Week 12/9 Reflection

     Reflection with regards to my mentorship at Back In the Game Physical Therapy…

Social Conscience:
I think the therapists at BIG have every intention to heal patients and get them "Back In the Game." They do their best to educate physical therapy aides like myself and patients. Brendon Blake, the owner and main therapist at each of BIG's three offices, has charitably offered to help employees with different aches and pains, an action that never goes unappreciated. However, I don't see a notable effort to reach further than their offices to make a true difference in the community, which may be due to limited time and resources. The office is still a friendly and inviting place to be, though, and the patients leave with a grateful smile.

Building Your Network:
Brendon does a phenomenal job marketing his business. He makes lasting relationships with patients and their doctors. I believe that I've heard him say that receive the majority of their new patients through doctor and previous patient referrals. Sadly though, I sometimes feel that the relationships and efforts are not motivated by true compassion for people. Money seems to be a driving force and I completely understand this.
I've seen how important remembering names of people and small details about them can be not only in the healthcare field but in life in general. Just going the extra mile of making a mental note to ask about an event a friend was so enthusiastically beaming to you about attending the upcoming weekend can go a long.

Week 12/2: Essential Question

How does nutrition contribute to one's overall health?

Why did you select this as your essential question?  

- I selected this question because nutrition and health are highly important and interest me. They are topics that I enjoy researching and relate to my mentorship at a physical therapy office. I know that nutrition can impact your functioning and recovery but I do not know exactly how. I'd like to learn how exactly required nutrients benefit and affect the body. As a diabetic, I have found nutrition and exercise to be the key to maintaining stable blood sugar levels. I am curious as to why exactly a diet of fresh vegetables and fruits, complex carbs, lean meats and nuts makes me feel better than a diet including added sugar, simple carbs, and processed snacks.

What excites you most about finding the answer to this essential question?  

- I consciously try to make healthy choices for my daily diet because I find that this makes me feel, function, and look better. I have recently chosen to remove meat from my diet and include foods like couscous, quinoa, vegetables, fruit, granola, yogurt, and nuts. I am interested in learning more in the area of nutrition so I can apply that knowledge to my life. I believe that knowledge is power. The more I can learn about healthy living, the healthier I can make my life. Additionally, I can influence and educate the lives of people around me.

Do you feel that this question accurately reflects a desire/need that you have to find out more about this topic?

- Yes, I do feel that this question accurately reflects a desire and true NEED that I have to find out more. Generally, Americans are unaware of how the foods they eat can affect their body. Ignorance leads to a decline in health as far as nutrition is concerned. Often times processed foods and foods that manufacturer's claim to be "healthy" make up the majority of the average person's diet. I believe that when people learn the importance of nutrition, they are more likely to lead a healthy lifestyle.  This question is important and relevant. 

Week 11/19 Mentorship Reflection

Reflection On My Mentorship

Over the past month mentoring at Back In the Game Physical Therapy, I’ve grown a comfortable relationship with my mentor Brendon. He has helped me grow my confidence working with patients and expands my knowledge of the physical therapy field every opportunity he gets. On a typical day, I will help care for as many patients that come to Brendon for treatment. Examples of what the other physical therapy aides and myself are asked to do is explain exercises, give STIM and laser therapy, make hot/ice packs, and apply tape to backs, necks, shoulders, etc. Brendon will often tell me to try the exercises a patient is performing to gain a better idea of the muscles being strengthened and has used books and skeletal models to explain an injury. I have seen the positives and negatives to working as a physical therapist and am thoroughly enjoying my experience.

My marketing principles class was an elective that initially did not interest me, and I chose it solely to fill my one remaining class period in 11^th grade. However, I have absorbed the lessons from that class possibly more than any other class I have taken. Physical therapy is very focused on building a relationship with your client and confidence, two things focused on in my marketing class. I greet patients with a smile, look them in the eye when they speak, and engage in light conversation. These things will keep patients happy and keep them returning to Brendon when they need therapy.

Week 10/7 Plagiarism

The Plagiarism Module defines plagiarism, gives examples of plagiarism, stresses integrity in your academics, and teaches proper citation. 

A) What is Plagiarism?

• I believe that plagiarism is stealing someone else's work and claiming it as your own. Plagiarism can be intentional or unintentional.
• The module explains that simply changing a few words, putting sentences from several different sources together, and paraphrasing are plagiarism. Failure to put quotations around a direct quote or using the idea of another person without proper citation is plagiarism.

Example of Plagiarism:

• In 2002 Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, an assistant history professor at Ohio State University, found that her 1998 dissertation had been plagiarized and published in a new anthology of the American West by Benson Tong, an assistant history professor at Wichita State University. The book was never retracted leaving Ms. Wu feeling victimized.

B-C) Why is Academic Integrity Important?

• Plagiarism deserves a generous amount of attention. Besides the fact that plagiarism is illegal, proper citation gives you more credibility, helps the reader locate your sources, shows respect to original authors, and keeps you out of trouble. It comes down to personal morals of doing what is right and honesty. 

Proper Citation:

• You can use several different formats to cite your sources including APA, MLA, and Turabian. The Plagiarism Module say that your citations/ bibliography should include the following: the author's name, the name of the book or journal, the publisher, the date and city of publication, and the page number of the quotation. Parenthetical citation within your paper is provided to credit the original source and help locate the source in the bibliography. 

D) When can you imagine high school or college students struggling with plagiarism? 

• An overachieving student with a busy schedule may plagiarize intentionally or even unintentionally for example when stressing to finish and submit a paper by the 12 o'clock deadline. Sometimes when you've had an exhausting day and finally sit down to write your paper, your brain seems to shut down. It would be easier to just plagiarize but it would not be moral to do so. 

9/30 Bring on the Learning Revolution!

BRING ON THE LEARNING REVOLUTION!

1. What would you pursue or study if you had unlimited time and resources?
If I had unlimited time and resources I would pursue a several degrees including Exercise Science, Songwriting, Psychology, Physical Therapy, Music Pedagogy, and more! Knowledge and gaining expertise excite me. Of course, I would also want to be able to apply myself professionally in each of these areas.

2. Which has more influence, Aptitude or Attitude, and Why?
Attitude has more influence than aptitude. The saying, "Attitude is everything," is justified because an optimistic and grateful attitude will bring far more action and success than simple aptitude without motivation.

3. Do you think that our current grading system needs to be abolished? What alternative do YOU recommend?
Not only does the current A-F grading system need to be reformed, the entire school system needs to be reformed because too many students dread school and do not engage themselves. A more worldly, interactive, and diverse study environment could reignite excitement to learn. Sitting all day in a desk under fluorescent lighting surrounded by cinder block walls is boring and unhealthy. Teachers should take kids into the real world and into nature. Students learn the same subjects every year. More relevant classes such as budgeting, REAL sex education, and world hunger should be offered/required because they would truly benefit people beyond grade school. As far as the A-F grading system, get rid of it! I don't know what to replace it with...but it needs to go! :)

4. Some of the HMP class goals are: to help students develop time management skills, foster a sense of independence and accountability, and real life problem solving. This class requires a lot of student motivation since you are not meeting with a teacher on a daily basis. What areas of improvement or areas of personal growth has this class brought to your attention (time management, procrastination, self advocacy, computer skills, writing or communicating deficits, etc.)?
An area I have grown in because of this program is communication and personal relations. If I do not understand an assignment, I can't just ask the teacher at the end of class; I have to contact Mrs. Killingsworth. Also, my mentorship at the physical therapy office requires that I speak to and interact with people the whole time! I have gained confidence and learned from observing my mentor Brendon Blake's interactions. 
I've also had obtain better time management skills. To get to my mentorship at 7:00 A.M. three days a week requires that I get to sleep at a good time the night before and finish school work, college apps, workouts, etc in a timely fashion. I HAVE to plan. 

9/23 College Planning!

The following answer critical questions to aid my search for a college that offer the major Physical Therapy.

1) College options:
Berry College
Mount Berry, GA
http://www.berry.edu 

South Carolina University
Columbia, SC
http://www.sc.edu

Clemson University
Clemson, SC
http://www.clemson.edu

2) When decided which school I will attend, I would need to ensure that they have adequate and modern laboratories and exercise facilities. 

3) Berry College, South Carolina, and Clemson University all have the criteria I have expressed. 

4) A good understanding of biology from high school would be helpful but not required to my field of study,

5) I'd like a medium-sized school relatively close to my home, no further than 3 and a half hours. I would prefer a suburban area as I am partial to large cities. I prefer that it have many sports and most importantly, football! Diversity is much less important to me than the overall atmosphere. I would benefit greatly from academic scholarship. If I attend an in-state college, I will receive Zell Miller scholarship so that gives incentive to attend a school in Georgia. 

6) Physical therapy is rapidly growing career.

7) The APTA, American Physical Therapy Association, honors outstanding achievements  each year in the areas of overall accomplishment, education, practice and service, publications, research and academic excellence. 

8) Clemson offers a Non-Resident Merit Scholarship I am eligible for.

Berry University offers merit-based scholarship of which I would automatically be considered for upon applying. 

I am eligible for HOPE scholarship and Zell Miller scholarship. 

9/16 "What's your sentence?"

I thought a lot this week about what my sentence is. To define yourself in one sentence is kind of scary! As a seventeen year old, I'm not sure how exactly I plan to impact on the world one day. However, I pray that I have the confidence and faith necessary to accomplish great things. "She believed she could, so she did." Vague...but powerful.

Week 9/9 Twelve-Week Interview

  In a blog post found on Tim Elmore's blog Growing Leaders (http://growingleaders.com/blog/), he describes a bad experience with six college students he invited to serve as interns for his company one summer. He discovered how unprepared today's college students are for the real world and blames the adults in their lives. However, Tim still believes in the potential of today's students and invited another group of interns to his company. This time, though, he introduced the internship differently: an internship is a twelve-week interview. The students realized that this was absolutely no time for social media or laziness, but instead, a simulation of the job they would one day have. Tim says that the top qualities his company looks for in interns are more about attitude than aptitude. They look for:

1. Teachabilty- students who are eager to learn from them

2. Initiative- students who look for what needs to be done

3. Responsibility- students who "own" the task they're given

4. Energy- high-energy students passionate about their mission

After establishing the expectations to his interns, Tim and his company were very pleased with the outstanding students they worked with over the summer. They had great work-ethic, attitude, and passion. 

• My biggest take aways from this article was the desire to learn and a great attitude every day! I can certainly make an effort to prepare myself mentally before arriving at my mentorship by having a great breakfast ( I will be going in the morning most of the time) and reminding myself how privileged I am to have a mentor offering their valuable time. When you have a great attitude, you will engage yourself and learn best. 

• What I find most relevant to myself from Tim Elmore's blog post, is initiative. It's not that I wouldn't want to do what I can to help out but sometimes I am tentative to just begin a task without being told to do so for fear that I am taking liberties. For instance, when I babysit I think about how appreciative a family may be if I unloaded their dishwasher...but conversely, maybe they don't WANT me digging through their drawers! But taking initiative is a valuable quality and doing SOMETHING is better than sitting idle. I can always just ask my mentor if they need any help or if there's anything I can do.

Week 9/3 Lesson on Debt by Dave Ramsey

My response to:

Lesson on Debt by Dave Ramsey 

"We do not break the bad habit of debt through earning more money, but rather we break any habit by replacing it with a better one."

What do you think this means? 

- I believe that this quote means that earning more money alone does not alter your habits or solve your problem...if you have a habit of spending more than you can afford and you solely increase your income, you will acquire more debt and dig yourself a deeper whole. However, if you replace your poor spending and budgeting habits with smarter and more beneficial habits, you will begin to find your debt solution. 

Are you worried about getting into financial trouble as you get older?

- I have seen family members of my friends and my own struggle with budgeting and debt. I know the burden that debt can place on a person and the strain it can potentially put on relationships. My parents have discussed with me the importance of money management and paying off credit cards. I am confident that I can budget my spending when I am older, but I will always have fear some regarding my financial security in the future. I plan to find a secure job that I enjoy to prevent money from putting stress on me or my family. 

Does money factor in to your culminating project/or career path you have chosen? If so, how? Should money be a major consideration in choosing your life’s path?

- Money plays a huge factor in the music industry. There are rarely guaranteed paychecks as a songwriter. Money is a major consideration when deciding a life path. For your peace of mind and safety/security, it is important to find a job that will meet your needs. To be most successful, you should find a job that you love.

Week 8/26: Ethics

What Is Ethics?

• People learn ethics from everything they see, hear, and experience. Ethics is learned from the people and other stimuli you encounter every day. This includes family, teachers, friends, television, radio, and so on.
• Unlike morality, ethics does not necessarily involve beliefs or an individual's feelings. Although the two words can be used interchangeably, morals are defined as more personally based principles whereas ethics refers to standards of right and wrong.
• People who examine their own moral conduct to ensure that it meets ethical standards will, consequently, be more ethical than those who compromise their moral conduct.
• I am often black and white in my beliefs. I believe there is right and there is wrong. There are not multiple codes of ethics, for it is not a varying set of standards.
• Songwriting, my chosen area of study for my mentorship, requires a large consideration for copyright laws. You have to copyright your songs so a listener doesn't steal the credit for your great song. I am confident that fellow music enthusiasts will provide a lot of inspiration for my songwriting through their creative creations. However, if I infuse any of their original work into my music, whether on purpose or by accident, I would be stealing and stealing is unethical. I’ll be wary of the melodies and lyrics I use in my music.

Week 8/19

Part One

My Mission Statement...

I will to be remembered for my work-ethic, focus, strength, and success. 

I will be relentless, never allowing myself to make excuses. 

I will not settle for average but surpass it.
I will be extraordinary. 

Part Two

From my mentorship, I would like to better gain an understanding of the day to day responsibilities a career in my chosen field consists of. I will show up every day eager to learn something new and then apply my acquired knowledge outside of my mentorship when the opportunity arises. This mentorship will help prepare me for my future by giving me the confidence necessary to function in a professional setting and offer me experience in my field of interest that will benefit me in deciding my path to success. 

Part Three

"Perfectly Polished"

Lesson 1: In an introduction, repeat the other person's name.

• We were instructed to meet five new people at the seminar and during the introduction repeat the other person's name. For example, if Sally introduced herself to me, I would reply, "It's very nice to meet you, Sally." Sometimes that felt awkward but it made the introduction feel more sincere. Everybody enjoys hearing their own name. When you use their name, they feel like you are paying attention to them. Plus, it helps you remember the name!

Lesson 2: Shake twice and drop. 

• Everyone has experienced that awkward handshake that never seems to end! Mrs. Lassiter told us that a handshake should consist of two shakes, and then you return your hand to your side. Now during an introduction, I'll know to loosen my grip and drop my hand so I don't get stuck shaking hands throughout an entire introduction.

Lesson 3: Print on RESUME PAPER!

• I didn't know that there was specific paper intended for resume. The attention to detail shown in printing your resume on resume paper could definitely increase your likeliness of landing a job. I admire attention to detail and will remember this for my future job search. 

Week 8/12 Reflection on Podcast/"Getting to Know Your Mentor"

 Reflect on the podcast and the "Getting to Know Your Mentor" handout and write a blog entry detailing points that are important in both pieces of information.  Remember, when you write a blog, you have an audience.  Keep that in mind as you write.  Do not simply summarize, engage your reader with information you have just gathered!

     I believe a good impression is important because people form opinions about you as soon as they set eyes on you. Like the podcast said, a first impression is made within the first 10 seconds! The best way to ensure you make a good impression is smiling, eye contact, A FIRM HANDSHAKE, and a confident introduction (I came up with that one on my own). These things show maturity, professionalism, and confidence. I believe that if you show confidence in yourself, your mentor (and most anyone else) will develop confidence in you as well! Equally critical to make a good impression is what you wear...sad as it is, our society places high value on outer appearence. That being said, it is crucial that you dress professionally and appropriately. I think that means I can't wear jeans to meet my mentor. :(
     However, it is also important to dress appropriately everyday on the job! No miniskirts, revealing tops, flip flops...How you project yourself everyday at your mentorship site is equally as important as the first day. The podcast and "Getting to Know Your Mentor" document both highlight the importance of enthusiasm. Being enthusiastic and having a positive attitude EVERYDAY will show the people in your work environment that you have come with a purpose and aren't wasting anyones time. The podcast says to jot down names and information about people you meet soon after the introduction. I think that is a brilliant way to remember and learn names! You can start paying attention to these people and their habits so you can "attach" yourself to those who are are focused and hardworking. 
     Okay, now REWIND back to the first impression topic! I personally feel a little anxious before introductions so the "Getting to Know Your Mentor" document was very beneficial to me. I don't think I would have thought to question my mentor about themselves, but questions such as "how did you choose your career?" or "how did you get where you are?" or "what do you think is the most important factor in success?" are great questions. Also, it is important to inquire as to appropriate dress and schedule. (P.s. You should always arrive on time or a few minutes early). 
     Alternatively, you need to be prepared to ANSWER questions. Both sources of information highlight the importance of being especially positive and excited on the first meeting when speaking of goals, college plans, and senior year. "Getting to Know Your Mentor" includes a list of things your mentor will expect from you. A few I believe that should be paid extra attention are turning off your cellphone, coming prepared, being eager to listen (learn), and being honest. 
     These mentorships place us in the "real world." I know that I must be ready to meet the demands of my mentorship promptly, efficiently, and maturely to get the most from my experience and reflect my school well.