Blog 7 - Second Interview Preparation

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 is Carol Reza and she owns an organization called bridge of faith. The organization raises money to help girls who have aged out of the foster care system.

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

1. Where did you go to school and what made you want to choose the degree program you did?

2. What is the most interesting experience you have had in the field and where were you when it happened?

3. Can you explain what you do exactly on a day to day basis, and how that contributes to helping foster youth?

4. What are some of your goals for the future and what goals have you accomplished in the past working with the foster system?

5. What made you want to help these girls?

Blog 6 - Advisory Prep

1. What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year?  What has made it a positive experience for you?  

Finding a mentor has worked out, it took a while but with some help I was able to find one. My research checks have been surprisingly easy too, there is a lot of information about animal and plant conservation. It has been a positive experience because all of my friends and teachers have been able to find some kind of way to help me with my project.

2. What are you finding difficult concerning senior project?  How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you?  How might the senior team help?

A lot of people don't reply to my messages or calls, which makes getting involved and finding interviews difficult. I can try my best to ask as many people as possible, but overall I can't do a lot about other people not replying. I also haven't found anywhere to volunteer, but that has to do with a lot of research. I will keep working at it and hopefully keep everything up to date as much as possible.

Blog 5 - Interview 1 Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?

Throughout the interview I learned valuable information such as the effects of invasive species and how the Department of Fish and Wildlife has treated this problem. Doug, my interviewee, explained the many procedures  they take to check boats and prevent these muscles from spreading further damage to the ecosystem. He also talked about why the muscles are extremely invasive, for example they eat the plankton and that ultimately hurts the local fish in each lake. 

My interviewee was kind of uncomfortable, but next time I can work on making the interview feel like an open environment. The interview was shorter than I had hoped due to the fact that he had to go, next time I will plan better time wise. I also didn't have as many questions as i thought, after the interview had ended I started to think of better questions which I have written down to ask. Overall, I could have done better, I was nervous because this was the first interview, but next time I will have more experience and hopefully it will be ten times better.

2. Did I get additional resources and contacts?  What is the most useful?  Why?

Yes i did get more contact information, Doug showed me where to look on the Department of Fish and Wildlife for volunteer opportunities. He also said he would keep in contact with me and let me know about a woman that works in Ontario to preserve the ecosystems.  I believe the research on CDFW was the most useful because he took the time to teach me exactly how the website works and pointed out the areas that were most helpful to contributing to my project.

3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me?

Doug has been doing internships with CDFW for a year now and has had a lot of experience in habitat preservation. He has also worked with many people that can hep me with my project and getting more information. He also goes to school at Calpoly Pomona for urban and regional planning which also plays a role in preserving ecosystems.

Link: https://soundcloud.com/kristen353/interview-1-doug

Blog 4 - House Advisory Prep 1

Through out the world, animals and plants have been disappearing from the planet and scientist all around the world have been trying to recover these species. In my senior project I plan to learn about endangered species and how society today is contributing to the decline in animal populations. In my project I want to also learn about the environmental impacts affecting endangered wildlife. I want to know what actions conservationist plan to take in order to bring back critically endangered species. I also plan to learn more about the impact these animals and plants have on the ecosystems they live in. Many of these species have been found to not only affect the ecosystems around them but also the ecosystems on the other side of the world. Lastly I plan to help in any way I can to reduce the risk of further endangerment.

Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  Why?

I plan to interview Steve Katnik from Rio Hondo College. He teaches environmental biology and I believe he is a good person to start with for my interviews.

2. What additional questions do you plan to ask?

I plan to ask:
- How did you discover you had a passion for endangered species?
-Where did you go to school and how was your experience?
-What has been the most interesting moments of your career?
-What is your worst experience in your field of work?

Blog 2 Summer Mentorship