Monthly Blog Assignment December: Building Connections

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 my "job"/mentorship. 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.

Through my works at both the California Science Center and Planes of Fame, I've had the chance to meet up with some interesting people. Some of them were friendly with me, some of them were ***s to me, but all of them made my job a little less boring. Here are a few of the many people I've met over the past few months.

Michael Adams

Within the California Science Center, lies a room named the California Story. The California Story contains within it various artifacts from the Endeavor such as Food hydrate and heater, Fuel Cell, Tires, Toliet, an astronaut's personal belongings, and the Rocketdyne Operations Support Center. A staff member told me that the room is one of the least broing rooms out of the entire center and that I was lucky to be assigned there. We'll I think that is true for the first hour, but anything after that I just want to go home and leave already. But one guy I meet last week made me change my perception of it. Michael Adams, an engineer at the disbanded Rocketdyne Operation Support Center, was forced to go to the California Science Center by his wife. I was previously warned of his coming by a staff member, but I didn't notice him until he was over the railing and on the Rocketdyne exhibit answering questions. For me, it was interesting to finally meet someone who worked in one of the exhibits which gave it a more human feel . He confirmed some of my suspicions such as the artifacts being fakes (they weren't), but at the same time leaving with more questions (are the videos on the screens real?). Though I may never know, it at least made things a little more interesting for me every time I go back to that room.

Michael V. Ciminera, Former Vice President Northrop Grumman

The title pretty much says it all, Michael was the previous vice president of Northrop Grumman. I had previously mentioned that I met him on October during one of Planes of Fame's monthly events. Since then, I see him every now and then such as last November when I met him during our book fair event. We talk about some stuff such as various colleges that I should go to. His appearances aren't really announced, but looking forward to whenever he shows him makes things a little interesting.

Muriel P. Engelman, Army Nurse at the Battle of the Bulge

The Battle of the Bulge, one of the deadliest conflicts on the Western Front of the Second World War. It was during this conflict where Americans for once suffered a lot of casualties since the Battle for Monte Casino. Tending to the wounded was Muriel P. Engelman, one of several nurses who was located at an evacuation hospital which was later to change to a field hospital. During Planes of Fame's December monthly event, she talked about she spent the month hiding in trenches, avoiding "Buzz Bombs" / V-1 Bombs, tending to the wounded, and always worrying abouttu capture from a crippling Allied line. After her time speaking, I was able to aslk her for a picture. While I was waiting, she complained that she had a book that she signed with the wrong name and that she didn't know what to do with it. In a joking manner, I asked if I could take it. She said that its half price from $17 to $8.50. I told her that I only had $6 on me, and she grudgingly accepted. Until and even after I got my picture taken, she kept commenting that I better enjoy her book.

Picture of me with her and her book

Well with this I will end my monthly blog. Sometimes it is not the artifacts or the places, but the connections you make with people that can really make an experience memorable. Until next time, take care everyone.

- See You Later Space Cowboy - See You Later Space Cowboy

Monthly Blog Assignment November: My job

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 my "job"/mentorship. 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.

Some people ask me what do I do at an airplane museum. My usual response is that I clean airplanes, bombs. machine guns, and guns. Well it turns out that most of the bombs at Planes of Fame are shells ,disarmed, and hallowed out, the machine guns are all replicas, and the guns are all either demilled (permanently inoperable) or airsoft guns. With that the only things left that are authentic are the museum, the planes, the people, and well, anything that is not a bomb, machine gun, or gun.

Though I can easily go in-depth with the types of planes that are in the museum and how I clean them, today I am going to focus on the people I work with. The people I work with as a whole are pretty nice people. Most of them are veterans and are pretty chill talking to you about any topic (except their own personal lives). I can divide the people I work with into multiple categories: dosents, detailers, restorers, managers, veterans, visitors, special guests, senior citizens, youth, the owner, etc. Some of the people I work with fall under multiple categories, which means that they can fall under pretty unique subcategories. With that, lets continue on.

The Dosents - The Tourguides

Dosents are the most knowledgeable people in the museum, having to memorize the producer, famous flyers, service history, armament, speed, armor, development, range, and multiple aspects of a plane for multiple planes. Though they are the most knowledgeable, depending on what other categories they also fall under, they can be either extremely friendly or extremely ignorant.

The Detailers - The Cleaners

Detailers are pretty much the people whose job is to conserve a plane. Conserving can mean many things such as dusting, cleaning, polishing, etc. Detailers make sure that a plane doesn't get dirty and monitors a plane if it needs to be repaired.

The Restorers - WHERE ARE THE PARTS!!!

Restorers are pretty much the people who restore the planes and widely versed in the components of individual planes. Restorers have a wide range of tools to use at their disposal to fix a plane from riveters to belt grinders, but suffer from the lack of spare parts (due to some of their planes being one of a kind) or waiting for unique/museum/fabricated parts to fix a plane. Thus, what happens a restorer the most in restoring a plane is not the labor, time, or tools, but the parts for the plane.

The Managers - The Boss

The Managers are pretty much the people that run the whole show. Their job is to make sure that everyone is working at their best and communicates constantly with everyone. All volunteers agree that of all the people they work with, the managers are the ones that they respect the most.

The Veterans - The Original But Kickers

The Veterans are pretty much anybody who has prior military service. Veterans duties in the military vary from mechanics to pilots, to your average soldier to Navy SEALs. Most of the veterans are patriotic and aren't afraid to speak their mind. Talking about their military service with them can be very tricky as some have them have been mentally scarred during their service while others spent their days working and drinking.

The Visitor - Surprise

The Visitor is pretty much the bloodline of the entire museum. He or she can make the difference in a museum flourishing or failing. Visitors are pretty unique and come from a variety of backgrounds. Thus it is important to appeal them in anyway possible and help them make the most of their experience.

The Special Guests - Jack of the Various Trades

Special Guests are pretty much the people who give a museum new life when everything else has been overused. Special Guests, whether they be a veteran, a writer, or a businessman, give visitors a another reason to visit a museum. Though writers or businessmen are usually their to promote a product, they can be extremely friendly if you catch one by themselves and can go into pretty long discussions with them on various issues.

The Seniors - Whirlpool of emotions

Senior are pretty much anybody who is at or above the age of 50. Being the oldest, seniors are the wisest people of the entire place. Their wisdom comes from the various challenges and events that they faced in their youth and are firmly entrenched in what happened at the time. Their emotional state can vary depending on what they've been through, but overall, they're pretty friendly to talk to and shouldn't be dismissed.

The Youth - Physically strong, Mentally weak

Youth is pretty much anybody below the age of 50. Being the youth can come with its pros and cons. The first pro is that being young, the youth don't tire out as quickly as the seniors, meaning that they can do more work. Being small, the youth can also reach places of an aircraft that the seniors can't reach normally. The first con is that being young, the youth can be seen by the seniors as idiots. Not cleaning a plane properly, running into propellers which has the possibility of starting the plane (Planes of Fame suffered its first fatal fatlality/death because of this), tiring out easily if their below 13, etc.

The President - Not what you expect

The President is pretty much the guy that owns a huge portion of the museum. Though I have never met the man, you would be surprised to know that the owner is Steve Hinton, a famous air racer whose won various competitions from Unlimited to Reno. Though he's drastically different from the stereotypical image of a museum owner I have in my head, I guess that's what makes the place unique.

That is pretty much all the people I work with. With that,  I bid a farewell to all. Take care everyone.

EQ

1.

I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ.

2.

a.  What is the most important factor in healthy weight loss?

• Does NOT meet the Rule of Three.
• This EQ does not meet the Rule of Three because it did not meet three of the three requirements. The requirements not meet are framework, stance, and format. The reason I believe this is because of how healthy weight loss was defined. Healthy weight loss is very broad as it can defer greatly depending on what kind of weight loss method is used along with the kind of person that is losing weight. Because healthy weight loss is not defined (meaning that it is not formatted correctly), it won't allow for a proper framework for in-depth research. At the same time, because this EQ does not specify a kind of healthy weight loss, the author cannot take a stance.

 b.  What is most important to securing a conviction in a criminal investigation?

• Does NOT meet the Rule of Threes.
• This EQ does not meet the Rule of Three. Because it did not meet one of the three requirements. The requirement that was not meet is stance. The reason I believe this is because of the nature of the topic and the question. The EQ talks about the most important thing to secure a conviction during a criminal investigation. In reality, the only way to secure a conviction is to win the jury's or judge's mind through speaking, reasoning, and evidence. Because there is already a firmly established answer to the EQ, the author cannot take a stance.

 c.  What is most important in creating a hairstyle that best satisfies a customer?

• Does NOT meet the Rule of Three.
• This EQ does not meet the Rule of Three. Because it did not meet two of the three requirements. The requirements that were not meet are format and stance. The reason I believe this is because the question did not define who the customer is. Different people want different hairstyles and this EQ did not define who those customers are. Are they middle-aged woman, working males, etc.? Because the kind of customer was not defined, the EQ is not properly formatted. Because the EQ was not properly formatted and specific, the author cannot take a proper stance with the EQ.

 d.  How can an anesthesiologist best treat chronic pain?

• Does MEET the Rule of Three.
• This EQ does meet the Rule of Three. It has a proper framework because the author can research multiple topics and methods to discover the best treatment. The author can take a stance because the question format can allow the author to argue why his/her method is to treat chronic pain is the best method compared to other methods. The EQ has a proper format because it has no grammar mistakes and it defined a kind of pain.

3.

How can a museum volunteer effectively contribute to the experience of any type of visitor at a Aircraft and/or Science based museum?

Lesson 1 Reflection

1. Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your Lesson 1 Presentation and why?

What I am most proud of in my Lesson 1 Presentation was that I was able to immediately engage my audience and grab their attention with my introduction by dropping a book, taking off my jacket, and relating to them about a common experience (history boredom) without having to resort to a Q&A.

2. Questions to Consider

       a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 1 Presentation (self-assessment)?

AP+

       b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 1 component contract.

Though I believe that my presentation is worth a P+ for being able to cite most of my sources and my good audience engagement, I deserve an AP+ because I failed to turn in the Lesson Plan Rough Draft in time. According to the Lesson 1 component contract, failing to do any of the P consideration requirements on time results in the loss of eligibility for anything above an AP+. Even though I don’t qualify for a P or above, I believe that my presentation content that is above a P level would qualify me for an AP+.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 1?

• I was able to grab the audience’s attention immediately with my introduction.
• I positioned myself at the front of the classroom rather than the side.
• I was able to cite most of my sources.
• I was able to relate my research to my mentorship.
• I remembered to talk about my prop.

4.  (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 1?

• Try to stay more relaxed. Because of my nervousness, there were topics that I forgot to go in-depth with such as museum engagement and airplane artifacts.
•   Don’t over prepare. I over prepared and when I forgot to say something during the presentation, it affected by tone and thought process.
• Remember to turn in the rough draft lesson plan. This affected my confidence because I became extremely paranoid about trying to salvage as much of my grade as I can.
•  Better eye contact. Though eye contact was good at the beginning, toward the end I started staring at one corner of the room.
•  Talk about my visual examples. I could have gone more in depth with a couple of items.
• Simplify my content so that it’s more understandable to my audience.

Blog 8 - Research and Working EQ

1. My working EQ is “What is the best way I can maximize the enjoyment of a visitor at an aircraft based museum?”

2. A possible answer to my working EQ is “Staff must be able actively engage with visitors by utilizing both communication skills and knowledge of their job and artifacts.”

3. My important sources for a possible answer to my working EQ are my interviews with Thomas Gallucci who is an aircraft Detialer at Planes of Fame and Mayra Aparicao who is the Volunteer Manager at the California Science Center.

4. I’m doing my mentorship at both Planes of Fame in Chino, CA and the California Science Center in Los Angeles, CA.

Monthly Blog Assignment October: FIRST DAY AT PLANES OF FAME / Reflection Pictures

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 was about the Planes of Fame monthly event where I was able to meet Michael V. Ciminera, author of The Aircraft Designers A Grumman Historical Perspective which is one of my research check books. Once again, if you want a more descriptive paragraph about my mentorship duties, please refer to my Mentorship Log (9/20/14). Other than that, let's get started.

As I stated previously in blog #7, one of the things I planned on doing for Independent Component #1 was to take a design class to help me with my mentorship at Planes of Fame. My mother suggested to me that in correlation with my independent component  I should attend the Planes of Fame monthly event which would have Michael V. Ciminera as one the speakers. Michael V. Ciminera was the former Vice President of Northrop Grumman. He joined Northrop Grumman 50 years ago as a college apprentice and gained insight into aircraft design from famous airplane designers who were alive at the time. Michael helped design various Northrop Aircraft and was eventually in charge of several Northrop Grumman aircraft Fire Scout, UCAS and the X-47B. His book, The Aircraft Designers A Grumman Historical Perspective, details the background of various Norhtrop Grumman engineers, designers, founders, and aircraft since its start during the early 1900's.

On the day of the event, Michael V. Ciminera was the first speaker. He talked about the various sections of his book and the work and effort he put into it to represent the men and women who worked at Northrop Grumman. After the event, I was able to speak to Michael V. Ciminera about my senior project. He gave me his business card and to contact the number if I needed additional help. After he signed my copy of his book, I returned back to my work station and continued dusting airplanes.

Well with this I will end my monthly blog. It was a change of scene for me to meet one of the guys who may have designed or trained under the guys who designed the aircraft that I clean. Hearing Michael speak and also reading his book had also opened my eyes into how aircraft is designed and it how it incorporates multiple fields. Well with that I bid a far well. Until next time, take care everyone.

Michael during his presentation.

Michael signing my copy.

A picture of me and Michael.

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Approval

1. For Independent Component #1, I plan on taking an Introduction to Computer Aided Design (CAD) at Citrus College where I will learn how to render drawings in various dimensions on paper and on computer.

2. Aside the required mentorship log, I plan to show evidence of my work by submitting both evidence of work I have done in my CAD class, along with a step by step guide in which I rendered a drawing. I will also provide a transcript from Citrus College to prove that I actually took the class and got a grade for it.

3. Through both my mentorship at Planes of Fame and the California Science Center along with the Research Check, my senior topic is narrowing down from museums in general to airplane museums. Based upon my research, aircraft museums are unique in that the museum workers (mainly the Restoration Team) consult various manuals and blueprints to keep their aircraft maintained or else the aircraft will break apart and rust. As the Restoration Team at Planes of Fame relies heavily on blueprints, I believe that with my knowledge from this class, I will be able to transfer their blueprints onto a computer so as to make it easier and more accessible to the team.  My second reason for taking the class is that by learning the process in which aircraft are designed, it would allow me to get a better understanding as to why airplanes in the museum are designed in a certain way.

4. Updated.