Extra Blog Post : October

I haven't had any real breakthroughs in my project this month. I chose to stop going to my current mentor ship at the La Casita Teen Center because it was more of a day-care than actually relating to my topic. At the moment I am trying to still get in contact with Andrea Rico. Andrea Rico is the Coordinator for Pomona's Youth & Family Master Plan (YFMP).  Pomona's YFMP is basically my senior project and holds the answers to my senior project. It goes into depth about Pomona's issues of gang violence, to dropping out of school, to early drug use, and so on. It then goes on about how the community and several programs/organizations can help decrease these issues. It even contains a questionnaire given to high school students in 2010 about their community.

I sent Andrea Rico an email about a month ago. I have called her office twice but she has either not been in the office is unavailable. I left her a message today and if she does not respond back I will attend a Community Meeting specifically about the YFMP. Ms.Rico leads these meetings and I hope to be able to get into contact with her and be able have her as my mentor.

In the month of November, I hope to start my independent component. I believe that I am going to make a documentary/short movie regarding questions  about the questions I have about one's individual drive/persistence/motivation; if it has any impact on one's success. I have started writing questions and I hope it turns out well.

If all goes well with securing Andrea Rico as my mentor, then I will feel more confident in my project.

Blog 8 - Research and Working EQ

Research

1.   What is your working EQ?

• How do leaders/officials use their power to benefit the underprivileged youth in Pomona?

2.   What is a possible answer to your working EQ? 

• The city provided countless programs that aid youth and students to stay out of trouble and become involved with community service.
• The city has created what they call a "Master Plan". The Master Plan is a strategic idea implemented once a child is born and raised in Pomona. The plan lasts all throughout elementary, intermediate and high school up until a student receives their AA degree in college. This plan is to make sure a student doesn't fall through the cracks and isn't "left behind".

3.   What is the most important source you have used that has helped you come up with an answer to your working EQ?

• A lot of it is personal experience. I have been able to go through the Pomona system and learning about the programs they offer for the youth as well as talking/working with city council members/employees that help create the ideas and approval for such benefiting programs for youth.

4.  Who is your mentor, or where are you doing mentorship, and how does what you are doing relate to your working EQ?

• At the moment my mentor is Alejandra and she is in charge of La Casita Teen Center at Palomares Park in Pomona. This relates to my EQ because I am getting a taste of how Pomona offers after school programs for youth who do not have the means to go anywhere else after after school.

Blog 7 : Independent Component 1 Approval

Independent Component

1 ) Describe in detail what you plan on doing for thirty hours:

•  First Part
• What I plan on doing for 30 hours is a mix of two parts. The first one is on the effective use of programs the city of Pomona offers to the youth. The reality of it all is from what I am seeing, the taxes we pay aren't being put to good use. They are being put into a good cause and a good idea of wanting to help but they aren't really making changes. For example, I volunteer at the La Casita Teen Center. I go almost everyday after school and no kids come in. There is a high school right across the center and a skate park resides right next to the center but still, no kids come in. There is a literally a center that offers, games, homework, tutoring, board games, ping pong, billiards, etc. and still no children go to the center. Instead, there are high school boys smoking pot by the near by skate park. The park has many men that hang around the park all day deeming it unsafe to the community and unsafe for children. So I am trying to find the disconnect between the center and the kids at the skate park and near by high school. The entire point of the teen center is to help the youth who do not have the resources and means of an after school program and to keep them off the streets away from drugs. But what we see is just next door, that is not the case. How is it possible that there is a completely good teen center, but no teens. This is what I plan on figuring out for my independent component

•  Second Part
• I am confused on whether or not kids aren't successful is because they don't give enough effort or if they don't have a support system, or both. I want to find a solution of why kids aren't getting the support they need in order to have graduate from high school, finishing college and have a successful career. Through my research, I've found out the most efficient way a person can escape the poverty cycle is through graduating high school and receiving a college degree.  Kids aren't succeeding because its too hard or because they do not have the will, its lack of good study skills/habits. Are schools teaching these skills? Are schools being too lenient with not holding kids back a grade that aren't ready? Yes, I understand that being held back is a "traumatic" experience for a child but are we really going to let that hinder the unprepared child for another year of hard school? What I want to do is a social experiment.  I want to interview young adults from the same background who went to college versus those who didn't go to college/who dropped out of college.  So far I have over 10 - 15 people I can interview and see the differences in personal will and personal circumstance. For instance,  I want to know how it was possible that out of three brothers, why only one successfully went to college. I want to get accounts of students in high school currently, those who are in college currently, those who have dropped out, and those who have graduated. I know people under these four categories. I also want to be able to interview parents of these kids and if they feel that they had anything to do with the outcome of their child. The parental aspect might be too much to do but it will help me see things from a different perspective and more insight of how much a parent has influence on the child. Between those who went to college and those who haven't, I want to ask them how their life has turned out as a result of attending/not attending a post-high school education and if they regret their decision. Yes these are personal questions. Yes they put people in an uncomfortable position, but for some, it's a sense of pride that they made it into a university. I need to ask these questions to determine whether or not the incapability/ability of success is defined by self will, the influence of a positive, outside force/person/role model, or both. I'm expecting it is different for different people but I really am hoping to see whether its the failing of a school/societal failure or a lack of self motivation/circumstance; or maybe it's something completely different and I will find an answer I never once presumed to a possibility. I'm honestly open to whatever answer comes my way.

2 ) Discuss how or what you will do to meet he expectation of showing 30 hours of work (e.g. transcript, essays, tests, art work, photographs) as digital artifacts

•  For the first part of the independent component, I'm planning on getting first hand interviews and surveys between students and city officials and ask them if they even know about the teen center and/or if they even know that is highly ineffective because it isn't being used to its fullest potential.
• I plan on playing out the second part of my independent component with either a video or a segment of interviews and photographs. I am leaning toward making a full scale short documentary of the interviews and show how this led me to help answer my question of the second part of the independent component.

 I'm thinking these are two really big projects and I'm expecting that I may need to split them into two independent components rather than one.

3 ) Explain how/what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth

• My newfound curiosity has posed me to ask questions that are somewhat relatable to my EQ. Because of this, I am thinking about reforming my essential question all together. I have connections with Pomona City Council members and I am yet to interview them. As of now, I am seeing flaws in the system, for reasons I want to find out through the first part of my independent component. The city of Pomona offers many programs for the youth and these programs are created by those on the city council. Yet, with what I am seeing these programs aren't being taken advantage of and I don't know why. I hope to find out through the first part of my independent component. This related to my EQ: "How do leaders/officials use their power to help the unprivileged youth in Pomona break the poverty cycle?". What is in bold is what I am thinking about adding to my EQ  but I'm not sure if that is the smartest move at this moment because my questions and answers are changing constantly. Once I find my answer to the first part of the independent component, I plan on talking with city council and further documenting what they do with the new found information; if they even bother doing anything at all.
• The second part of my independent component, I hope, will help me decipher whether or not I am asking the right EQ. If I am getting first hand accounts of those who have succeeded and of those who have gone off track in life. If I can find a commonality in their accounts then I will be able to focus on the fault in the system/school or whatever may be that case.

I believe that the reason underprivileged youth fail is due to a lack of positive influence. I think that the school system is too focused on testing and that it lacks creativity. The world doesn't care about what you know; it's more concerned about what you do with what you know. Because of this, I believe that schools are stunting the growth of successful young people. I believe the government has the right idea about how they are trying to help their young citizens but are not doing it in the right places which connects to the first part of my component. I want to know the influence parents have on their children's success. I want to know if students lack the internal drive to be successful. I do believe its all of the above. To tie everything together, I see this independent component an integral part to my overall Senior Project.