Blog 12: Holiday Project Update

1.)It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school. What did you do over break with your senior project?
-Over break I decided to work on my first Independent Component, which is to work out my brother. My brother is just starting out and he's younger, so I needed to make sure that the exercises were right for him as well as the food he ate. Along with this I did research on the proper form for certain workouts that I had issues with and looked up more healthy meals to make.

2.)What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why? What was the source of what you learned?
-The most important thing I learned is that you really need to know the individual your working out, such as eating habits that could be affecting the process, as well as any other unhealthy habits.
-The source of what I learned came from just trying to walk my brother through the workout process, explaining the workouts, how often we would have to work out, what he could eat, what he couldn't, and how much he could take. I realized that I had to really pay attention to him and his habits to know what we had to change for him to get the most out of the experience.

3.)Your third interview will be a 10 question interview related to possible answers for your EQ . Who do you plan to talk to and why?
-I plan to interview my mentor or one of his workout buddies.

Blog 11-Lesson 1 Reflection

1.)What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?
-That I was able to meet some of the requirements such as talking about the EQ, interview, sources, etc.
2.)What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explained why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.
-An AP because there was a lot of awkward pauses in my lesson and also because of the lack of quality in the information I was saying, it could've been better. When I cited my sources it was very disorganized and confusing, so I could've eased my way into my sources better.

3.)If you could go back, what would you change about your lesson? How can you use than knowledge to give a better lesson 2?
-I would put much more information and explain more on it, because I bluntly stated things but did a poor job of going in depth about them. For my second lesson I can do more research and have better, more descriptive information on what I'll be talking about.

Blog 10-Interview 2 Reflection

Interview 2
1.)Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (is it a workplace or somewhere else? Are you shadowing?Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic? If so, what? Are there other people who are experts in the location?
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2.)How did you find your mentor? How did you convince this person to help you?
-My mentor is Justin Arceo and he is actually a friend of my sisters' so I simply asked him if he would be willing to mentor me and he said yes.

3.)How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship? How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship with this person?
-I am very comfortable with my mentor especially after the second interview where we asked questions to get to know them

4.)What went well in this interview? Why do you think so? What do you still need to improve? How do you know? How will you go about it?
-What went well was that I actually got to know my mentor and I got more comfortable with him. I think this was a very good thing because it means that we will be able to work out together more comfortably. I still need to set up a workout schedule with my mentor to make sure I get my hours done as well as learn in an effective manner. I will go about this by talking to him and finding days that work for both of us, but currently only weekends work for him.

Blog 9-House Advisory Prep 3

Please copy these questions and answer them in your blog. Don't forget an image to promote interest.

1.) State whether or not you have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person (I have completed the interview, I have scheduled the interview, I have not scheduled the interview.)
-I do have a mentor, his name is Justin Arceo, and this past weekend we completed the interview. This interview allowed us to have a more comfortable conversation because it was mostly about information about my mentor.

2.)At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic. Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons.
-What types of exercises, diets, health habits, etc. that works best for my person. The goal of this is to lose weight and tone up.
-Focusing on cardio, diets, and weightlifting.

3.)What kind of sources do you thing will help you in the next month to gain more research depth? Where will you go to get them?
-I believe that talking to people that are fit will be the best source I have in regards to my research. Obviously its different watching videos or reading about workouts, form, diets and actually listening to someone's own personal account of that information, what works for them, what doesn't. This will provide a different perspective about fitness.

4.)Write down a possible EQ. Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers. At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.
-What is the most effective way for an individual to improve their fitness (body weight, muscle gain, toning, etc.)

Blog 8-Independent Component 1 Proposal

What is it?
Independent Component 1 is an opportunity for you to add a dimension of creativity and/or an additional outlet for research. The goal of the component is for you to explore your topic in depth more with this component. On February 6, 2015 you will be turning in the following to your blog to prove completion of this component:

-Section documenting hours for Independent Component 1 in Senior Project Hours link (this should be documented regularly and can be spot checked throughout the year.)

-Evidence of the 30 hours of work (e.g. transcript, essays, tests, art work, photographs) as digital artifacts.
-Blog reflecting on work completed


 To get your idea approved now, please answer the following questions:
1.)Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.
-I plan to take a human anatomy class or a nutrition class to complete my 30 hours for the Independent Component.

2.)Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.
-I will have my teacher sign a paper that lists my hours as evidence.

3.)Explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic more in depth.
-By taking a human anatomy class I will better understand what part of the body a certain exercise is working out.

4.)Update your Senior Project Hours log.

To be approved, your proposal should be supported with details and examples for the senior team to understand what you plan to do.

Next Steps: Once we review your blog post, your house teacher will discuss with you the approval of your plan either face-to-face or as a comment on this post. If your idea is approved, please start working on it. If it is not approved, your house teacher will explain why. It is your job to follow up with your teacher.

Blog 7-Second Interview Preparation

The purpose of the second interview is to justify your mentor as an expert in the field. You will be asking them at least 5 questions about their background and/or the background of the organization or company where they work.

1.)Who is your mentor and where do they work? If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert?
-My mentor's name is Justin Arceo, his work place does not reflect his expertise. However, his Senior project dealt with fitness, he's been working out and learning about nutrition since then. My mentor has also helped several people reach their fitness goals, whether it's to lose weight, gain muscle, or tone up.

2.)What five questions will you ask them about their background?

-How do you spend your time?

-Do/did you have a mentor if yes, how did they influence you? If no, have you been a mentor to other people, how did that go?

-I know your familiar with Senior project, looking back now would you change anything? Such as your approach, possibly your topic, EQ, etc

-If you were me how would you approach this project?

-How do you think I could enrich my project, whether its through the EQ, Independent Components, Lesson Plans, etc.

The interview is due 10/31 by 8 am in numbered Q&A format to turnitin.com. Additionally, a reflection of the experience as well as a 5 minute audio/video clip should be posted on the blog by that time.

Blog 6-Advisory House Prep

We'll have a house discussion in place of research check this Friday to check in on how things are going.Please copy these questions and answer them in your own blog. Don't forget an image to promote interest.

1.)What worked well for you concerning senior project this year? What has made it a positive experience for you?
-What's worked well so far is being able to keep track of what I'm eating and actually committing to the exercise plan we worked out before starting the P90X. Whats made it a positive experience is genuinely feeling more energetic because of the exercises I do and the food I eat. I'm super excited to see the more notable difference from myself now and later when the projects all done.

2.)What are you finding concerning senior project? How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you? How might the senior team help?
-I'm finding that need to get stricter with my diet and amp up the exercises if I really want to see results. As of right now I'm keeping a food and exercise log, which are helping me, but I need to have a specific meal plan and exercise plan if I want solid results.

Blog 5-Interview 1 Reflection

Please copy these questions and answer them in your blog. Attach a link to your video or sound file. As usual you'll want an appropriate image to lead this.

Audio:
Interview 1
Interview 1 Extra Stuff

1.)What is the most important thing I learned from the interview? Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?
-I learned several things from this interview, one of them was that I should  try to find the workout/diet that best works for me. This was helpful because I was extremely nervous about having to lift crazy amounts of weight but my mentor told me that I would do workouts that best suited my person so as to not overwhelm myself.  Justin also explained to me about supplements that are taken to help an individual reach their fitness goal. He said that I wouldn't need any right now because I'm just doing exercises to prepare my body for the P90x and gym. But nonetheless he explained about the different types of supplements and the best time to take them.
-I realized later on that running through a practice interview would have been better so that he could  relax and prep a bit. He provided amazing information but he seemed more comfortable after we talked about the project without audio recording anything, the conversation had a more natural flow. Talking about the project without audio recording also allowed us to get more familiarized with each other which also made things run a bit smoother.

2.)Did I get additional resources and contacts? What is the most useful? Why?
-Justin didn't provide contacts, but he did give me several websites to look into, such as bodybuilding.com, darebee.com, and he also provided a couple of apps such as Freeletics and Loseit.
-All of the sources  he provided have been extremely helpful in helping me find workouts, good eating habits, and helping calculate macros and such.

3.)What makes my interviewee qualified to help me?
-Justin has been a certified fitness instructor for about 2 years now and in that time has helped several people reach their fitness goals.

Blog 4-House Advisory Prep 1

Write a short explanation of what you are hoping to accomplish through your senior project topic. You will be sharing out on what you've written here with your house advisory and classmates on Friday, 9/11. Don't forget to start off with an interesting visual.

I'm still deciding between two topics so I'm going to write about both.

Criminal Investigation:I hope to gain a better understanding of criminal investigation, not only what they do, but what other people they work with, how they manage to get witness accounts of a crime, how they track people down, the precautions taken to preserve evidence, and so on. I also want to see if this is a possible career in the future.


Fitness: I want to find the best workouts and diet for my person to be able to reach my fitness goal. This project is obviously a big part in senior year, and I'll be able to dedicate all that time too improving my health and fitness.

Blog 3- First Interview Preparation

1.) Who do you plan to interview? Why?
-I plan to interview my mentor, Justin Arceo, because I believe that he has the proper experience to help me better understand how to properly start working out, what types of healthy foods to eat, when to rest, etc.

2.) Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask. What additional questions do you plan to ask?
Ask-open ended questions.

Assigned Questions
1.)I'm interested in studying Fitness. What can you tell me about it?
2.)From your perspective, what could I study that would be significant to other people?
3.)Who else would you recommend I talk to?
4.)What kinds of places or activities do you recommend for the mentorship component?
5.)What materials should I read in this field? Who else can I interview?

Additional Questions:
1.)How did you become interested in becoming a fitness instructor?
2.)Whats your favorite part of being an instructor?
3.)What was your biggest challenge starting out?
4.)How do you recommend I start my training? (Exercises, healthy eating habits, protein shakes?)

Blog 2-Summer Mentorship

1.)Contact Name:Justin Arceo
Phone Number:
Organization: 24 Hour Fitness

2.)What qualified this person as an expert in your topic choice?
-

3.)List three questions for further exploration now that you've completed your summer hours.
-What is the best way for a beginner to start working out?
-About how much time should one dedicate to the different forms of exercise, such as cardio

4.)What is the most important thing you gained from this experience?Why?
-I changed my topic from Criminal Investigation to Fitness this week, so I don't have summer hours for Fitness, however I do for Criminal Investigation.
-The most important thing I gained from the Criminal Investigation class was a truly brutal look into the field. Before taking the class I was really excited about learning about Criminal Investigation because of all the work they did to help a deceased person's loved ones rest knowing that the murderer had been brought to justice. However, this class made me realize that there was so much more to it, I somewhat overlooked the key elements in the job, and I wasn't really prepared for some of the things we watched and discussed in the class. However, I spent about 130 hours in total learning about criminal investigation and after a while I became used to the material we were exposed to. I would say another important thing I learned was to not get emotionally involved in the case because it makes it much harder to deal with.

5.)What is your senior project topic going to be? How did mentorship help you make your decision? Please explain.
-My senior project topic is going to be on Fitness and Dieting
-I did not do summer mentorship on Fitness, but last week when we started school I realized that Criminal Investigation wasn't the way for me to go, so I decided on Fitness. I've been wanting to work out for a while now, but because of my schedule I was unable to, but now I'll be able to dedicate alot of time to it through this project.=)

Blog 1:Senior Final Lesson/Interview Reflection

1.)What three lessons were most helpful for you to see and why?

-The lessons that were most helpful for me to watch were Teaching Preschool(Alexis Crisanto), Business(Gretel Mejia), and Counseling (Camille Erskine.)

-The reason these were most helpful for me to watch was because all three presenters seemed to have their things organized so that it was easy for the audience to follow along. I really liked how each presenter clearly presented their, mentorship, foundation, EQ and answers. This clarity allowed me to engage more in the presentation, and truly take something away from it. The presenters activities were engaging and relevant to their topic, which made the presentation even more memorable. This also helped me understand what I should be prepared to research, plan, and present.

2.)List one thing that you learned about the senior project in interviews that will help you get off to a good start?

-I interviewed about 5 or 6 seniors and I asked them about their topics, how they went about getting their mentors, and the most challenging thing about the project. One of the girls I interviewed did her topic on psychology, which is the topic I’m leaning toward, so that was extremely lucky=D. I asked her questions about her project and she actually helped me find possible mentors, and explained to me what I should expect senior year. The other seniors also told me about other senior presentations that dealt with psychology (or branches of it) and what they thought was interesting and what could have been improved, so I took some tips from them as well.

3.)What topic(s) are you considering, and why?

-I am considering Psychology, Criminal Investigation, or Boxing

-I am considering  Psychology because I’ve researched it and I find it to be a very interesting field. I've also taken some psychology classes and it is a field that I see myself working in, and I hope to gain more knowledge on this topic through my senior project.

-I am considering criminal investigation because I've read a lot about it as well and seen real life stories of criminal investigators and I hope that this project will help me decide if I want to pursue it or not.

-I don't consider boxing a career option because I don’t feel it’s a realistic career option , I hope to gain more of a physical benefit by doing this topic rather than an educational one.

4.)What EQ do  you think might be interesting to consider in guiding a project like this? (Please don’t worry about any sort of formula...we want this question to come from your genuine interest.)

Psychology:

-What is the best way to approach a patient that is unwilling to open up about any issues they might be having?

-What is the most effective method to treat a patient suffering from bipolar disorder , schizophrenia, split personality, etc.(just one though...I'm just throwing different disorders out there)

Criminology or Criminal Investigation:

-What is the best way for a criminal investigator to solve a case?

-this EQ isn't very descriptive=( but I'll build up on it=D

Boxing:

-What is the best way for a boxer to enhance their speed,strength, and overall fitness to better their chances of winning a match?

5.)What are some ideas you have about finding summer mentorship?

Psychology:

-Asking our school psychologist if she might be able to be my mentor,if she is unable to she might have some colleagues that would be willing to mentor me.

Criminology/Criminal Investigation:

-I talked to Mrs.Ortega about Mentorship and she recommend I go to an ROP class around my area,so I might be able to find a mentor there.

Boxing:

-I've heard that Pomona has good boxing/workout gyms, and I might be able to find a few mentor options at these places.

-Psychologists.They get you.