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.