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.