Senior Project reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your 2-Hour Presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

I am most proud that i made time with only two answers. I have been worried about making time with only two answers since i found out i was only doing two answers. It was definitely a relief and a proud moment when i found out that i had actually made time and my 2 hour wasnt going to be a flop. 

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your 2-Hour Presentation (self-assessment)?

       P                       

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

                AP-            

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

My mentorship at the end really helped me with my senior project because it sowed me the proper steps i should have been taking all along to create a successful senior project.  

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

I would join the explorer program back in the summer so that i would have been in it all along. 

(5) Finding Value

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

It has helped me realize what i wanted to do in the future.  i want to pursue the task of becoming a firefighter and because i went through this whole process, i fell that i am ready to take the challenge on. I have learned how to work n a team through my mentorship, how to study properly through my research, and in a way i have also learned how to stay organized through towers and three column charts. Overall it was a great experience and i couldn't have asked for a better senior topic idea. 

Del Valle

One of the best days of training was at Del Valle training facility. Here is where we had to practice all sorts of drills. We first got there at 5 in the morning for set up. We than had to get all of out turnout gear as well as food ready to go for the day. We were on call so we could get a call on a moments notice and we had to be ready to go. We ran through many events. The first event we went to the tractors and learned about how they are used in the forestry division. We after went to search and rescue where we had to work in a team in order to save someone underground in tunnels. After we had to go break structure while using heavy equipment. After we went to teh helicopters to learn about the pilots and helicopters in the los angeles county fire department. After we had car extraction here we had to use the jaws of life to save someone out of a car. After we had forestry division where we had to cut line on order for firefighters to fight a fire. Last we actually got the oppurtunity to take out a live structural fire. This was the best part of the day. This event is also where i really tested my answers and helped me realize what it was going to take to become a firefighter.

Deciding on my essential question

Deciding on my essential question would be a challenge for me at first. I was unsure on how i wanted to tackle my senior project. I jumped from essential question to essential question until we finally decided on doing something based off of structural fire. Structural fires are anything that ha to do with buildings, houses anything that is a manmade structure that an be burned. This striekd an interest in me as well as helped me understand the life of a firefighter because it showed me the necessary steps in order to fight a fire in the future and help beat prepare for the road ahead of me.

Explorer Training

One of the Sundays that i did my training and mentorship at we did some drills known as hose lays. During hose lays the firefighters prepare the hose in order to put out a fire. This is where i learned about the four different jobs in the fire department and i found help with my answer 1. The four different jobs in the fire department was captain, hydrant man, nozzle man, and engineer. We had to try and know every one of these jobs in order to successfully extinguish a structural fire. During this we were given a homework assignment and we had to research which job we thought was the most interesting. I researched the engineer. During this research i found that the engineer is the only one in the fire station that in a sense is allowed to drive the fire truck. They are also the men that specialize with everything on and inside of the fire truck. The engineer is usually the person who is all about the technology and is fully capable of driving a long truck even in tight situations. The other jobs are extremely important as well. The engineer job is to get water from the hydrant to the truck onto the fire. He stands by the truck and makes sure it is working properly in order to put out any type of fire.

Coming to my first answer

At first i didn't know what inititive command systems even meant. It wasn't until ms. Pittman actually sent me a link in order to fully understand the inititive command systems and why they would be so important to my senior topic. At first i had so many answers for my essential question and i couldn't narrow it down enough to talk for 30 minutes about well rounded research. But after researching inititiive command systems, i realized that it is everything that has to do with fighting a fire. It was the before, during, and after fighting a structural fire process. This was going to be my longest answer out of the two, and i had to make sure i would be able to speak about it for a good amount of time. This answer really helped me understand the exact steps in order to fight a structural fire and the proper ways to be safe. Safety was also a huge aspect that i learned about when studying initive command systems. Without this answer my essential question wouldn't have been as stong as it was, and my answers would have most likely fallen short.

Easter Sunday

My very first event as an explorer was the Saturday before Easter. We had to get to the station at 6 in the morning in order to load the utility truck for an event we did at Pantera park in Diamond bar. We had to sll breakfast to the community as well as prepare it. We sold breakfast all morning and my personal job was to serve food. This was the first time i had ever done something like this and at first i was nervous because i had to work with people i never have hung out with them. After the first day of the explorer program, i had realized that this was going to be a team based experience. After the next couple of weeks i really sat down and was thinking about my product and what i have gained from the explorer program. I realized that i had gained a sense of brotherhood as well as teamwork while working with these young men. It came to me that in the future if i do end up pursuing this career, i would have to be able to work with people to get the job done. I believe strongly that the explorer program helped me realize this the most.

First Day Of Training

My first day of training as an explorer has been one of the most physically demanding days of my life. I went into the first day of training thinking it was going to be easy. I am for the most part an active person so a few laps and push ups wasn't going to be a huge deal to me. I couldn't have been more wrong. We did so many push ups, sit-ups, planks that i was about ready to throw up. I put my all into that training session and after the physical training aspect i was extremely tired as well as winded. That was just the first part of training for the day and i was already drenched in sweat and extremely tired. For the next part of the training we actually got to run through the maze that we have at the station. This was a part of the training that ultimately helped me with my second answer. I learned that being blindfolded an dark helps you feel for the environment around you . It gets you close to the actual environment of a fire because a fire is dark and hard to see in.