Blog 9 - Advisory Prep 3

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person?

• I currently do have a mentor. He takes on the responsibilities for the nature center and makes sure everything is running smoothly. If there's ever a problem, he's the first person to address it. I will be going to the nature center this Thursday to interview him.

2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic. Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons.

• Communication is one of the most important concepts when taking care of wildlife animals. Communication allows them to have a lot more connections with other nature centers and rehabilitation organizations. If the rehabilitation centers have an animal that can no longer be returned to their natural habitat, they look for nature centers who will be willing to adopt it as an educational animal. These organizations help each other out.

3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth? Where will you go to get them?

• I've recently been to the library and checked out a couple of books. I've realized that some of these books touch up on topics that would have never occurred to me to research. I also feel like interviews would be a great source of information because you're able to talk to the staff members about their experiences when actually working with animals. I want to branch out to other facilities rather than staying at the San Dimas Nature Center. This way I'll be able to get different perspectives and maybe different information.

4. Write down a possible EQ. Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers. At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.

• What component is essentially the most important to adequately nurture a wildlife animal?

Blog 8 - Independent Component 1 Proposal

. Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

• Every Saturday there's an animal presentation for the public. It mostly focuses on informing the children and their parents about the different types of animals they have in their nature center. This Saturday will be my first Saturday there. Before I'm able to present on a certain specie, I must know their information. Such as their diet, their age, their social skills, where they are most commonly found, specific information about the one that we currently have, and so forth. I plan to inform the people and answer any of the questions they might have. 

2. Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

• My mentor is usually in his office; working out the management for the nature center. Several times he'll walk around and converse with other people, but then he'll head back to continue his work. However, the staff members are constantly walking around to see if anyone needs assistance. They answer people's questions and make sure the animals are in good care. They help present the animals and they will be able to verify that I am completing my 30 hours of independent component. 

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

• Wildlife rehabilitators must be familiar with animals to be able to treat them. They tend to take classes and study about the different types of species to thoroughly learn more about the natural history and the particular needs of each one of them. This will help provide food, medical care, caging, environment, and so on. Learning and presenting about these animals will give me specific background information, helping me to interact with them.

4. Update your Senior Project Hours log.

• It is currently updated, but I will continue to add the hours as the days of my mentor-ship go by. I will be more active starting next week.

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 Ronny Gregory and he is in charge of the San Dimas Nature Center. He assures that there's food in stock and that the animals are in good health conditions. He manages the certain programs held at the center and guides the employees to what needs to be done. He makes sure that the nature center functions smoothly. 

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

• How long have you been at the nature center and what influenced you to pursue a career in that field?
• What are some of the things you learned or found interesting when you first started your job?
• Was there any education or certificates you needed to get in order to be working at a nature center? Any training?
• What distinguishes this particular job from the rest of your previous ones and what persuaded you into staying in this field? (He's had many experiences with many different jobs.)
• What was your original career path that you wanted to pursue and how has it morphed to the one you currently are in?
• How has it impacted your life?

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?

• The topic I chose is something that I am passionate about. I feel like this has worked well for me as far as research goes and hopefully my presentation later on in the year.The mentor-ship itself has made it a great experience. It gives us a chance to participate in something that we don't normally do or a head start into the career path of our choice. Even though I don't really see a career path for me in rehabilitation, I'm glad I'm able to be involved in something that I'm interested in.

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?

• I find it hard to manage my mentor-ship. Reaching my mentor-ship and possibly commuting to further organizations is what I find most difficult because of the distance. I should be able to by keeping in mind that it won't be an every week thing. I feel like my topic might be too specific in the sense that finding professional wildlife rehabilitators is difficult. If I were to broaden my topic to maybe, rehabilitation in general, it may open a lot more different aspects to it. I don't think the senior team can help with distance. I will have to work something out myself. On the other hand, I will ask about my topic situation and slightly changing it to something that fits best.

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?

• I learned that communication is very important when handling a nature center and these wildlife animals. These facilities must have connections with others that are similar in order to be able to help each other. They work with veterinarians, rehabilitators, and other nature centers. Animals that are no longer able to be rehabilitated are put in nature centers as educational animals. That way they are able to nurture them and raise money for them by educating the public. Veterinarians are used by both nature centers and rehab facilities. Rehabiltitators ask them for their opinion and work together to provide the right treatment. In nature centers, if one of their animals are injured, they take them to a special veterinarian. 

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

• It turns out that they have a library at their nature center and might be great as sources for research. There's also this organization called Wild Wings that is rehabilitating hawks at their center and know many other organizations that deal with the same topic. I feel like this is the most important because it opens up your opportunities to have more experiences. They usually come every Saturday and I'm hoping to go one of these Saturdays to be able to talk to them. Hopefully I'll then be able to go to the other organizations every once and a while.

3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me?

• Alvaro O. Guzman has been working at the facility for more than five years. He came into the job not knowing much and had to specifically be train to learn how to handle the animals. He was also given information about what is needed for each of their wildlife animals at the center. He is currently the only staff member at the facility who is able to handle the hawks and introduce them to the public.

Blog 4 - House Advisory Prep 1

Write a short explanation of what you are hoping to accomplish through your senior project topic.

I decided on my senior project topic by picking something that I know I'm interested in. I've always loved working with animals, but I don't really see myself as a veterinarian. So, I thought this would be a good opportunity to be able to work with them. I hope to gain experience and skills throughout the year of my mentorship. I want to stay in the science department and since wildlife rehabilitators have to know how the medicine affects the animal's body, I feel like this will give me an idea of the certain branches in science. I would like to do science research in the future, but I'm not exactly sure what specifically. I also like the feeling of contributing and being able to help the environment. Since my topic is wildlife rehabilitation, my goal is to guide the animals to recovery and inform the public of the damage that we're causing towards them.

Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

1. Who do you plan to interview? Why?

• There are two types of wildlife rehabilitators. The first wildlife rehabilitator is the most common one because they are the ones who take care of these animals in a facility. The other rehabilitator is home-based. In this case they have their own facility at home. They must follow all the federal wildlife rehabilitation regulations and criteria. I plan to interview either one or the other. I eventually want to fully interview both because I feel like it would be interesting to be able to compare them. Maybe they are able to obtain more of a variety of species in a facility rather than a home.

2. Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask. What additional questions do you plan to ask? Ask open-ended questions.

• What motivated or interested you in becoming a wildlife rehabilitator? 
• Are there any goals that you were hoping to achieve before you joined the organization? If not, did you make any for yourself along the way?
• What do you feel is the most important skill to acquire when nurturing or training an animal? Why?
• How do you know when an animal is ready to be released into their natural habitat and how do you feel when you release it? Where do you release them?
• What kind of species do you take in?
• Is there anything that all animals have in common when you train them? 
• Is there a special technique that you use that is most successful when training them?