Blog 4 01/12/2012
 
1.Describe what I am thinking I’ll do for my WLE project.
Since I wasn't at my WLE for very long I decided to do a project that my mentors had in mind. What they had in mind was for me to create a website or manual for the lab. I decided to create a manual because it seemed convenient for me to learn how to use the equipment 

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I think that my WLE is a very good place to work at if you reaaaaaaallllly love science, like if you are seriously passionate about it. I also think that the person who served as my mentor was amazing! He could have been a teacher if he had wanted to because he made concepts really easy to understand when he explained them to me. He also was very patient when I didn't understand things, which was really often because I usually forgot everything he talked about, so I was glad that he didn't mind explaining things. This internship affected my future decisions because it really pushes me towards wanting to become a teacher. It's really strange that , that would happen, but when my mentor would explain things to me, I'd see the amount of knowledge he had for what he loved doing and how he hoped I would remember everything he taught me so that I could share that knowledge with others. So, that's what I want to do; I want to go out into the world and share a piece of knowledge that I am passionate about and hope to see others benefit from it.
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Today, I got to my internship and I looked for my mentor in his office, but he wasn't there. Luckily, a nice person told me to look for him at the 5.4 beamline, but he wasn't there either. So then, I decided to look for him at the other beamline and there he was. He told me that today I could take a picture of  a Raman Microscope and put it on their website. However before it gets published, Hans or Mr.Martin have to edit it so I took a picture, but the picture didn't look good so I got one from the manual of the microscope and then I asked my mentor what measurements to put on the description of the microscope and he helped me fill it out. I'm not really sure how I improved as intern? This whole time went by very fast and I feel I was here for a short amount of time so I don't see how I could have improved. It's a great workplace because as I said in my first or second blog it serves a lot of people. A lot of people come here to do their experiments and the lab is more then happy to assist them at any time and they even have a website so that people are more in the loop so that's cool too. I don't see anything wrong with my workplace .... It's a really great place to be if you enjoy science .
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_In order to find my WLE and get hired, I had to call and email places where I wanted to work at. So, I looked up a list of places that were possible options and I got the numbers and emails and contacted the people. The most effective way of looking for a job and getting hired is by communicating clearly! People aren't going to know what you want if you're not specific of what it is that you're looking for. Especially because people aren't that aware about Impact and its WLE program. As a result of my WLE, I think being a professional or a responsible adult in the work world means being able to keep everything under control. It also means being prepared to tackle hard tasks; like jumping into a workplace that is completely new to you where you kind of have to catch on and ask a lot of questions in order to understand what's really going on. I also think it means receiving a lot of education and actually applying all that knowledge into your work.
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During the short amount of time I was at the lab, I learned that I am interested in science but specifically biology because half of the time I was at the lab I did read the website information, but I ended up forgetting everything -_____- and I would get really upset because I would try to remember everything and it just didn't stick. Well, getting my internship was pretty difficult because there was a whole bunch of paperwork involved  I had to wait patiently even though it was hard to wait patiently because I think it's ridiculous I'm getting penalized for the hours I fell behind in. I learned that I would prefer being a teacher because that's the environment that I love being in, where I'm teaching people what I know and seeing them learn. I never used my creativity during this expereince. I don't think my presence really affected anyone because I didn't really get to do much. I now believe that this profession takes a lot of studying ! You have to have so much knowledge and a passion for what you're doing because otherwise you will not enjoy it. If someone were to ask me what I did that was so important I would say that making a manual for a machine. Sure, it seems small , but people are actually going to go online and look at it to try and figure out how to use it so that when they go to the lab they know how to use the machine. I will probably still try and major in biology in the future, but I think I'm more motivated to be a teacher now that I have had this different experience. As I said in my WLE presentation last year, I prefer to have a job where I'm excited and happy to be at even if I'll be poor compared to a place where I'm bored and miserable.
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The leadership I am using the most during my time at my internship is Completing Projects Effectively. Ever since I got to my internship I had to set a goal of what my project would be since I would only be there for such a short amount of time. I had to use the lab's website as a resource to get my mini project finished. I used these leaderships well in my opinion. I could have improved by creating a real plan of a project I would have actually enjoyed doing. This leadership skill is essential in all types of work because you have to set goals, persevere for them and seek for help when you need t. My mentor uses Collaborating Productively and Communicating Powerfully. The reason he uses these leadership skills is because collaborating productively mean being able to lead others, people like scientists. Also, my mentor has to actively contribute when he's talking to people who come and visit the lab. He also has to encourage the people around him. My mentor also uses communicating powerfully because he has to inform people, he has to present information and ideas to the scientist people.
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Today I got to my WLE at 8:45 and I went to look for one of my mentors, Hans, in his office but he wasn't there. So, I went to the beam line where him and Mr.Martin work, but he wasn't there either. Lesly could not find her mentor either; we sat in the lobby and a man named Doug asked us if we needed help and then we told him we were interns so he decided to give the history of the lab. He was very detailed while explaining the Rutherford Gold Foil experiment and I just learned a lot because he was very good at giving details about this place! He said that whenever we needed a tour , he was more then welcome to give us one and clarify any questions we had about the place. Then, I found Hans and he took me to this cool new beam line they have.

They have a brand new server so I had to check their old website and new one to make sure that the new one doesn't have any broken links or that it doesn't refer to the old one. Then, I went to lunch (I had a bacon burger..) and I came back. I made an account for a website they use. Now, I'm blogging about.
    Regarding my project, I still have to ask my mentor for more ideas because I'm still confused about what I should be doing because Lesly is creating a website and Kevin is making a mask, so I still need clarification. It's a little more difficult for me since I barely started working here last Tuesday, but I'll try to make a project that's worth it!



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Blog #3: My Role 10/25/2011
 
Since I didn't go to my internship today, I'll write about what I did at Harder today. Today I was sent to work in a first grade class (Ms.Pesavento's) and help out two little girls that are struggling with their alphabet. Since, they learned English first, they are having trouble learning their alphabet in Spanish (they're in a Bilingual class, so it's kind of essential for them to know their alphabet in Spanish). So, I showed them big flashcards, and I mean big because they were 8X10. Anyways, the flashcards had the letter and a picture of something that had that letter as the first letter, here's an example : if the letter was L there would be a picture of a Lion , if the letter was D there would be a picture of a Dog. I also, had to teach them how to pronounce the letters and sounds they made. After I was done helping them, it was time for recess and I went outside and all the little people from last year were excited to see me and I got kind of sad because they told them that I was going to be coming back every Tuesday and they were really excited -____- .  After recess was over, I went to a second grade class and I was SUPER EXCITED because I ended up working with some of the first graders from last year, well ex first graders because they moved up to the second grade. I had to supervise them doing their work (they had to copy down spelling words twice) then I had to quiz them on the words and I was super excited because I loved testing them ! Then, when they finished their little spelling test, I had to write the words on the board and they had to correct the words and I gave them all little hi-fives for completing their test. After I finished doing this it was time for lunch. I went out for lunch. I came back from lunch and then I went to help Ms.Pesavento again ; I ended up working with the two little girls again then my time was up. Then at the end of the day I was sad because I really wanted to come back to Harder because I seriously love teaching little kids , but the Berkeley person contacted us and said that he was ready for us to go next Tuesday, and even though it's a great opportunity, I feel at home at Harder


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On Monday, I figured out I will be working with Mr.Michael Martin and Hans Bechtel. Mr. Martin is a Staff Scientist at the Advanced Light Source Division at Berkeley. I have not had time to interview either of my mentors because Mr.Martin is very busy all the time from what I observed the day I shadowed him (he's always in meetings). So, my blog post is to be continued because I need to set up a convenient time to interview both of my mentors ! 


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For my Senior WLE, I am working at Lawrence Berkley Lab in Berkeley,CA. The lab is HUGE, but I specifically work with the Advanced Light Source Beamline people. As I said before, this place is HUGE! My mentor was telling Kevin and I, that people all over the country come to the lab to do their experiments here, but they have to write up a proposal in order to get approval to use the lab. This lab has a lot of people working here, I think there's probably more then 50. I am a earnestly not over the fact that my workplace is huge. I am pretty positive that the people at my workplace require a 4-year college degree because my mentor has a B.S, M.A and Ph.D. My workplace serves scientists. The strengths of my workplace is that they are open for people to perform expirements as long as they have a good proposal.
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