Addtional Blog: Senior Project Overall

I thought we were done...

I wasn't aware we were going to write an additional blog because I thought "FINALLY WE'RE DONE!" I guess not huh? Anyways, it feels great to be done with Senior Project. I guess it was nice to keep me busy throughout the year but it's a huge weight lifted off of our shoulders. And I'm positive most of the senior class can agree with me. Although, I am thankful for the senior project because it had allowed me to grow closer to my mentor and become more involved with my goal to help save our planet. I do plan on supporting Planet Rehab as best as I can, by donating my time, abilities, and skills. I also know a lot more about the rainforest too. I was all about saving the ocean because I absolutely love the beach and I was going to have my topic on something on the ocean. I know more than I need to about the ocean and thought I could learn about another biome and what we may be losing there. That's what I did and I chose the rainforest.

Senior Project allowed me to learn more than just academics but how to apply myself in things that matter to me, in a better way. Thank you Ortega, Piggott, and Rivas. We understand it was tough adjusting but just about everyone pulled through. It's nice to have gone through all four years of I-Poly. It's been a great run.

Thank You!

Blog 23: Final Lesson Reflection

1) Positive Statement

I was most proud of the way I was speaking. It wasn't as nerve racking as I thought when I was speaking and it allowed for me to be more passionate and engaging to the audience. I was also really happy with being able to make my PowerPoint be more aesthetically pleasing.

2) Questions to Consider

A) I'd give myself  a P or an AP.

B) I'd give myself an AP.

3) What worked?

Mentorship was very easy for me. Meaning my mentor was very reliable. It allowed me to use him more and to be able to understand my topic in a better way.

4) What didn't work?

I'd go back and change my understanding on the research I was doing. I didn't quite understand what I was suppose to be looking for until the end of 1st semester. So it did effect me a little but I was still able to catch up. I also wish I would've gone into more depth in my presentation because I feel like I only scratched the surface when I could've expanded more.

5) Finding Values

Senior project has definitely set the bar, for projects, pretty high. So it allows for more confidence when facing projects that my be similar in the future. It also helps increase my comfortableness with public speaking. The research involved was an overload but that'll only make other homework seem like child's play. Senior project was all right and it did help.

Blog 21: Mentorship

Interpretive:

The most important thing I gained from my experiences at mentor ship was being able to retain all the information that was given to me by my mentor. I was also able to apply the things I learned in my life, such as becoming vegetarian. I am not completely vegetarian but I have stopped eating red meat in all. While in mentor ship I always asked questions to further my education on the rainforest. I always asked about possible solutions which allowed for me to consider several answers for my EQ.

Applied:

What I've learned from my mentor allowed me to have multiple answers for my EQ. The answers I have for my EQ now, I chose, after doing research and speaking with my mentor on how I can use this in my presentation and exactly how I'll be able to explain it.

Blog 20: Exit Interview

1) My EQ is "What is the best way to maintain equilibrium between man and nature in relation to the rainforest?" My answers to this EQ are: vegetarianism, responsible sourcing, and ecotourism. My best answer is ecotourism since it can be used to introduce the rest of my answers. Also the connections made with people and nature can sway people to be more open about what's actually going on in the rainforest.

2)  It took a lot of mentorship in order to find out about ecotourism, it also showed up on a lot of my research I did. So when I finally decided to look more into it, it turned out to be the best answer for my EQ.

3) I was confused about the research checks, I was only looking for general information on my topic and not information about my answers or on my EQ. I fixed this by realizing my mistake and quickly began looking for more information on my answers. I looked for blogs made by vegans or vegetarians because they are very passionate about their life style and they know exactly why and who they're doing it for. A lot of people did it for the animals as well as the environment. I learned tons on how wasteful meat is. When looking for responsible sourcing articles, I made sure I found out what particular items were causing more deforestation. When looking for research on ecotourism I purposely looked for

4) My mentor and my book Deep Jungle, by Fred Pearce. The both helped my find my answers and answer my EQ. My mentor Gary gave me suggestions on what my answers could be for my essential question. Deep Jungle helped me find ecotourism as my third answer. This book was very informative and also spoke about the people who lived in the rainforest. It helped me realize why they weren't always protecting the rainforest. The reason being was that the rainforest was their last hope in becoming successful economically. It was something that really convinced me that ecotourism needed to be my third answer.

Additional Blog: Planet Rehab in Wonderland

Mentorship: Planet Rehab (on Earth Day)

 

 

We used Alice in Wonderland as a way to show people and educate them on how destructive we are being. We created a play for those that joined us on our event April 18th. The people were educated by walking with the many Alices showing them what hardship different biomes and ecosystems went through. Overall it was a successful event that we plan on doing again next year.

Blog 19: Independent Component 2 Blog

Literal:

(A) I, Nick Herrera, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
(B) My mentor Gary C. Mitchell introduced me into becoming vegetarian. He said that it would help the environment, mostly the rainforest and that it's also very good for my health too.
(C) I become vegetarian for 30 days, I recorded the meals I had for dinner in order to prove that I was following through with my plan. Since the thirty days that I become vegetarian I have completely stopped eating meat (because I ate a burger a couple days afterwards and got very sick).

Interpretive:

The significance of my component was to show that becoming a vegetarian, in order to save the rainforest, is a very easy change. You get to try a variety of foods that are substitutions of meat, but taste exactly the same or better. It can help convince people that if we cut down about half the meat we eat each week, it will lower the demand for it in a major way. This will reduce the amount of rainforest cut down in order to make space for the cattle to be raised and fed.

Applied:

This component helped me answer my EQ because it showed me how easy becoming vegetarian could be, just by giving it a chance. Many people are skeptical about changing their diet because they think it'll be hard or they don't know where else they can get their protein from. Changing to a plant based diet doesn't mean you wont get the right proteins, you actually get A LOT more. I didn't eat meat for a month and now, my body has become more accustomed to that change. I tried to each a burger just the other day and I ended up feeling sick afterward. So I stopped eating red meat. By becoming vegetarian I am doing my part in saving the rainforest, and anyone can do this. It's easy and a lot healthier for you and the environment.

This is Morning Star Ribs. This, out of all the meals I ate for dinner, was my favorite. It was very easy to make and tasted exactly the same, it is 100% meat free.

Additional Blog Post: Getting Ready for Earth Day Festival!

These are some things Planet Rehab(place of mentorship) for our annual Earth Day Festival. This year's theme is Alice in Wonderland! We plan on educating our guest about the environment by using the childhood movie Alice in Wonderland. We will also have a lot of food, a petting zoo, and live performances from a band as well. The mushrooms on the bottom are what the volunteers and I have been creating for the past month and we've made various shapes and sizes. To the top right is our flyer for out event and to the top left is one of our many Alices.