Shelter Care

I am proud of how passionate I was about my presentation. I really do care a lot about animals and I'm glad that hearing from my classmates that they got touched by the stories I told. 

I feel like I should receive an AP/P because I really did stress on what I have learned from the shelter, but I failed to site and reference any research that I have done for my senior topic. Other than that I do think that I presented myself to engage with the audience with eye contact, body language, and volume. 

I would slow myself down and be less nervous. I really did let my nerves get to me and it kind of sidetracked me from my planned lesson. My first lesson has told me to be more prepared and relaxed while explaining a balance of experience, research, and knowledge.

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else?  Are you shadowing?  Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic?  If so, what?  Are there other people who are experts in the location?  Etc...)

I am spending my mentorship at the Priceless Pets No-Kill Orphanage in Claremont with Jennifer King as my mentor. There, I am able to walk, pet, and play with dogs and also sometimes cats. Being a volunteer for Priceless Pets is really hands on and it's been a great experience to actually be with animals and see them get adopted. There are many local shelters, but there is another Priceless Pets in Chino.

2.  How did you find your mentor?  How did you convince this person to help you? 

I actually found my mentor from a previous senior from last year. I went to her presentation and she sighted where she did her independent component hours and I thought volunteering at a no-kill shelter would be perfect for me. No-kill non profit shelters really need dedicated and consistent volunteers and Jennifer already mentored before so she was familiar to this project.

 I really do feel pretty comfortable with my mentor because she's very easy to talk to and is so passionate about the animals, but I just wish I could go more often like the other volunteers. I try to go sometimes on Tuesdays and on the weekends when I can, but I usually go on Thursdays Most of the other volunteers either work or go there every day because their school is so much closer and has a program with Priceless Pets.

I felt like the interview was really casual and natural. It wasn't really a planned set of questions because I usually like conversational interviews so maybe having a more planned guideline would help me have a longer interview. I know because there was a pause of me trying to think of another question so I'll have more planning ahead for next time.

I do have a mentor and I haven't been able to contact her for the interview but I am hoping to do the interview tomorrow or sometime next week.

I'm really interested in the behaviors and training of the shelter dogs currently. It's probably something I could really go in depth for during the senior presentation because being able to read and train dogs is very important in order for the dog to be adopted.

Maybe if I actually get to talk to a trainer would help me with hands on experience, but also books could help as well. I'm sure.

What are the best qualities in order for a dog to be adopted from a shelter and what steps are needed in order to achieve that?

I plan to have my Independent Component on more mentorship hours. I will continue to learn and volunteer for Priceless Pets. I'll continue walking, bathing, cleaning, and organizing. 

 I will extend my mentorship hours log to my Independent Components. There is also an hours log at the orphanage.

Since I don't own or take care of any animals, the Orphanage gives me the perfect opportunity to develop and grow my relationship to dog care.

K.

My mentor's name is Jennifer and she is part of the Orphanage Priceless Pet Rescue Adoption No-Kill Shelter. She is an expert because she has been part of the shelter for years and is there everyday of the week taking care of the animals and directs all the volunteers. Her daughter even volunteered for a few years. 

I officially have a mentor now so that was great new today! So far everything is working fine at Priceless Pets in Claremont and I really love all the animals there. I'm meeting more volunteers, becoming more confident with handling animals, and learning the whole flow at the shelter. 

Nothing is really showing to me as difficult right now, but the only thing I don't particularly enjoy are the Working Bibliographies. I just need to adapt to the whole process of finding my articles ahead of time to meet the Research Checks on Fridays. Overall, the senior project is going okay for me.

I knew this before, but having an actual veterinarian say it to my face that having a veterinarian as a mentor will be difficult was probably an important wake up call. I would probably rephrase the questions. Having a set of questions kind of threw me off and the way I just read it off the paper at first threw off Dr. Goldstein. 

I did ask Dr. Goldstein for additional resources and contacts, but he didn't recommend any specific source or place other than Google. However, he did say that checking with schools with vet programs could help. That was probably the most helpful because he thought the internet was the best source.

I researched him and he graduated from one of the best vet schools in America, which is Cornell and studied many other branches connected to veterinary.

What I'm hoping to accomplish through my senior project is if I really want to pursue veterinary as a career. I have always planned to go to college with Animal Science as my major and then go to vet school and then go on to be licensed. Now that I'm learning all the sacrifices and discipline skills you need to accomplish to become a vet makes me respect veterinarians more. I hope that one day I could say I went through all the schooling and training to be an animal doctor. I'm passionate about animals and I hope veterinary could be a right path for me.

I plan to interview a practicing veterinarian at a animal hospital that can possibly be my future mentor. I do have a location in mind near my house and I will hopefully get my interview there.

1. I'm interested in studying Veterinary. What could you tell me about it?
2. From your perspective, what could I study that would be significant to other people?
3. Who else would you recommend?
4. What kinds of places or activities do you recommend I do for the mentorship?
5. What materials should I read in this field? Who else can I interview?

I plan to ask where the veterinarian where he/she did his/her schooling with specifics in what they majored in and where they completed veterinary school. Also, I would ask about special or interesting moments that has happened since he/she has been a veterinarian. 

Jessica Castillo - Veterinary Medicine 

In her presentation, she seemed very relaxed and very informed about her topic. What really helped me the most was that she listed all the places she volunteered at and referenced a book that helped her for her presentation. She really gave me the whole basics of what my presentation could be like next year. I liked how after her activities and slides, she had one more activity that summed up all the general vet information she just went over. It showed how much you were really paying attention.

Adriane Parale - Nursing 

Adriane's presentation was probably one of most interactive of the ones I've been to. One of her activities was to actually dress up a nurse with the paper attire, masks, and gloves. It was very interesting and it gave the audience the opportunity to stand up, laugh, and experience how a nurse would dress with that sort of attire. Adriane also had another interactive activity where she gave her audience lotion to symbolize how much we actually clean our hands. With a black light, the lotion glowed and showed up which parts of our hand was "cleaned" and the parts that weren't. I'm hoping for my senior presentation I will be able to be that interactive with my audience. 

Aubree Amano - Dog Training 

 The whole set up in Aubree's presentation was very clean and cute. What I really loved was her first activity was a ice breaker with a little gift bag that related to her topic and at the end her last activity had the juniors and the seniors get to know each other with a one on one activity. After she chose one group to have a little quiz and gave a whole gift basket to the winner. She had multiple props, references, and interactive activities as well. Her presentation really gave me inspiration of  how mine could possibly be next year.