Blog 24 - Last Presentation Reflection

(1) Positive Statement
What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?I am most proud of putting so much effort into thoroughly researching this topic. This helped me learn a lot about forensics even without a mentor for the whole first semester of the year. I am also proud that I didn't give up on forensics and change my topic to an easier topic just because it was very difficult for me to find a mentor. As for my block presentation, I am proud of how successful my activities were in helping the audience further learn about my answers. Lastly, I am also proud of how much I improved on presenting in front of a class and speaking loudly.

(2) Questions to Consider
a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation?  Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

P. Met all the P consideration criteria. Dressed professionally, eye contact, engages audience, Justification of answers, organization and creativity.

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project? Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

P. Although I missed a couple of assignments throughout the year, I continued to remain on  track with my research. It was difficult to complete some assignments because I didn't have a mentor so I mainly relied on research. 

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?
The best thing that worked for me in my senior project was how broad and diverse my topic is so that helped me find more quality research.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project?
The one thing that didn't work was not being able to find a mentor. If I had a time machine, I would've used different search words while I was researching on forensic mentors. If I had a mentor from the beginning of the year, I would've saved my self a lot of wasted time and saved pointless research. I also would've gotten better grades on my first 2 lessons and even completed interview 2 which had to be on your mentor.

(5) Finding Value
How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.
I chose forensics as my senior topic because I was really interested in it and wanted to learn more about it. I even thought of forensics as a possible career option. However, after all the research I went through and the people I talked to, I now know that it isn't a job I would want to persue. I still love and enjoy forensics but it isn't a right career choice for me. Also, because I know so much about the topic of forensics, I can state why I would not want forensics as a career.

Blog 23 - Exit Interview Prep

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

My essential question is "How can a Criminalist, ensure that test results are accurate and concise?". My answer 1 to this question is the quality assurance of the work performed of criminalists. My answer 2 is the prevention of cross contamination of evidence that is done within the evidence stream. My answer 3 is the acknowledgement and compliment of new technology that is being released to help improve the work of forensics. My best answer would have to be answer 2, the prevention of cross contamination of evidence done in the evidence stream. This is because cross contamination is mostly human error and although no one can be perfect, there is still a lot that can be done to minimize that factor and thus leading to a criminalist ensuring that test results are accurate and concise.

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

My mentor actually talked to me about cross contamination and how it is a big deal within criminalistics. From that, I started to touch base on it and begin digging deeper into the research of it. In an interview with my mentor, she stated that cross contamination is a very important issue in the field of forensics, or criminalistics to be exact.

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?
My biggest problem was finding a mentor. For about the whole first semester of this school year, I could not find a mentor. I called about every forensic laboratory, sheriff department, coroner office and mortuary within Southern California. I finally resolved that problem by encountering forensicscienceacademy.org and called Terri Armenta where she gladly accepted to become my mentor for the remainder of the year.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
The two most significant sources I used to help me answer my essential question was, first, my mentor and second, the Innocenceproject.org. These sources have given me much more than just answer, but more knowledge that can positively affect me when giving my final presentation.