Explorers Info Student Meeting

      So on Thursday, the 15th of May, my dad and I held our info session for the students and talked to them about the Army Explorers Program. Now my dad had been wanting to start a unit for some time now, and I took the opportunity this semester to help his idea become reality. As a way to start, we wanted to see who would possibly want to join and participate in the upcoming program. This would give my dad and I a chance to get an estimate as to how big the starting unit would be.
      We were able to get about 10 to 12 kids in the presentation, and most of them wanted to join. The requirement to start a unit was 5 and we had about 6-9 kids interested. But we also had teachers interested in joining the Explorers program as senior officers. So starting the program looks very promising.

Blog 22: Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your Block Presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

• I'm most proud of the preparation that I put into my presentation. I was happy with how I used ranks on the students name cards and how I used an OCS assembly room as a model for decorating and setting up my presentation space. I included yellow feet for the students to line up on, decorated my EQ poster with army font and camouflage, and I even wore my explorers uniform (with the exception of one boot).

 (2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Block Presentation (self-assessment)?

• I would give myself a P     

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

•  I would give myself a lower P.

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

• My independent components worked well for me. Since my topic was on leadership, I was able to take the initiative and accomplish some significant tasks. I earned my gold award and I helped my dad start the Army explorers program, which both required me as a leader to utilize all that I learned from my research and mentorship experience.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would have you done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?

• I would have liked to find better mentorship. My dad helped me a lot, but my other mentor was harder to meet with. I feel if I would have gone into an ROTC type program and found a mentor in that setting, I would have probably been better off.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.

• My project has shown me that I would be interested in joining the military. I'm not saying that this is the path I want to take immediately, but I would consider the option. Before I started the school year, I just wanted to explore more into how the military works. Going through the project and talking to different officers has shown me that I could possibly be a officer one day.

Blog 21: Mentorship

Content:

    Literal

• Dewell Cooper : my home
• Captain David Hankle: Marine Corps Special Selections Office

• Captain Andrea Rodriguez: Cal Poly ROTC

    Interpretive

• I was able to gain a deeper understanding on military leadership. I didn't know much even though my dad was in the army, but my dad, along with my other 2 mentors, were able to give me the experience I needed to know what is expected of a military leader.

   Applied

     Observing how these 3 people went about and interacted within their subordinates was how the mentorship helped me with answering my EQ. Even though I mainly worked on starting a Explorers unit with my dad, this still required me to take initiative and make goals to be able to succeed, which is an important part in military leadership.

 

Explorers

      Since my topic is on Military leadership, I thought it was a good idea to bring a military program to our school to build up other individual's leadership. My dad had already began looking into starting a military type program, and I've helped him to focus and move forward with his plans. iPoly will have another options added to the school which will attract young students. An explorers program is a great opportunity for students to gain various skills. To help kick start this program, my dad and I are having a Information Session at school on May 13th. Seeing how this program works was a great benefit for my project as a whole.

Blog 20: Exit Interview

Content:

(1) What is your essential question and answers?  What is your best answer and why?

• EQ: What makes an effective Marine military leader?
• Answer 1: The Marine's foundation for leadership is self improvement through modeling the official 14 Leadership Traits and 11 Principles.
• Answer 2: A Leader must make use of team building in task-oriented groups.
• Answer 3: As a military leader, you must embody service leadership
• My best answer is to self improve by modeling the 14 leadership traits and 11 principles because in a study conducted by Erich W. Randall, approximately 2.5% of soldiers surveyed from July 2003 to December 2005 determined they would reenlist based on their leaders attitude on the team.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

• My first answer came from my first interview with my mentor, Captain Hankle. He really stressed how important it is for an officer's to improve on themselves.
• My Answer 2 came from a common theme I saw throughout my research and observations. No matter where your assignment is, whether you're in an office or in the field, you'll always have a team there with you.
• My third answer came from a variation on an answer I made up with my dad.

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

• I had a hard time finding mentors and a hard time getting mentorship hours done. My first mentor was hard to meet with and I was rarely able to complete hours with him. I ended up getting 2 other mentors to compensate for my first mentor. This in turn helped me to getting my mentor hours on their way to getting done. 

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

• The first source was "The West Point Way of Leadership" by Col. Larry Donnithorne. This book covered all three of my answers and put into perspective why they were important.
• Another significant source for me was my mentors. I was able to learn a lot from them and gain a lot of military and personal perspective from them.

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

Content:  

LITERAL
      (a) I, Samantha Cooper, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
      (b) Cooper, Col. Dewell J. Mentor/ Personal interview. 2014.
      (c) Provide a digital spreadsheet (aka log of the 30 hours).   Post it next to your mentorship log.
      (d) I helped my dad complete the preliminary work for starting what will eventually be iPoly's military explorer program. I helped him brainstorm ideas, process paperwork, convert that paperwork to PDF format for headquarters, make calls, and prepare for an information session to be held at school. 
INTERPRETIVE 




      The most significant parts of my component were the research for the unit and preparing for the information session for the school. I really think the hands on experience of the program would be a perfect fits and really gives a great way for me as an incoming officer candidate to take initiative for the school.
       Below are samples of what I was able to complete:

My readmit from this  morning's meeting with Mrs. Flores

Adult Application
Participation Application
Paperwork for Establishing a Unit
Youth (Cadet) Application

 

APPLIED
      This component helped me to solidify my second answer. As I looked into the inner workings of how the unit is run, it really showed me how essential working in a team is in a military environment. Being able to have this opportunity for our school will also help with other's leadership skills.
How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped. 



Blog 18: Third Answer

Content:

EQ: What makes an effective Marine Military leader? 

 

Answer #3: An effective military leader must embody service leadership.

 

1) Service leadership is defined as supporting empowered workers to accomplish the organization's purpose and vision.(Total Leaders: applying the Best Future-Focused Change Strategies to Education" by Schwabn and Spady)

 

2) You need to make yourself and necessary resources available to your subordinates in order to reach goals and fulfill the organizations purpose. (mentor)

 

3) The Marine organization strives to be ready in every possible way, and leaders need to help guide their teams. ("The Marine Officer's Guide" by Lt. Col. Kenneth Estes)

 

Concluding Sentence: With service leadership, a leader can help aid their team to perform better and become more efficient.



Blog 17: Fourh Interview Questions

Content:

1. What comes to mind when you think about military leadership?
2. What do you think is important for a leader to be effective in leading his/her subordinates?
3. How important are the 14 Leadership traits and 11 principles in a Marine's career?
4. How can the 14 Leadership Traits and 11 Principles be used to improve on ones leadership skills?
5. What aspects or skills of a team are important to work on?
6. Why is team building critical?
7. What does it take to become a successful team?
8. What are the benefits to having responsibilities for subordinates?
9. What are typical responsibilities or objectives for a team to accomplish?
10. How should a leader approach making goals for his/her team?
11. How do you determine that goals are reachable and reasonable for your team?
12. How would one evaluate his/her subordinate's abilities?
13. How would a leader take those weaknesses and turn them into strengths?
14. What types of resources should be made available to one's subordinates?
15. How are these resources used to improve a team?
16. How should a leader speak to his/ her subordinates?
17. How can a leader make sure he/she has made sure instructions are delivered clearly, concisely, and correctly? 
18. How can a leader make one's self more accessible to his/her team?
19. What should a leader consider when setting his or her priorities?
20. What should a leader do to make sure one remembers where the source of their authority comes from and their purpose?

Blog 16: Advisory Meeting #2

Content:

EQ: What makes an effective Marine military leader?

Answer 2: Team building and dynamics are an important aspects to being an effective leader.

Details:

1) You do everything with your team, not just give orders. If a team is going on a 5 mile run, the team leader should run alongside them (my mentor, Captain Hankle)

2) You go through everything with your team. Everyone goes through the same training and experiences the same things. (The West Point Way of Leadership by Col. Larry R. Donnithorne)
 

3) Communication, trust, and achieving goals are among the key parts of a teams dynamic. If you lack communication, there will be confusion and goals wont be achieved efficiently. (The West Point Way of Leadership by Col. Larry and my 1st independent component)

 

Concluding Sentence: As a leader, your team are the ones you work with and you need to know them well.
 

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

Content:
1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

• I plan to help my dad start the process of beginning a Army Cadet Corp at iPoly. This would require making multiple presentations, attending meetings, and filling out paperwork for both the Army Cadets Headquarters and iPoly. My dad and I would need to get people interested and get a certain amount of people signed up. We would also be establishing certain requirements such as a budget. We would just be setting up the Army Cadets for the income school year.

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

• I will be working alongside my dad to make the presentations and go over details and paperwork. There are many requirements we'd have to fulfil in order to set up the Army Cadets. 

3.  And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

• This project would help me explore the making of a unit that would be practicing leadership in everything they do. One of the answers I'm focusing on is team/leadership building. Taking on the initiative to start the Army Cadet unit is a major responsibility and takes a lot of  people and leadership skills to accomplish the task.

Vietnam Presentation

      In this past month, I had the opportunity to help my dad with a presentation for the sophomores at iPoly. I helped with running the slide show and I learned a lot about my dad that I didn't know.
      Now the reason I felt this experience linked back to my project is because my dad has gained exceptional leadership skills from his experiences in the army. Just watching my dad was proof of that. He knows how to gain respect from others just by how he bears himself and the way he talks to others.
      He also learned a lot of different skills that I view as important for a leader. For example, he had to make careful thought out decisions that would greatly effect his team. While he was in Vietnam, any wrong step he made could've been his last because of booby traps. He helped lead his team carefully through terrain so that his team was safe.
      There was a lot of information from his presentations that I thought was useful for my project.

Blog 14: Independent Component 1

• Literal
• a) I, Samantha Cooper, affirm that I have completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
• b) "The West Point Way of Leadership" by Col. Larry R. Donnithorne. This book was more about military leadership and how to understand and apply one's self as a leader, but I thought it was a good example on a method of leading others.
• c) Spreadsheet in the side menu
• d)With my Independent Component, I focused on my Gold Award Project. This project required me to plan, organize, and host an event in which I address a community issue. I was in charge of setting a date, booking a venue, collaborating with multiple organizations and businesses, and collected donations for my event. I coordinated everything in order for my event to actually happen.
• Interpretive
• Well to start off with, I was required to complete 65 hours for the project originally. This includes every single detail of planning my event and after I have hosted my event. I had to travel a lot to meet with people and I made presentations to spread the word out. There were also the smaller details, such as flyers, that I had tasked for me.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Applied
• This component helped me to put my skills to practice. I was in charge of everything and I was working with multiple people, so I had to put my skills to practice. I've come to find that everyone has a different, effective way of leading, which has showed me that there are multiple paths to go down.

My Girl Scout Gold Award Event: Operation Military Kids

My sister



These were a few of the girl scouts that helped out today

My dad helping with the pocket flags

Prepin' for the Event

These are the signs I made for my event

       Here are some pictures from my preparation last night. It took me all afternoon and evening, with the help of my family, to finish getting ready for my Gold Award event. But it was totally worth it

My family and I made 174 cupcakes of various types for the event

City Council Meeting

      As a part of my Girl Scout Gold Award (which has become my first independent component), I wanted to promote my community service event. The project has been completely planned and promoted by me, so I decided to make a presentation for the Covina city council to promote my project even further.
      As I have gone though both my Gold Award Project and my Senior Project, I have been learning more to improve my leadership. These have been great opportunities to expand my knowledge and exercising my skills. I know I have been struggling, but I'm still striving to do my best. These to projects merging has helped me in so many ways.

    

 

  And don't forget to buy those Girl Scout cookies!

Blog 2: Summer Mentorship Component

Literal: 


What is the contact name & number of where you volunteered?

• I wasn't able to find a mentor       

 (Need to know) What questions were raised because of the 10 hours of experience?  List them.    

• Who would be fit for helping me with my project?

 
Interpretive
 
What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

• I wasn't able to find a mentor, so I didn't gain anything.

 
Applied
 
5. How did what you did help you choose a topic?  Please explain.

• Everything I'm involved in is leadership related, so I was curious about the military and their leadership.

 
  

Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

Content:

1. Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

• I was proud of all the preparation work I did. I came up with the case studies with my dad's help and made cards with General, Major, Captain, and Lieutenant rankings to decide who would be the groups facilitator. I also made printouts with the marine's 14 Leadership Traits and 11 principles.

2. Questions to Consider
       a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

•        P

       b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

• I felt I had reached all of the necessary components on the rubric. I felt I communicated well. I had all my materials and PowerPoint in order when my turn came up. I thought I justified my answer with evidence from my mentorship and research and I felt I engaged the class.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

• Having a timer was something that helped me a lot. I also felt I got a better idea of how to plan for my final presentation.

4.  (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

• I would have tried practicing a few more times before to make the 10 minute time.

5. Finding Value
What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

• I've been looking at possibly using team dynamics as my second answer. Leadership is greatly involved with teams and guiding your teammates, so I think this would fit as one of my answers.

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

Content:

• EQ: What trait is the most important to develop in order to qualify for advancement as a military officer?
• What are some requirements for advancing in rank?
• As an officer, what type of education is required in order to advance?
• What are the most important requirements that one should focus on?
• What are the most important elements in making one's self more eligible to advance as an officer?
• What is the process in order to become a officer?
• With being a leader, how can one be more effective?
• Based on the Marine principles and traits, which 3 are the most important to you from both lists?
• What should a leader be most concerned about when leading others?
• From your experiences, what have you seen to be admirable in a leader?

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 hours check

Due Date:  Friday January 10, 2014 by 8AM.

Content:

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?

• I have been doing most of my hours with my mentor, Captain Hankle, at his office in Santa Ana or when he is running a Marine information booth at colleges and schools. I do the rest of my hours with my dad at home.

2.   Who is your contact?

• Captain Hankle is my contact.

3.   How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)?   

• I've done 10 hours exactly.

4.   Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.

• I basically have been job shadowing Captain Hankle and discussing my project with him. With my dad, I'm helping him create an Army Cadet Unit at iPoly. So what I do with my dad is help with brainstorming and going through documents.

5.   Email your house teacher the name of your contact and their phone number confirming who they should call to verify it.  

Blog 10: Senior Project, The Holiday

Content:

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you over the break with your senior project?

• I went in to complete some hours with my mentor at his Orange County Office. We discussed our plan of action and we also looked into different answers for my EQ. I also began to talk with my dad about what we want to do with our Army Cadet Unit.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

• I learned that leadership is a combination of things, but the most important is to improve on yourself and your own understanding as you continue on. If you don't look to improve yourself in any way, you won't become the most effective in your position.

3.  If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers of your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

• I would talk to my dad (who is a Major) and my mentor, Captain Hankle. They both have had years of experience with leadership and they have their own perspectives on how to lead in the military.