Mountain Paradise Hay

Project Journey

To complete graduation requirements at BYU-Idaho, seniors studying communication must complete a capstone project.  The Winter 2026 senior capstone project challenged the students by pushing them outside of their comfort zone to understand what to expect while in the industry. This semester’s project was for a startup in Colorado, Mountain Paradise Hay.

I have heard about the capstone course and was excited to be challenged. To say I was challenged was an understatement, but it was worth every moment and feelings of stress. By the end of the semester, I worked with various creatives to position Mountain Paradise Hay as a premium timothy hay brand by using our agency’s big idea, “A Cut Above.”

I got “hired” as a Digital Content Specialist under the digital content team. My role as a specialist included researching competitor social channels, social posts, and small animal influencers. As an agency, we used this research to help us develop strong content pillars, engaging mock posts, and select potential influencers to collaborate with for partnerships.

After we completed our tasks, the agency reorganized its structure to allocate our strengths to struggling teams. The digital experience manager took me in to assist her team in applying brand designs to the wireframes the digital experience team developed.

As a new member of the digital experience team, I relied on my previous knowledge of website development, user experience, and user interface to apply these designs. Though my knowledge was minimal, my efforts to work towards completing my appointed tasks helped the digital experience team successfully design the wireframes to present to our client.

Word got around the agency that I had the capabilities to help in all departments of the agency. The agency directors trusted me to pick up the tasks that have not yet been completed. At this point into the project, time became the enemy because the deadline creeped closer every hour. With still tons to do, I willingly stepped up to complete tasks given to me.

One task appointed to me included creating branded merchandise mockups for PR packages, customer purchase and brand awareness. Having no experience in creating mockups, I researched how to create mockups and created over 20 mockups for various products with differernt color schemes.

When the capstone concluded, I reflected on the experience and celebrated with my fellow agency members. Many of the members felt burnt out. I realized that even with the amount of tasks completed, I felt amazing and energized. After the capstone concluded, team members complimented me on how I always had a positive outlook and managed my stress well.