Exit Interview

Content:

1. What is your essential question and answers?  What is your best answer and why?
   • My essential question is: How can the Pasadena Humane Society best help citizens become responsible pet owners? To answer that question, I compiled three answers which follow as:
     
     • Host summer Workshops aimed at teaching children animal welfare issues
     • Host events that promote shelter adoptions
     • Humane society should lobby for legislation that improves animal rights
       
   • Out of those three answers, my best answer would have to be host events that promote shelter adoptions. Coming towards the end of my project and mentorship, the Pasadena Humane Society was in the process of actually hosting an event themselves. This really opened up my eyes and showed how much effort and hard work is put into the events they host. They really want to get the word out of adopting their shelter animals and sending in donations. I think that's what really inspired me and got me going. They have a certain goal in mind and a target audience. In the process of my iSearch paper, this was the longest portion of it. I had so much to say about hosting these events. One critical detail I focused on was the fact that the people who choose to attend these shelter / rescue events are there for a reason. With that, getting a certain message across is very possible. This ties back into my essential question because the Pasadena Humane Society can let folks know how to become better and more responsible pet owners.
     
     
2. What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
   • In order to arrive to any answer, really, was through loads of research. In the beginning, I thought I would have no issues with finding my answers. But I was wrong.
      
   • For my first answer, I pulled it through my summer mentorship. I helped my first mentor run a summer workshop for kids and taught them about current issues going on with shelter animals.
     
   • As for my second and best answer, I obtained that through various interview (third and fourth). During my third interview, I interviewed a woman named Lorna, who's an all time rescue activist. She emphasized on really getting the word out to those who care and tugging at their hearts. Show them how passionate she is about helping these animals. She's ran various rescue groups, which include a Chihuahua one and transporting them to the east coast, and Save the Beagles project. During my fourth interview with Tom, a volunteer who's been there for 8 years, he too emphasized on getting the word out. An event he mentioned was the Wiggle Waggle Walk, which is an event held around the Rose Bowl. People are welcomed to come walk 3.3 miles with their fellow companion and also meet the dogs PHS decided to bring and welcome.
     
   • Answer number three was tricky. I wasn't able to come up with it on my own completely. I believe I had some kind of idea, but didn't know how to structure it so that it would work with my essential question. My advisory teacher (Mrs. Pittman) directed me through and she helped me compromise this answer.
   
   
3. What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?
   
   • A major problem that I encountered and what really put me off set was failing my first answer presentation. I hit 30 minutes, no problem. However, my talking time wasn't enough. There was a minimum of 10 minutes required, and I didn't pull through. I was even attempting to stress out the time and continue stalling with research. But it wasn't enough. To resolve this, during an advisory meeting, I was asked to change my essential question completely to the one I have now. I've done well over enough research, with using both the internet, mentorship, and interviews in the hopes of executing my final presentation with enough time.
   
   
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 answer my essential question, again, were my interviews and mentorship. Of course, there was the help of going in depth with my answers and finding more research on the little details that go along with it, but the real life experience were truly the backbones of them all.

Independent Component 2

LITERAL 

• I, Devanna Terry, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work. 
• To complete my independent component, my main source would be my (ex) mentor, Elana Blum, who actually gave me the idea of hosting a towel drive in the first place. 
• During my 30+ hours of mentorship (and still going), I achieved in going out of my comfort zone and speaking out to strangers and my iPoly peers about something very significant to me. Before going out and announcing the towel drive, I worked with a senior teacher to put together a committee. With that, I acquired all of their emails and asked them if they wouldn't mind helping me out. Fortunately, no one said no. Later along the way, a few other people actually came to me and asked if they could help. Whenever I was given the chance, I would ask a senior teacher if I may go around and announce to each classroom about my towel drive and if they could please begin donating.

INTERPRETIVE 
As I stated above, I and other iPoly students went around the school to announce the Towel Drive. During our meeting, I told them what it was about and covered the 5 w's. They then reported to the rest of the students and said that if they had any questions, they could just ask me. Some classes were a little unresponsive, but it happens. Aside from just iPoly, after school and mostly during spring break, I visited a neighborhood, elementary school, and beach to collect donated towels and explain what it was for. One of the days, there was a bonfire at the beach, and for the people who were invited, they were asked to bring at least one towel. Other days (a normal day for me), I spent the entire day at the beach, from my morning yoga until sunset and kindly went about and talked to a couple of strangers about my project and if they might have a towel on them they were willing to donate. Surprisingly, a couple of people were so interested and intrigued by my project that they wanted to help me go around and ask other people for their towels. As far as going through a neighborhood, my mom's boss's neighborhood is very family oriented and pet friendly. She and I went around and knocking on doors asking for towels. (I brought my mom's boss around since her neighbors know her). That was another huge success.

Beach Bonfire

Collecting towels from local neighborhood

(way more pictures to come)

APPLIED
This component very well helped me answer a part of my essential question, when we're looking at both my second and best answer. That answer solely focuses on hosting events that promote shelter adoptions, in this case, I was trying to get donations from people. It isn't as easy as saying, "Hey. Do you have any towels you don't want anymore?" There were different methods that had to be used to persuade the iPoly kids especially to help donate towels. A guilt trip and explanation behind the project was the big picture.