Importance of Pictures

During my summer mentorship, I was also given such the great opportunity to bring my camera and take photos of a handful of dogs for their kennels. Capturing an amazing picture of these shelter animals is so, so important. It's an opportunity to offer a glimpse into their unique personality in hopes to make a connection with potential adopters. After all, there is the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words."

When a dog or cat arrives at an animal shelter, it's often scared, dirty and disoriented. Their photo is taken, and this photo is the face that people see when looking to potentially adopt a pet. An inaccurate headshot can hurt its chances of adoption, but an uplifting, hopeful portrait can save its life.
We all believe that every homeless pet should be represented with a positive, professional photograph,

"One Picture Saves a Life" 

Meet Kitty! Right after we placed this photo on her kennel card, she was adopted the next day. It shows how great she is with people and children. Everyone around her was smiling. 

Blog 4: Interview Preparation

Content:

1. I plan to actually interview an HLE Officer named Greg Murphy. Reason being, well for the obvious. According to my mentor, he's the main man to go to because he's gone on so many adventures and has such stories to tell. He himself is in the career I'm exploring. I'm really stoked to have this interview with him and hear what he has to say about this career and what crazy adventures hes encountered throughout. 

2. In addition to the five questions that were already given to us, some additional questions I would like to ask are:

• What inspired you to take on this sort of job?
• How is your mental stablility and coping with such tragedies?
  (ie) getting too attached
• When it comes to confronting people about their wrong doings, how do they usually react? Have you ever had to call for backup?
• Dangerous animals?
• What's one story in particular that has really touched/affected you?

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Semester 1 ESLR Goals

1. Topic: HLE (Humane Law Enforcement) Officer... Aka: Animal Cop / Control

2. What do I plan to do this year to show growth in each of the ESLRs?

• iPoly Citizen: I definitely plan to show up more often than I did last year. None the less, I always get my work done. But I've struggled with coming to school on time, let alone coming at all. So being there is definitely a goal! Also, this summer, I have completely washed away all negativity and filled myself with only positive thoughts. As far as being an iPoly citizen and for myself, I hope to continue this habit and to also bring my new, happier self to others. I want to share my positive reinforcement on my peers and hope to make the best of this year. If there comes a time where I ever fall, I've got to just pick myself right back up and keep trying. There is no giving up allowed. As far as stress and dealing with those who have a different mind-set from mine, my goal is to accept things as they are. "By listening with calm and understanding, we can ease the suffering of another person." Things happen for a reason, right? So just let things flow and fall in place on their own. Two negatives make a positive.
  Referring to involvement, I need to step up my game. I'm a really shy and reserved person, and normally don't enjoy "social" events. I will probably try and hold back on being a part of them, but I plan to at least try and get involved. That's the most you could really ask of anyone. To try.
• Effective Learner: As I've mentioned before, I'm a really shy person. And it's kicked my behind multiple times. Having this personality gets in the way of my studying and asking for help when I really need it. For example, last year during chemistry, I struggled so much. I knew that I needed help and extra tutoring. It wasn't the end of the year (when it was too late) that I asked for help. And tutoring sure did boost me up a whole grade! I just wish I had done this sooner. So with that being said, I plan to open up some more and speak up when I have to. I've already started in Pittman's class, and asked to be assigned to a tutor for Physics. I don't know yet whether I need it or not, but one-on-one tutoring is an effective learning skill for me and I grasp a lot more. There are no distractions and I'm hoping to get a deeper understanding of whatever it is I'm learning. I definitely want to explore and look into getting much better grades for me. I want to explore into finding what study methods work for myself and use those skills in the real world. "Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself."
• Effective User of Technology: Technology will be used greatly for my project (power points, research, ect.) What I plan to show growth in is, again, looking deeper into some of the things we may learn that interests me. If I find some cool facts about it, I'll probably share it with my peers and the teacher. I also want to excel in sharing my skills with others in need of help.
•  Effective Communicator: Refering back to my blurb about being an iPoly citizen, I plan to show growth in continuing being a positive person and sharing that positivity with others. I want to bring peace and harmony into our class, and just make it a feel-good environment. It's all about the positive thoughts, good vibes. I believe my plan in growing towards being an effective communicator is very similar to being an iPoly citizen. What I do need to work on is opening up more and allowing myself to listen to others, and vice versa, speaking up so that others hear me. You'll never know. One thought, one word, one idea, one sentence.. It can take you a long way. I'm so excited to present my senior topic and all new things that I've learned. This will allow me to be heard, thus showing my plan in growth of being an effective learner. 

"Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it." Negative thoughts that have ever held me back from going on.  

"Let us live in joy, never falling sick like those who hate us. Let us live in freedom, without hatred even among those who hate." 

Summer Mentorship Component

Literal: 

1. K N O W 

Date	Hours	What I Did	Total Hours
07 / 23 / 13	11 AM - 3 PM (4 hrs)	Was introduced as to what I would going to do for my presentation in the next upcoming 3 weeks // Met the other workers and members // Took a tour of the shelter and interacted with the animals // Took notes // Introduction of ourselves (mentor & I) // Created a custom made doggy tag for my puppy	4 hours
07 / 30 / 13	11 AM - 3:30 PM (4.5 hrs)	There was an event for younger kids and learning about the shelter and animals and why it's so important to keep in check // I was observing and taking in how things were presented, since I'm doing this next week // Acted as an assistant and helped with the kids // Answered questions the kids had // Met two dogs & discovered how dogs really do have different personalities // Took both for a walk and bathed them	8.5 hrs
08 / 06 / 13	11 AM - 3 PM (4 hrs)	My mentor and I prepared for next week's seminar and put together a scrapbook of the history of the humane society, which included the orginally building, the founder, and different articles written about the humane society.	8 hours
08 / 13 /13	11:30 AM - 5:30 PM (6 hrs)	Today was the introduction to the seminar, in which I assisted my mentor. There were 12 students total. I answered any questions they had, helped pass out the materials, played an activity with them, toured them around the shelter, and also sat there and learned myself. Afterward, my mentor & two other volunteers and I put out beds in the cages for the more elderly dogs.	14 hours
08 / 14 / 13	11 AM - 5:30 PM (6.5 hrs)	Our topic for the day was animal behavior. So to contribute that to real life, two of the ASPCA admins came up & introduced two dogs to the students. Before doing so, a short section of a film off Netflix was played, which showed relationships between animals of two different species (it was really touching). After, we split the kids into two groups (one for each dog), and walked them down to the park to allow the dogs to show off their tricks & what they could do. Towards the end of the day, the kids were given doggy treats to give to the shelter dogs and they made little cards for them.	20.5 hours
08 / 15 / 13	11 AM - 5:15 PM (6 hrs / 15 mins)	Last day! Today's topic is very serious. It's of animal issues: factory farming, animal testing, breed discrimination & puppy mills. Animal testing is beyond what I want to get into detail, but a friend of Elana is part of a Beagle Saving Project that has to do with saving beagles from being used as testers. Beagles are most commonly used, and she actually saved one of them. The kids and I all got to meet him. The discrimination has to do with the certain breed of dogs, more so commonly the pit bulls. Sadly, they're used great to scare others off and used in dog fights, but little do these people know that they are the biggest, most playful babies. And the only reason a dog acts the way they do is because of the owner and whatever kind of training they give them. That comes with love and affection. As for the puppy mills, getting the dogs spayed & neutered is very, very important. Puppy mills and pet shops are a no go, and we are striving to get the kids to lean more towards adopting and getting the word around. Now that they have all this knowledge, they can educate the next person they know that wants to get a new companion!	26 hours / 45 mins

2. Mentor: Elana Blum
   Number: (626) 792-7151

 3. N E E D T O K N O W 

• Were people well educated before hand as well as we are now?
• What needs to change?
• What can I do to help change things?
• Why are there so many old, elderly dogs living in the shelter?
• Why are there limited resources in all shelters?
• What drives people to go so far as to throwing out a dog into a busy street from their car? 
• Why don't animal hoarders realize what they're doing is wrong?

The list can go on & on ...

Interpretative: 

4. The most important thing I gained from this experience was truly how important it is to adopt from animal shelters. Unfortunately  my family has never done so. And recently, we got a new puppy. This is very important towards my senior topic because the whole concept of puppy mills, pet shops, and getting your animals (mostly dogs & cats) neutered is so very important. It's our goal to put a stop to reproduction. Our shelters could only hold so much, and if these animals continue on being brought in at the rate it's at, we're bound to run out of room (which already happens) and have to turn to animal euthanasia (putting them to sleep).

Applied: 

5. What I did definitely helped me choose my topic. The whole experience was really fun, and it allowed me to interact with all sorts of different dog personalities. I actually made new friends! Tanner is my favourite. He's an 8 year old German Shepard / Akita mix (left). He doesn't have a name really, but I decided to call the lad Tanner. Anyway, going through the whole process opened up my eyes to see the reality of it all, and my topic is crucial to helping these guys out. Also, now that I've been greatly educated on such serious issues that we have going on now, my mind is is filled with greater knowledge that I can share with everyone else.