Monthly Blog Assignment May: I'm Done.

Finished Presentation. Waited 4 years or so for this moment. I'm done. It was fun while it lasted and I met many amazing people through it all. Here's some pics from my mentorship and presentation. The Presentation went better than I expected. Talked about some my sources and talked about their credentials and was able to talk to people about valuing history. Some things could have been improved upon, but for the most part, I'm happy and proud of what I have done so far.

Classroom setup the day before.

Panic on the way to school

Just finished...

Tanks for everything.

- See You Space Cowboy.

Blog 23: Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

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

What I was most proud about my block presentation was that I was to teach people not to undervalue history and that I was able to cite most of my sources along with their credentials. I was most proud about my senior project was that through working at my mentorships I was able to meet people from a variety of different backgrounds, gaining insight into their lives.

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?

P+

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

AE-

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

What worked for my senior project was that I was able to find two mentorships to do my senior project on (California Science Center and Planes of Fame Air Museum) and they were good enough that I was able to test and conduct various findings and theories I had in my project.

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

If I were to go back in time, I would remember to fix my mistakes I had in my various presentations, turn in my lesson plan for my Presentation 1 on time, and conducted more research during research analysis.

(5) Finding Value

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

My senior project was helpful because it taught me NOT to pursue a career as an Aerospace engineer. I realized through doing my mentorship and meeting people, such as Rockwell engineer Michael Adams, who worked in that field is that you can easily lose your job if the time in which you work does not favor the industry. My mentorship has also taught me the value of keeping history alive. In our society in which we value history less and less, the history we have with us will fall with it. As such, through doing something like what I do in my mentorship, it allows us to preserve what history we have left that we may lose in the next couple of years.

Blog 22: Mentorship

Literal

Blog Has Been Updated

California Science Center

Address: 700 Exposition Park Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90037

Phone: (323) 724-3623

Planes of Fame Air Museum

Address: Chino Airport, 7000 Merrill Ave #17, Chino, CA 91710

Phone: (909) 597-3722

Interpretive

     What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

The most important thing that I gained from my mentorships at Planes of Fame Air Museum and the California Science Center was the inspiration and theorization for my Senior Topic, EQ, and answers, based on my observations.

Applied

     How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ?  Please explain.

At Planes of Fame Air Museum, I volunteer as an Aircraft Detailer. At California Science Center, I volunteer in the Guest Services Department. Working two different jobs at two different mentorships has allowed me to analyze certain characteristics about the similarities and differences of two museums and the contributing factors to the museum experience. For example, while working at Guest Services Department at California Science Center has taught me the importance of communication and knowledge in the museum environment which led to my first answer. This relates to my own experiences at museums in which I got a better experience when I learned about something from a staff member. The opposite holds true when I got a bad experience when a person fails to communicate what I want. Another example is that in Planes of Fame Air Museum, I learned the importance of volunteer skills. Most of the planes preserved, conserved, or restored by Planes of Fame were done through volunteer labor and visitors are amazed at how much work had been done over the years. By working on the maintenance of some of these planes was what led up to my third answer. My second answer is on a management model that is based on the mission/goals of a museum. This answer was developed by analyzing the management approaches of both museums to dealing with visitor-related scenarios that affected their experience and how their approaches to those scenarios only worked in their respective museums.

Exit Interview

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

My essential question is "What is the best way to maximize a visitors' experience at an aircraft or science museum?"

My Answer 1 is "You must be able to effectively balance between communication and knowledge so as to speak with confidence and helpfulness when confronting a guest."

My Answer 2 is "An effective management structure based around the museum's goals/mission must be in place to deal with any situations."

My Answer 3 is "A volunteer program that allows its volunteers to utilize their individual skills."

My best answer is Answer 1. The reason being is that a museum is considered to be a house, source, and provider of knowledge. If a museum's staff are not capable of delivering information to a guest and accomplishing a museum's most necessary function, then a museum becomes nothing more than a place full of pointless artifacts and lost its purpose.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

The process I took to arriving at this answer was to first establish what my three answers are, then to prioritize the answers based on its necessity and practicality in a museum. I concluded that no matter how good a management program is or how much skills a volunteer has, it means nothing if they don't know anything about the environment in which they work in and the type of people they encounter.

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

A problem that I faced with my Senior Project was my lack of knowledge on certain topics. Whenever I work at the California Science Center and Planes of Fame, there arises certain situations in which I wasn't able to answer a visitor's questions because I did not know it such as the features of a plane I was cleaning. To resolve these issues, I take note of what I do not know now and spend time outside of working reading articles that focus primarily on topic. I read topic characteristics such as reading a communications article to better approach people or to read a NASA article to inform guests about the space shuttle program. If a similar situation were to arise, then I am now better prepared.

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

My most significant sources are my mentorships at the Planes of Fame Air Museum and the California Science Center. Working at these museums have allowed me to come with up answers, based on similar scenarios I encountered between the two, which would be later confirmed by reading articles published by various museums, institutions, directors, and managers.

Monthly Blog Assignment April: The Big Red One is Coming

 Hello, everyone. Benny here. Similar to my previous monthly posts, I'll be going over my initial thoughts and observations from whatever specific events(s) I came across. This month's post is pretty much about a question that I usually ask people to define. Once again, if you want a more descriptive paragraph about my mentorship duties, please refer to my Mentorship Log. Other than that, let's get started.

Well in a couple of days, Planes of Fame Air Museum is going to have its annual airshow. 30,000 guests estimate, millions of dollars of planes, history living in front of you, one of a kind planes taking flight, and I'm somewhere in the middle of it all.

Am I nervous? Maybe. But I'm pretty excited to get to see dozens of historical planes all fly up at the exact same time. Heck yeah. Museums are fine and all I've seen many of them, but when a museum does something as grand as this, the things you can find are incredible and in the moments you experience, you know that this Planes of Fame is no ordinary museum. Plus, I get to see some of the planes I worked on fly.

Got my volunteer shirt. Need some sunblock and a fully charged phone.

Enough blogging. Let's do this.

LEEROY JENKINS!!!

Independent Component 2

LITERAL
(a) Include this statement: “I, Benedict Paz, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 31 hours of work.”

I, Benedict Paz, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 31 hours and 50 minutes of work.

(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component.

My fellow volunteers for giving me the idea and encouragement to do this project.
The Endeavor Volunteers for helping work on the project.
Mrs. Stephanie for allowing me to do the project.

(c) Update your Independent Component 2 Log (which should be under your Senior Project Hours link)

It has been updated.

(d) Explain what you completed.    

This project is still ongoing, but the project was to help the experience of other volunteers and to gain some insight into their thoughts. The idea of this project was to help create an answer to my EQ. The work that I have done has led me to my Answer 3, A volunteer program that allows its volunteers to utilize their individual skills. This was formed from my experiences talking with my fellow volunteers. Though they come from all walks of life, their variety of reasons for volunteering at the California Science Center and what differentiates them from a paid employee has a notable effect on the experience of a visitor. Currently, I am working on a project to acquire information for tablets allocated for the Endeavor Volunteers at the request of both Mrs. Stephanie and the Endeavor Volunteers. Doing this is a way of helping the volunteers at the Endeavor exhibit who feel that they aren't able to utilize the resources allocated to them by the museum to help the visitors.

INTERPRETIVE 
Defend your work and explain the component's significance and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work. 

Some of my work, such as the notes I took with fellow volunteers and my initial research have already been submitted and I no longer have access to them. Here are some of the pictures I was able to take:

Notes I took of the various sites I researched

Notes I took of the various sites I researched

A volunteer party organized by Mrs. Mayra (shown above) was one of many opportunities I had to talk to volunteers.

One of the apps requested by the Endeavor volunteers to be put into the tablets.

APPLIED
How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped. 
Independent Component 2 helped reaffirm my thoughts I had about my Finding 3,. By using my temporary freedom from my normal duties, I was able to make connections with volunteers outside my work zone and to gain some thoughts and insight as to why they choose to work at their respective zones and why they are happy to work. This goes with the idea, that by allowing a volunteer to work where their skills are best suited, it would give them more incentive to work which in turn, benefits the visitors' experience.

Monthly Blog Assignment March: The Mental Museum

Hello, everyone. Benny here. Similar to my previous monthly posts, I'll be going over my initial thoughts and observations from whatever specific events(s) I came across. This month's post is pretty much about a question that I usually ask people to define. Once again, if you want a more descriptive paragraph about my mentorship duties, please refer to my Mentorship Log. Other than that, let's get started.

The idea of the museum is often associated with a physical place that echoes of the memories behind it, but what if that museum is not a physical place, but a person. A couple of days ago, the idea of the museum was challenged when we had three guest speakers at Planes of Fame during living history month in honor of Women’s History Month. Mary, one of our volunteers at the gift shop, who talked about how she built airplanes in England during the Blitz. Elinor Otto a “Rossie the riveter” who worked at Boeing for 49.5 years and was forced to retire from Boeing a couple months ago at age 95. Iris Cummings Critchell, one of the members of the original 99 club, an Olympic  swimmer at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games, and a civilian ferry pilot for the Army Air Corps.

All three of them spoke about their lives with such detail that shocked me when compared to the various male speakers who were much younger in comparison. After the talk, I was able to talk to Iris, about her experiences. I was previously told that she competed in the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, Nazi Germany. When analyzed from the present, the 1936 Summer Olympics is known primarily for two things Jesse Owens and Nazis, along with various other famous Olympic events. During the Q&A after the talk, I noticed that the audience would ask Iris if she witnessed famous Olympic events, which greatly annoyed her as the audience forget the fact that:

A: SHE COMPETED IN THE OLYMPICS!!! WHY ARE YOU ASKING HER ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE!!! ASK ME!!!

B: Some of these events were impossible for her to have witnessed given the situation she was in.

Rather than do what the audience did, I just asked her what it was like to compete in the Olympics. When I asked her that her response was completely different from when she talked to the audience. Her mood changed rapidly, reminiscing about all the great moments he she had with her fellow Americans and female athletes from other nations, talking about how her father worked on the 1896 reincarnation of the Olympic Games and how that, along with seeing the 1932 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles inspired her to train for the Olympics, entering the stadium and seeing the thousands amongst the crowd. She had a sparkle in her eye, a different one from the one during the talk. Her eyes looked like she was once again taking part in an event that happened decades ago right in the present and telling me what she sees through those eyes. When I look back, I think about how not even a physical museum can house the various life experiences she had. And when I consider the experience I had with her and the many others I had with other people, maybe a museum is not just a physical place, but a mental one as well.  Though I may not have access to her museum, I at least took away with me a part of it.

Well that’s the end of my blog here. Enjoy my little reflection and enjoy the rest of Women’s History Month. Until next time, take care everyone.

- See You Space Cowboy...

Mary

Elinor Otto

Iris Cummings Critchell