Melody Pickens

For my Capstone project, I am hoping to work with the Animal Welfare Society of Jefferson County developing a social media campaign for their Facebook page. For this project, I am looking at two research sources, one from ASPCA and the other from the No Kill Advocacy Center . The ASPCA article outlines approximately how many pets pass through-and remain- in humane societies and adoption centers annually in the US. It also goes into detail about how many people have pets within their household and the approximate surrender rate. The article from the No Kill Advocacy Center goes into detail about percentage of cats and dogs that get euthanized in the United States, with the vast majority of them having a good quality of life remaining. This source also contains helpful statistics on pets and the care that their adopters provide for them. From these sources, I have learned that there is a significantly larger number of animals being euthanized needlessly within the US. I also learned t...

My time at Shepherd is nearing its end, and now it is time for me to start thinking about my final project, my Capstone. While I've been here, I've grown, developed, learned, and loved more than I ever have before. One thing that changed my life for the better was finding my rescue kitten, Phoebe. She's the absolute sweetest cat, and has helped me develop responsibilities and learning to put her needs above my own. Having adopted a kitten, and realizing the amount of responsibility it takes to take care of an animal. I love being a pet owner so much, that for my Capstone I want to help people begin their journey of becoming a new owner. I've spoken with the Animal Welfare Society of Jefferson County , and they have agreed to let me work with them for my project. I'm meeting with them this week to discover their needs, but I'm hoping to help them develop a social media campaign that will strengthen their presence in Jefferson County and the surrounding areas, ...