Blog 24 | Last Presentation Reflection

1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

• Im proud of completing my senior project. Mostly because the stress is now gone and I can finally sleep at night. But I was also gald to have been able to pass on my research although it did not come out to what I had hoped for I was able to finish this year off with a bang.

2) Questions to Consider

What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation?  Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

• AP, why? Because I'm not optimistic to go for the AE. Mostly for the time and lack of creativity. Also I rushed my presentation a bit too much, I had so much to talk about yet I had to be nervous and rush what I had. I did not have my EQ posted in a creative way, so I believe I deserve an AP, although I did not show the required creative steps I did show information, useful, if not, then interesting information.

What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project? Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

• Overall, I would give myself an P, because I did a lot f research for my project, from Rosalilia Gradilla, to the staff at Uncommon Good. I was able to speak to a few other people at local mentorship programs as well and got my research based off them.

3) What worked for your senior project

• My mentorship. Access to mentor ship programs, and the helpful staff at Uncommon Good being able to provide me sources.

4)  (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project?

• What didnt work was the working bibliography, at one point I wasnt able to find anymore sources, If I were to change something to improve senior project, it would be my second independent component. I was unable to get my interview from the public speaker, I wish I was more persistent, and I wish I was able to keep my teachers updated on what was happening

5) How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.

• It helped me realize what was out there. In the way of a support system. Through my mentorship I found how helpful a Youth Mentorship program can be both educationally and socially. I plan to go back to Uncommon Good a create a future career based on them.

Blog 23 | Exit Interview Prep

What is your essential question, and what are your answers?  What is your best answer and why?

• How can youth mentor ship programs level the playing field for under represented students?
• Accessible
• Mentor ship programs, are either distant, unavailable to students who struggle financially or they do not exist to students in poor communities. Solving this issue helps mentoring programs level the playing field for the under represented.
• Mentoring
• Mentor ship programs provide mentors, these are important for the students, exposing them to college. This answer is to be worded differently,  this focuses on how mentoring relationships are beneficial to students socially and academically. A mentoring focused program is able to provide students with experience.
• Activities
• Many students, do not get mentors and do not get the opportunity for a head start in life, or college. Being able to have a mentor should be key. Mentor ship programs should provide other sets of "activities" that strengthen the students social and academic capabilities, like group based mentoring like the Hubs of I-Poly, or providing workshops, proving to be useful such as scholarship and college application workshops.
• Best Answer: Youth mentor ship programs can level the playing field for the under represented by being more accessible to students.

What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

• Having volunteered at Uncommon Good, I was able to see how accessible this place is. It is located in a safer non "ghetto" area, Claremont. This program is also a Non-Profit, meaning students aren't meant to pay a single penny for their mentoring/tutor sources.

What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

• Finding the essential question was one of my main problems, but once I was able to get a hold of this question I was able to find the key issues that my topic faces and how it can resolve them. Many of the issues that I found was that there aren't a lot of mentoring programs that can help every single student, another issue is that many under represented students don't have the motivation to get into a college finding a successful role model.

What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

• The most significant source for me was my 3rd interview and a journal/literature review called "Effectiveness of programs to improve post secondary education enrollment and success of underrepresented youth"