. We want people to understand that donating gear isn’t just about clearing out a closet. It’s about giving someone else the chance to belong and be themselves.
We also researched how community drives are organized and the practical steps behind making them successful. This included planning volunteer roles, identifying drop-off locations (like in the HUB), figuring out how often to collect items, and deciding what to do with heavily used items that still have potential. This part demanded Self-Regulated Learning, because we had to evaluate what we didn’t know, teach ourselves new strategies, and adapt our timeline to what was realistic. It also made us think creatively, like adding an upcycling and repair element, so that we weren’t just collecting gear, but improving it when we could.
This research also helped us understand how our individual majors contribute to the project. As an Exercise and Sport Physiology major, I focused on how sports participation impacts kids’ confidence, health, and well-being. Our Business major researched the best ways to reach donors, engage the community, and design effective marketing materials. Our Environmental Science and Policy major explored sustainability, waste reduction, and the environmental value of reusing clothing. Bringing these different research angles together helped us make decisions as a group and reflects exactly what the Habit of Mind Integrative Perspective asks us to practice. Overall, the background research we’ve done has shaped almost every part of Play It Forward, even though most of it won’t appear directly in the final drive itself. It has helped us communicate more clearly, plan more realistically, and understand the broader impact of what we’re doing. This blog post helped me realize how much work happens before a project becomes visible, and how important research is in creating a project that is meaningful, sustainable, and community-centered.
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