Final Blog

Firstly, I’m so thankful I got this opportunity as a senior. What I enjoyed the most from iQuest is that I now have some experience, even if its just a little, of the type of work that might lie ahead of myself. I got a feel for physical therapy and what it’s really like to be the physical therapist by shadowing one. It’s nothing like being the patient I have learned. I also enjoyed making new connections and relationships with mentors. I know I will always be keeping in touch with at least one of them but hopefully both of them that I worked with.  I feel like overall, I was very productive throughout the whole year. IQuest gave me the time to get real work experience, be able to still participate in sports for the whole entire year(I have never done that before in all my years of high school), finish my college applications(12)/college essays(8), and still be able to have the last year of high school be one of the best. To be productive throughout the year, so forced myself to learn more time management. In my interest in physical therapy I learned that it’s still an amazing job to have but I feel my interests drift in a different side of the medical field. I’m still not quite particular on what side to do but IQuest helped me figure out that it might not be physical therapy. I really do enjoy working with my physical therapist and enjoy the job setting as well. As for interning with my church and assisting their office manager. I was exposed to also business as well as real estate also. To be an office manager you have to be really organized and prioritize your time very well. I feel like I am good at those things so when I helped Michelle out at Church of the Valley it brought up one of my good characteristics.  What I learned about myself is that I really do need to try out different areas that I am interested in. I’m very indecisive so when I actually get the opportunity to try different areas out then I have a better understanding. I think that’s how it is with everyone else as well. I also learned how to be more professional. While I shadowed my physical therapist, I learned that depending on the patient you have to shift your hospitality to them.  I wish I could have learned more about different areas in the medical field. This year I did find more information but I wish I could have found exactly what I wanted to do, and what my future has in store. But a lot of people change their major in college multiple times so we will just have to see.  I rate myself for my individual effort towards the learning in my interest as a 10 because I went once to twice a week to intern and get my full hours. I was very interested in the work Kristy had and was very captured by how she helped her patients. I did the same for Michelle as well. I loved helping Michelle. She was an amazing mentor. So nice, caring, and helped me with a lot of my decisions and life. I fell short on not finding an internship that I thought totally clicked with me and where I absolutely wanted to work. Even though I did find out what places weren’t for me I didn’t find the place for myself. I’m still searching and researching jobs and hoping that in college I will be exposed to something I know that fits my personality and find a job that I absolutely love. I know the main purpose of the class was to find that special career so it might have seemed like I failed the class because I didn’t find it. But the way I looked at it was that I can eliminate some of the careers that might not be for myself when I tested them out.  This experience informed myself for my future because what I take away was the learning and the experience I got from the class. Most of the people in my high school senior class have not even interned anyplace yet. So here I am with a head start to my future.  I would definitely recommend this program to others! I already have two of my best friends in this class for next year. I recommended this class to them because they are hardworking people and will use this class to their advantage. I know, know matter what they will succeed in their life and if this class helps them to go even farther and get a head start I will be so happy for them because of all the times they have encouraged myself in my life. I’m so thankful for this class and hope it continues. Big thanks to Mrs. B for being the most spectacular teacher out there. You have helped us one step closer to our future.

The DiGiTaL Workplace

           Workplaces are going to be different for each person you meet. Even the way your childhood led up to using different devices that are included in usual workplaces is going to be different for each person. When I first learned skills in my life it all started with the basics. Spoons, forks, knives, it was that simple. Then you lead up to things like pencils, pens, and erasers. Then, after all that you finally move into the final stages such as computers, phones, and the whole world of electronics open up to you. Throughout the years, and mostly high school I have learned how to use Microsoft, Excel, Pages, Powerpoint, Prezi, Google docs, Apple software, and Windows as well. Like I said, every work place is going to have something different about the environment and sometimes that means learning different techniques and programs.
            I believe that every person should get familiar with different computer programs that benefit their jobs and everyday life. You might learn them in a specific class that is setting you up to be a professional. You might learn it from a friend or a parent to make life easier. You might just teach yourself because you want to. The particular skills that you need to learn really just depends on what you do with your life and what will help you be able to do your job in the best performance you can. Your own digital workplace is what you make of it and what will benefit yourself and the people around you.

Words of wisdom

  Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day. ~Author Unknown 

 I chose this quote because it leads to looking to more of the positives in life. I really believe in this quote mostly because some days I need to remember little guidelines about life like these sayings. I know for myself it can be really easy to get down and start to be negative at times. But when I think about these little areas it brings more hope into my day. 

 I've been reading the book "Tuesdays With Morrie" and it's a book about a teacher who is very impacting on his students and the world around him. Morrie, the teacher suffered from ALS which is a very deadly disease that shuts down your body very slowly. Throughout the book Morrie meets with one of his students and goes over life lessons that he has learned over the years. Every lesson he teaches ends up relating to making the best of your life, starting with each day. This quote reminded me of the book.

                                              

                                                     HOPE

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Let's fill up that bucket!

The most important three of the five strategies that Tom Rath discussed that stuck out to me were shine light on what’s right, to make best friends, and give unexpectedly.

1. Shine LIGHT on what’s RIGHT

I found this strategy important because it was all about seeing the positives out of any situation. Invest yourself and your time into great things, not the negatives. It reminds me of the saying “kill them with kindness”. Somehow that saying just came up into my mind because it makes you realize you shouldn’t be putting your energy into someone or something negative but put that energy into something that will always become positive like kindness.

1. Make best friends

I don’t know about other people, but I do know that if I didn’t have my best friends around I don’t know who I would be today. They are the people who shape you into who you are. Like Tom said in the video, the people around you shape you and can be a big influence in your attitude. Where ever the world make take you, you might not be able to take your best friends with you, but you can certainly make new ones. Maybe even by filling a random person’s bucket:)

1. Give unexpectedly 

What’s better than receiving a gift? Giving a gift to a person who is beyond grateful for what they were given. Doing something nice for someone not only benefits them and makes their day but it should do the same to yourself as well. Giving doesn’t always have to mean giving a gift of some sort but it can also be important to give people gifts such as responsibility or trust. To me, those are the greatest gifts of all.

I think Mr. Rath’s principles of bucket filling is just something that people should have right from the common core. It’s the true answers of trying to make the world a better place and each strategy is just getting one step closer to the bigger picture. If we focus on trying to change ourselves and the others around us for the good then we will see drastic changes throughout businesses, families, friends, and our world around us.

I can only hope that I am a bucket filler. I mean we all have our bad days, but we just need to remember to shine light on what’s right, appreciate the people around us, and try our best to fill every single person’s bucket we come across. My goal is to be a bucket filler, not a tipper.

Essential Question

What is the proper way to rehab after an ACL injury?

JA Social Innovation Camp

Refection

Today at the JA Social Innovation Camp, I got the opportunity to experience a day in the life of a business person working with their co-workers on a project to fix a social issue. I thought this experience was very rewarding and fun to work together and get to know people I was not familiar with. I learned that multiple brains thinking together are better than just one. Which concludes that the statement “Two heads are better than” really is true. What I have learned about myself is that I really like hearing what people like to say, encouraging them to speak their thoughts made me feel like it was a real benefit to our team when they came up with awesome ideas that they were afraid to say. Everyone is different and are associated with different backgrounds so the variety in the groups made me learn that together we could accomplish more. Or get through tough ordeals as well. Somethings that really frustrated me were the people that I had to work with... Although it was a very fun and different perspective type of field trip, it would have made a world of a difference if I have a different set of partners. But hey, you’re going to run into hard situations and learn to make the best of it which is what I tried to do. It was frustrating when I had three other people in my group and one girl the whole entire time was just on her phone, I don’t think she did anything to contribute to the group except for read a slide. Another guy just took up our whole entire time and was very hard to work with and agree on ideas with, never was opened for other ideas and when he was he would change them to his way. But in the end we ended up with a decent presentation. I really think this day was important, it was a real learning experience that opened my eyes to the business side of jobs.

There were a great deal of positive aspects from today. First of all meeting new people and getting to know them. Second, finally doing something that exercises our brains in a day rather than busy work at school. Third, at the end seeing everyone within the conference present a proposal that they had no idea about yesterday, and realizing how creative some people can really be when you get them in an environment that they enjoy. Even though the day had its ups ad downs, it was very beneficial!file://localhost/Users/jessica/Desktop/IMG_7559-1.JPG

Warrior Girls

Warrior Girls by Michael Sokolove

The book “Warrior Girls” by Michael Sokolove, tells two different stories of women athletes who struggled with multiple injuries and surgeries that come along with it. Like many athletes, these girls face the pressure of coaches, competition, and their own confidence battling against themselves to make it to the top. When they don’t realize how much pressure they can really undergo. “Warrior Girls” goes in depth of how much female athletes will go, even until they have ran themselves to the ground. In the first part of the book, it tells a story about a girl named Amy, who fell in love with soccer at a very young age. Her piers even saw how talented and gifted she was when playing the sport. She put so much dedication into the sport, and it almost led her straight to the top, until she tore her ACL. Amy ended up getting surgery to fix it and was determined to going back to the sport. But for her this included many pain killers and excessive amount of physical therapy. The real problem Amy had wasn’t just with her ACL it was with her consistency of trying too hard and fast to get back to where she was before, this caused her to tear her ACL multiple times after that. The second story talked about a girl named Leslie. She also was big on soccer like Amy, but on top of that she had a very competitive coach. Dorrance, her coach was fixated on fitness for his team. In her story, it showed how obsessed some coaches and different outsiders pushed all of their athletes to the extreme. This led to many of the athletes to be incredibly injured. For Leslie this meant a torn ACL five different times. After she struggled to compete and get back to the player she was once before, but only in the end she accepted that she was physically unable to compete against the others like she did before. Even though she knew she wouldn’t be the player she was before she achieved her goals differently with still striving to be successful and working her way back up gradually.

I honestly didn’t have a favorite part of the book. I enjoyed reading each and every part. This book brought up so many emotions while I was reading it because I feel like I experienced something so similar to those girls. It gave me a good example to still be patient and strive for my goals, even if they were different goals than before. 

My book relates to my iQuest project because in physical therapy ACL tears are very very common in female athletes. Also the stress of any sport can be very hard on ones body. In the book it shows how extreme an athlete is willing to go to be the best they can be and not even realize it until they have reached their consequences. It’s sad how this is very common, and all the pressure is for athletes but this book was meant to open the eyes of athletes and show them what doesn’t need to happen.

I would definitely recommend this book to my piers. Especially the ones who have already gone through injuries and who were impacted greatly by them. I wish I would have read this book earlier after my injury because it would have given myself a better outlook.

Where did the time go

“How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before its afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” –Dr. Seuss

I first found that quote when I was a Sophomore in high school and I have remembered it ever since. Now that I realize that it’s finally 2014, it’s time to really think about the future. But also the time to reflect on the past. If I think about it, I just went through my last first semester of high school. Those months went by so fast, but during them they seemed like the longest because of all the college applications I had to get through. But throughout all the 3 ½ years of high school I know I have grown so much. It’s weird to think about what if I never went to a public school and just was home schooled? I would definitely not be the same person I am today. High school has taught me to be a stronger person and has thrown good and bad situations at me only to shape me into the person I am today.

            The one thing I improved on in the years is asking for help. I figured that out late in high school when I could have really been more easier on myself if I just asked for help. My peaks of high school has been all the friends and the relationships I have built. Also growing as a person is big for me also. Four years gives us so much time to change and find out who we really are. (I know that’s cheesy but it’s true.)

            Of course there’s ALWAYS room for improvement. It is true that if school was the top priority and the only thing you had to focus on was academics, anyone is capable of their best grades. I really need to focus and study a little bit better for my AP psych class, end off pre calc with the best grade I can, and also just try more in all of my classes. I’m going to be honest, after all my college apps were done I got really lazy. So this last semester of high school I’m going to give all my classes 110% to end the school year off. I got a planner for 2014 and I’ve been writing my goals and tasks down. That is my first step so far.

            For the last semester I’m really looking forward to my classes changing. Since I only have to take the first semester of math, the second semester I hopefully have open for me where I can transfer into advanced sports med or ceramics, which I really enjoy. Also I’m looking forward to the other surprises God will put into my life. I know he always has something planned; good or bad. Also looking forward to but sort of scared is picking the college I would like to go to. This semester is probably going to be the semester that impacts me the most in my high school career, not only that but it is the last one with all my friends I have grown up with.

            My plans for next year is to attend a college I love. I the colleges I have gotten accepted into so far is

1)   Azusa Pacific

2)   Cal Baptist

3)   San Diego Christian College

4)   Whittier College

5)   Northwest Christian College

6)   Northern Arizona

7)   University of Regis

But I still am waiting on Cal Lutheran, University of San Francisco, and Colorado State.

I can honestly say I don't really have a top college to go to. If I was allowed to go to any college I wanted in the world I still would not know where to go. It's been a tough decision for me. It's the next chapter of my life and I don't want to make the wrong choice.

SMART GOALS

1) Figure out where my next internship is for 2nd Semester

Specific

Who: I was either think of interning with my youth group leader where she works as a OT(occupational therapist)

or working at my church and preparing myself for my college in a Christian community

What: I want to accomplish finding out what I should really study in college that will lead me to my job of my future.

Where: Therapy at play or Church of the Valley

Which: I will be shadowing her and observing everything she does in her job

Why: I have already been in an atmosphere of a physical therapist and it's time to get out of my comfort zone and see other related fields

Measurable

I need email and get in contact with the volunteer coordinator. And it is close by in San Ramon so there won't be any traffic. I will need to get out of my comfort zone and try something new and that is something I'm willing to accomplish and experience for the best.

Attainable 

Iquest is very important to me because it gives me time of experience. I'm very blessed to have a class like Iquest because it makes goals even closer to achieve.

Realistic

I've been in the field of physical therapy and I feel like occupational therapy is kind of like it's sister therapy. And who knows I might just like it better.

Timely

I will be emailing the volunteer coordinator as soon as I figure out which I want to pick but I'm pretty sure I know what my next step is in my time frame which is to get in contract with the coordinator and start as soon as I can.

2) Use my Iquest time to connect with new people

Specific

Who: Anyone and everyone

What: I really want to work on my networking skills because I've grown to realize that is what you need in the real world to make it

Where: all over the world and where I intern at

Why: I feel like I should put this as one of my goals because I can tend to come off a little shy. I just need to realize that I shouldn't, because sometimes when you start talking and contributing with people and there ideas you can make something big happen and that's when you can make a difference

Measurable 

I'm not sure how I would measure this. I guess just being more comfortable around people and less shy. In the end if I overlook everything I might just have more places to intern at like during summer or beyond.

Attainable

I can attain this goal by asking more questions and being more involved than I already am. I can already see by first semester how much I have changed and grown from my internship. So I just need to keep working at it where ever I go.

Realistic

I think this is totally realistic and everyone could try and attain this goal because its a goal that will never go away.

Timely

Talking to certain people I guess takes a while to get used to especially when you're shy but once you get the hang of it, it won't be a problem. It just depends on the person. But for my time goal I'm just going to work on it at every chance I get.

The next goal doesn't really have to do with Iquest but it's the biggest goal I have formed in my life

3) Grow independent before college and only walking with God by my side

Who: God and myself

What: I want to become more independent and grow even stronger in my faith

Where: I'm not quite sure where I will end up for college but where ever it is I know it will be a blessing

When: I want to start right now, through college, and for the rest of my life

Why: Because it's finally hitting me that I'm not taking anyone to college but myself, and the only one who is going to be by my side the whole entire time is my Savior. He's helped me through all of my high school and I am very much going to need him through college and the rest of my life. And I know that after 2nd semester nothing will be the same and it is going to be a big change in my life.

Measurable:

How much you ask? Well any task is going to take a lot of effort if you want to make it worthwhile and worth it. I hope to start now and be in my word and go to church as much as I can. And by the end of summer when I go off to college I hope to be the most stable I have ever been in my faith.

Attainable

I've learned when you add God into the picture anything is attainable that's why your goals need to be your dreams of what you really want(realistically of course).

Realistic

The objective of this is to get me ready for the real world and be ready for what gets thrown as me whether it's the most amazing thing or horrible. 

Timely

I hope to be ready by college but with this I really have to stick with the confidence I give myself and build up through Christ.

I think those are my biggest Smart goals for this semester but also hope that they stay with me for the rest of my life. This has probably been by far the longest blog I have written also! Hope you enjoyed reading it :)