Blog 11 – Lesson 1 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?
I am not proud of anything in my lesson. Although I had memorized everything I had planned to say, I blanked out once I stood up. I had a mini panic attack a few minutes before it was my turn to present.
If I had to choose one thing to be proud of in my lesson, it would probably be the fact that I held my ground and tried to present as much content as possible to meet the time even though I had lost all of my courage to face the class and teach.

2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade 
using evidence from the component contract.
I would give myself a NC since I don't think I met the eight minute time. If I did meet it, I would give myself a CR or AP. I did reference my interview and my mentorship during my lesson but I don't think I was able to properly cite each resource I referred to. Also, since I forgot a lot of information I wanted to say, I don't think my research showed a lot of depth.

3. If you could go back, what would you change about your lesson? How can you use that knowledge to give a better Lesson 2?
I would probably try to speak slower and rehearse many times to all my friends and relatives so that I can get used to speaking to a large group of people.

Blog 10 – Interview 2 Reflection

NB: Questions answered here are referring to my second mentor, Michel Daher PharmD.
Link to interview: https://soundcloud.com/mila-therese-reyes/interview-2-michel-daher

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...)
During my mentorship, I ask questions and occasionally help out in his pharmacy by sorting through medications, printing out stubs (the ones you stick to the bottles), and keeping the medicine area sterile.


2. How did you find your mentor? How did you convince this person to help you?
I found my mentor at one place that I volunteered at. After finding out that I am interested in the medical field, the head of the volunteers suggested I talk to the new pharmacist in the building. It was originally planned that I would just shadow him to get a feel of pharmacy is truly what I would like to do but when I found out about senior project, I decided to ask him to be my mentor.
I didn't really need to convince him to help me. All I did was asked and then *boom* he became my mentor.

3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship? How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship with this person?
I would say that we are pretty comfortable with each other. Since I never got to talk to him very often, there are still some moments when I clam up and feel a little awkward. He is a really fun guy to be around with, though.
The time I've spent with him so far has seemed very valuable. He gives a lot of information while he works. When he isn't working (downtime) he shows off his funny and entertaining side. This keeps my attention and makes me want to become a pharmacist even more.

4. What went well in this interview? Why do you think so? What do you still need to improve? How do you know? How will you go about it?
My interview went well in that he was able to answer my questions in a concise manner. I need to improve on getting more in-depth answers. However, it's possible that he gave short answers since he inadvertently already answered them when I first met him.

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 have a mentor and have not yet scheduled the interview.

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.
Since my topic is health, the area that I find most promising is medicine – the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease of a patient. Although there is so much research that can be done in medicine (patient adherence, communication, actual medication, etc.), I have been concentrating mostly on researching what a "good doctor" is and how patients can be best treated.

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 think I can gain more research depth by searching the CalPoly database. My last few research checks already contain more depth as I got my sources from the CalPoly database.


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.
How can a medical professional best ensure the health and well-being of a patient?

Blog 8 – Independent Component 1 Proposal

1. Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.
Since, my topic for my senior project is medicine, I plan to accompany Dr. Robert Barron on a few of his medical missions to Tecate, Mexico to complete my 30 hours.

2. Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.
During my 30 hours, I plan to observe and travel with Dr. Barron to try to get the full experience of how it is to be a doctor on medical missions. I also hope to take pictures and write a small documentation of what I participated in as proof of my independent component.

3. Explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.
This experience will help me explore my topic in more depth in that I will be able to get more insight into the field of medicine. Also, this experience will help me develop two of my answers to my essential question (analysis & diagnosis and patient-centered care).

4. Update your Senior Project Hours log.
My Senior Project Hours is updated. Click here to view it.

Blog 7 – Second Interview Preparation

Pax Pharmacy in Duarte, CA

The purpose of the second interview is to justify your mentor as an expert in the field. You will be asking them at least 5 questions about their background and/or the background of the organization or company where they work.

1. Who is your mentor and where do they work? If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert?

For my senior project, I have two mentors – one is a pediatrician and the other is a pharmacist. For this interview, I will interview the pharmacist. 

My mentor is Dr. Michel Daher, the owner and one of the pharmacists at Pax Pharmacy. 

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

• How did you become interested in pharmacy?

• Are there any other career paths you were interested in?

• How would you define a "good" pharmacist?

• What are some problems you have encountered as pharmacist?

• How does it feel being having your own pharmacy?

• Do you have any regrets?

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?
So far, what has worked well for me was finding a mentor who is willing to stick with me for the rest of my senior project. She has been very helpful in showing me the ropes of being a medical professional and enhancing my interest in a career in medicine.

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?
Since my topic is broad ("medicine" as opposed to something more specific such as "cardiology"), I find it difficult to find good sources of information for research checks. I seem to always stumble across outdated articles, articles on topics that are more specific, or recent paid journal article. To fix this, I can narrow my topic down to a more specific topic. 

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?

The most important thing I learned from the interview with my mentor is how important it is to be sensitive to symptoms when diagnosing and treating patients. In pediatrics, it is especially hard to diagnose a patient who is barely learning how to communicate. During the interview, Dr. Cuento compared the differences between an adult patients and very young patients – an adult can more easily describe symptoms compared to a young child who can barely talk. 

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

Unfortunately, my mentor didn't suggest any resources. However, she did suggest another doctor who I could interview – her son. Her son is also a pediatrician and works in the same medical office Dr. Cuento works in.

3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me?

Dr. Alicia Cuento has over thirty-five years of experience in pediatrics and has had experience in the medical field in the Philippines, New Jersey, and Los Angeles.

Click here to listen to Interview 1.



Mr. Rivas: I had scheduled this to be published today at 7:30am. Since I accidentally clicked "Save" instead of "Publish" last night, this didn't get published until now, after school.