Senior Project Week Two

Obviously a long overdue update. I've been sick this week which caused me to fall a little behind and miss some time at Cobb, and I'm also currently on the East Coast for some familial obligations. So I'll need to really be making up work today and this weekend. Tutoring has continued as per normal, with my primary role being supervision of kindergartners and first graders. It's fun yet exhausting work. Their endless energy is just ridiculous. It has given me a new found respect for elementary school teachers. I find it hard to last three hours with them in a secondary role; I can only imagine spending a whole day as their primary supervisor. On the research front, I've finished the draft of part one of my paper. Keeping things concise when I'm writing about such a nuanced topic was difficult. It's also the first time I've worked so heavily with statistics and other data in my writing/research. I've got a good foundation for part two of my paper, which is the question; what exactly does Prop 30 do/hope to fix? It's a more focused and narrow prompt than parts one and three of my paper, so tackling it has been a bit easier. I want to have a full draft of the first two parts completed by the end of this weekend.

Senior Project Days 4 and 5

The last two days of my work on my senior project have followed a similar pattern to previous days. I'm still working on the same part of my paper. Unfortunately I've hit a bit of a road block in that I left my laptop at school. I was hoping to get a draft in by Friday by it looks like it will have to wait. The challenge I'm having on the actual paper is translating pages of notes and research into a concise and coherent paper. There's so much detail and information that's easy to get my paper bogged down in pointless facts and figures. At Cobb I've continued to work with younger kids, mostly supervising, not yet tutoring much.

Senior Project Days Two & Three

This is a combined post for days two & three of my senior project, as I forgot to blog day two. Day two was entirely a research day. I'm aiming for a completed draft of the first third of my research paper by the end of Friday. The question I'm focusing on this week is: what are the underlying budget problems that led to Prop 30? During the course of my research, I identified a few major factors: Prop 13, rising correctional expenditures, mismanagement of teacher pension funds, decline in property values, and the general slowdown in the California economy. Over the past two days I've dug deeper into all of these specific areas. Day three marked the beginning of my work at Cobb. I'm working from 3-6 Monday-Thursday for the next two weeks. What I'll be doing specifically should vary. I worked with kindergartners today, mostly just managing their ridiculous energy levels. In the future I'll be doing some administrative work and be tutoring some fourth and fifth graders.

Senior Project Day One

Day one of my senior project has been all about laying the foundations for my next few weeks. My senior project is comprised of two parts: interning at Cobb and writing a research paper. I'm currently finalizing the details of my internship at Cobb. I should start tomorrow; working as either a tutor or as an administrative aid. My research paper is a comprehensive look at the allocation of funds towards public education in California. Today I organized the paper into three sections, each occupying a week of my project time. The first: What are the primary budget problems that led to the passage of Prop 30? The second: What does Prop 30 propose to solve? What does it not solve? The third: What can/should/could be done to help solve California's structural budget problems, specifically in regards to education? I started on the first question today. I've already written up an outline and spent time in the library today accumulating sources.

Senior Project New Ideas

I've decided, barring an inability to execute any other idea; that my original plan of building and RC helicopter with a camera mount just isn't the best fit for the guidelines of Senior Project. I realize its' late in the process, but I'm hopeful I can catch up with some extra work. I've got two new ideas I want to discuss with my adviser tomorrow. 

Idea A: I'm a huge mountain biker. For a long time I've been on the mailing list of all these organizations that work to keep mountain biking trails open, from both a basic logistical and political perspective. Many mountain biking areas around the bay area come into constant conflict with local residents and hikers over the effects bikers have on the soil and ambiance. I know many of these organizations are under-funded and under-staffed, so I'm hopeful I could get a position with one of them. I could study the actual effects of mountain biking on natural habitats, and incorporate my interests in film by shooting a short promotional video for the organization at the end of my time. (I was inspired by this: https://vimeo.com/32192929, a film produced when there was proposed California legislation to close a number of state parks)

Idea B: I'm passionate about sports, especially college basketball. I've always said one of my dream jobs would be to work in the front office of a professional sports team. Last year I know Chris Banh got a position at USF, (not entirely sure what it was) and of course now Mr. Whitmore works for the athletic department. I'd love to try and get a similar internship in the athletic department. I could explore the relationship between athletics and academics at the highest level, or the allocation of athletic funds at a major university. 

Senior Project Developments

I'm at the research stage in my project. I've got a multiple page long list of accumulated links and general resources that I really need to start digging into. I'll probably spend the next few weeks on that, and just more general research. One exciting revelation so far is a relatively simple guide to DIY training wheels for my helicopter. A potential future obstacle in my project is crashing or breaking my helicopter in my early attempts to fly it. This should help. I also want to meet again with Meghan and Tom to discuss details and future plans.

Early Senior Project Reflection

One of the first problem's I've encountered with my senior project is the crafting of an essential question. I have a project idea, but I'm struggling with forming a question that really accentuates the project instead of reiterating my current idea. With the due date for my proposal coming up, I really need to get moving on my project. The next step for me is probably meeting with Mr. Wadbrook; he expressed interest in helping me with my project as a potential mentor. Beyond that, preliminary research towards my topic, and the editing/refinement of my project proposal.