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.