Reflections on my Mentorship

Describe the most memorable experience you have had this semester in regards to the Honors Mentorship Program?
The most memorable thing that has happened at my mentorship is probably when a Golden Retriever came in and both the owners and vet thought the dog had just swallowed an unknown object. Little did they know that the dog had gotten into rat poison; in the middle of trying to put an oxygen tube down the dogs throat they saw that there was so much blood in the trachea that they had to perform an emergency surgery. Chances were not in the dogs favor because the dog had too much blood in his lungs to live and he could no longer breathe. I saw how sad and stressed everyone was over the sudden death of the dog and it made me remember it so clearly. It also helped me realize in this field accidents can happen and sometimes you can only do so much to fix/help the animal.
What has been the biggest lesson learned during your first semester of your mentorship experience?
The biggest lesson I have learned through my mentorship is time management and how more involved I should probably be while i'm at my mentorship. I say this because my mentor is constantly asking questions, and although most of the time these questions don't interest me, I should engage more because I could actually learn something important.

How will you use this experience in the future? How has this experience changed your view of learning?
I will use this experience in the future by always engaging in coversation with peers and/or workers even if I'm not interested in the topic of conversation. Since my mentor knows just about everything he's made me see different sides and point of views for every subject imaginable; even when I think i'm right over a topic he can lead me to thinking I am completely wrong, and sometimes it makes me believe im not smart.

How has it changed your view of the career area in which you are mentoring?
Seeing how much work and dedication it takes to open an animal hospital, I realize how hard it is working with animals than I thought. Although dogs are not the same as dolphins or other sea animals, both still take a lot of time and care. I know going into the marine science field that I will have much work and time ahead of me.

Narrowing of the Final Project

I need and want to know this: (what is driving your research?)

What is your current essential question (has it changed from when you wrote it earlier in the school year? If it is the same, use that question for this portion of you proposal).

Other than the required website, what other tools do you envision to best show case your project (#4)?

What will you do for your "real inquiry" (see above #5)?

1.  The love and interest I have for marine life is the drive for finding rsearch towards my essential question.
2. How can studying past marine life/oceans help us predict the future of sea life/oceans? My essential question has not changed.
3. Other tools that I may possibly use to show case my project could be technology such as prezi, a video, or a slideshow.
4. For my inquiry I could watch marine life videos over the last few decades and also watch video interviews from marine biologist that answer/give me information on my essential question.

2 Reflections on my Mentorship

Community: Does the organization seem to be an active member of the community (however this is defined)? If so, how? If not, should it be and how could this be accomplished?
Chateau Animal Hospital plays a very active role in the Braselton community because of the amount of care and time they spend on animals. Dogs and/or cats are constantly coming in for check-ups, vaccines, spas, bordatellas, surgery, etc. Not only do they schedule appointments, but also dogs can get groomed or board in suites/runs. The hospital is open everyday of the week and not only provides care for any hurt or sick animals, but also provides shelter, food, and water for the animals when their owners are out of town. If the hospital was not available many dogs/cats in the community would be affected.

Time: How structured/guided is your time? How effective/ineffective does that make you?
Although I spend on average two hours a day at my mentorship, I see how the hospital manages their time. My mentor does not usually come in until 9 and when he does he usually has patients back to back for at least an hour. The hospital also schedules surgeries around noon to ensure all the patients are gone and they have no more appointments scheduled until later that day. I believe this is an effective tactic of time management;it ensures that there are still appointments throughtout the day, but also saves time for important surgeries or any other important tasks the vet techs or vet has to do.

My Essential Question

 Essential question: How can studying past marine life/oceans help us predict the future of sea life/oceans? 

Why did you select this as your essential question?  
Since I want study marine life and oceans in college I feel as if this essential question would be the perfect area to focus on and research.  What excites you most about finding the answer to this essential question? 
Although I already know much about dolphins, I still have a lot of learning to do, and I feel like this question will open my eyes to a lot more that I didn't even realize was is in the oceans. That excites me the most.
Do you feel that this question accurately reflects a desire/need that you have to find out more about this topic?
Yes, because since my area of interest in marine sciences I feel like this aims straight for my career field and could further my knowledge in marine life and the ocean as well.  Also, I know there is currently on going research about ocean life, and there is always an opportunity to learn more.

Reflections of My Mentorship

While at my mentorship, my mentor likes to discuss several different topics even if it does not involve veterinary medicine or animals in general. Over the course of the week we can talk about Star Trek all the way to politics and government taxation, so even if it is a slow day at the animal hospital, I'm always learning something I didn't know before. Each day I come in around 8:30 and usually my mentor doesn't arrive till about 8:50. The minute Dr. B arrives I am bombarded by the statement "ASK ME QUESTIONS" "DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS?" Sometimes I get eager to talk about something and other times I would rather just observe the scene. When a patient arrives I always go in the room with him and listen to how he talks to patient's parents. After we leave the room if I don't understand something, he explains to me the diagnosis or talks me through what could potentially be wrong with the patient. On some special days like Wednesday, surgeries such as neuters, spays, and dentals take place. It is always interesting to watch these surgeries because each animal is different and either have different teeth or different private areas. I have seen so many neuters I could probably perform one my self. One special event that really stands out to me that has happened in the last month is when a patient came in and had a really hard time breathing; Dr. B didn't know what exactly was wrong with it but they had to give it oxygen right away. When they tried to place the tube down her throat, the tube wasn't fitting, and he had to open the trachea right away and perform emergency surgery. It turned out the dog had so much blood in its lungs and everywhere else, that he wasn't going to make it. The dog died while it was under anesthesia from getting into rat poison. This is unusual to happen at the animal hospital, but crazy events such as that could happen unexpectedly and everyone must be ready for it.

 

One class that has helped me while I have been at my mentorship is probably psychology. I believe this has helped a little because we discussed certain behaviors. Although that class wasn't focused on animals really, you can take the things you learn in psych about humans and carry some of them on to animals like dogs and cats. I can almost relate every topic learned in psychology to the animals at the hospital such as nature vs. nurture or even classical conditioning. Even in some experimental studies in psych, animals are used to prove or disapprove a hypothesis. Psychology also, is a area of study included in the marine biology curriculum because dolphins and other marine animals are so similar to human behaviors.

Plagiarism

A) I would define plagiarism as: copying or imitating ones work and not giving them credit or authorization for the work done
B,C) I think plagiarism is important because if you don't cite work that others did then you are taking all of the credit for something that is not yours. It is not fair if someone takes their time and effort to make, write, or create something and then someone else gets the credit for it.
D) High schoolers and College students can stuggle with plagiarism when they are looking for research for a paper and they see certain facts or information that is relevant and important to help build their paper. Sometimes information on the internet can also be what someone else has used in a recent work.

Bring on the Learning Revolution!

1.  If I had unlimited time and resources, I would study all around the world, such as the different animals,habitats, and culture.  It would interest me because I would be given the opporunity to learn about a whole new different world out there then what's in front of me now.
2.  I believe attitude has more influence, because you could have the worst attitude and the best aptitude but it would not matter because people only see the negatuve way you act, and it takes away from any great or outstanding talent you have. If you show great skills and have an awesome attitude about it, then people are most likely to notice you more and respect you more for it.  In contrast, having a bad attitude can take away from your aptitude and people will only notice how bad your attitude is, and forgey about the skilled aptitude you may have.
3.  I think our current grading system is too standardized and some of the system should be "abolished". I do agree that kids should start learning foreign languages earlier, but  I don't think they should be learning more difficult mathematics or literature in their early years. Also, from middle school to high school, kids take too many standardized tests that really don't matter and that are unimportant. If it were up to me, students would not have to take so manys tests each year. By the time they are seniors in high school they have taken well over 50 tests, and with the stress of the ACT/ SAT and applying for college, they shouldnt have to deal with more stress of school tests. Another important thing I believe should be in school is to create a class that provides tips, important criteria,helps with applying for college,and a test prep class for standardized tests that the states make students take. In order to get into college you must take either the SAT or ACT, and with these helpful classes I feel like it would better prepare students for applying for college, and if a junior takes this class it will give them an advantage for the ACT/ SAT.
4.  I feel honors mentorship has helped with me with my communication skills, because I must contact my teacher(in this case Mrs. K)  if I have any questions or any problems with mentoring. I used to lack in that area because I have always been nervous around professional adults, but this program has really opened me up.  I believe HMP has also helped me with time management and I have realized time does matter and you cant just show up late to your job if you went to bed late the night before, or if you simply just want to get out of bed. Since I am now working in the real world, I work on my mentorships time and not my own personal time, and in the real world I can't show up late or I could get fired.