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.