Also this week I went out and worked on the capstone project that I need to full fill my Senior Capstone Experience. I had my mom take video of me doing different stream assessments. I'm going to then combine my video and pictures to make an informational video on Stream Quality Assessments and my mentoring experience. I'm really excited to see how it turns out and will post a link when it is ready.
This week at my mentor site I continued to put assessments into an online spreadsheet. This is an ongoing part of the job as new reports come in. Also this week I went out and worked on the capstone project that I need to full fill my Senior Capstone Experience. I had my mom take video of me doing different stream assessments. I'm going to then combine my video and pictures to make an informational video on Stream Quality Assessments and my mentoring experience. I'm really excited to see how it turns out and will post a link when it is ready.
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I was only able to make it out to my mentorship site once this week. My mentor, Tiffany, had me working on laminating parking passes for volunteers. After I finished that I then worked on entering new data for the list of volunteers, on her computer. It was just another part of the job that I was able to help with and see that there is a lot of variety in this job and duties can change from day to day, which keeps things interesting.
This week at my mentor site I was entering in the Stream Quality Assessment Forms into an online excel spreadsheet. It is important to take my time and input the data correctly and double checking my work.This has shown me what else this job entails when not out collecting data. While some may find this work boring, hard, or even tedious , I found it interesting to see the different results of the assessments in the different areas. I could see how results varied from within the same area.
On Tuesday we had the day off so I got to go out with my mentor, Tiffany, and another intern. We went out to several different sites and took Stream Quality Assessments and Habitat Assessments. The sites were on the Big and Little Darby. We took stream quality assessments at 2 of the sites and we also did a habitat assessment at another. It was cool getting to go out for a longer time than usual. I was able to go out for 5 hours and get a lot of experience. We found a variety of macro-organisms that we don’t usually get to see. The next day I was back in the Watercraft Office and Tiffany was teaching me how to enter in the data from the Stream Quality Assessment forms into an Excel sheet. I will be working on that next week. Also this weekend, I took my sister out to Indian Ridge Park and taught her about how to do a Stream Quality Assessment. It was fun being able to teach her everything I have learned about Stream Quality Monitoring. We took several samples and I showed her what everything was that we caught. She was most interested in the Darters we caught and she said she had a lot of fun. I then took her over to the Darby Metro Parks Nature Center and she really loved seeing everything they had there (I highly recommend visiting if you haven't already.) I’m looking forward to going out with her again sometime. Required Question: So far in my mentorship I have grown as a person, learning life skills, like how to work well in a team environment, responsibility, time management, an idea of what is expected of professionals in the work force, and the willingness to go above and beyond. This week at my mentor site I was on my own, my mentor, Tiffany, had an emergency she had to take care of so I sorted through some data sheets, folded pamphlets, cut out parking passes and read though a book full of different Macro-Organisms. The next day I helped my mentor out with organizing their area in a storage garage. As the end of their event season closes they have a lot of left over pamphlets and books that need organizing. I helped Tiffany get the identification books organized and pamphlets too. After that I swept up part of the garage, clearing it of debris and dirt. Though it may not have been the most interesting day, I did get a great chance to get to know my mentor more as we cleaned and she got to know me more. I also learned that there are still other things involved with this type of job, besides just going out to collect data. Like day to day cleaning and maintenance. Tiffany let me know about an event this weekend that I could go to where we help clear out invasive plant species. The species we would be removing is the Honey Suckle. I told her that'd I'd join them on Saturday. When Saturday morning came around I met her at the Little Darby State Scenic Preserve. However, when I got there, Tiffany and Natalie that the event had been cancelled due to the cold weather, so instead we walked the property. Another volunteer had shown up so he joined us too. We picked up the trash we saw as we walked along. As we went down one path we came to the creek that was running through the land and in the middle of the creek was a huge beaver dam. It was really neat to see but we didn't see the beavers themselves. While we didn't get to clear out the Honey Suckle I still had a really fun time. Required Questions:
This week at my mentor site was a very cool experience. On Tuesday I spent the day reading about how to do a Habitat Assessment. Basically a Habitat Assessment is where you go out to the river and then a mile marker for that river and you assess the change in it from the last assessment. Habitat Assessments are done every 5 years, this is done because you want there to be enough time to see if there have been any changes in the river. On a habitat assessment form there are areas where you can mark the details of the riffles (the fast sections in the river). You mark the different rock types found in and around the riffle, as well as the look of the area around the riffle. Paying attention for erosion on the bank, the amount of hanging vegetation, what the surrounding flood plain looks like, what is beyond the river bank, and how far down the river you can see from the point you are at. After I read all about Habitat Assessments I then went out to try it all myself! So, the next day my mentor, Tiffany, and another intern, met me at the Big Darby Creek along one of the mile markers. We got to go down and Tiffany explained to us in a little more detail how the Habitat Assessment works. Together we filled out the form. After we finished up there we moved a little further down the road to the Little Darby. As we walked down to the next riffle area we were going to assess, we came across a beaver dam! We stopped and Tiffany told us a little bit about beavers! It was super neat to see the dam, but unfortunately we didn't see any beavers. Once we got to the riffle Tiffany let us do the assessment by ourselves. The assessment is rated out of 100 points and the closer to 100 you get the better the river is. I got an 87 the other intern got 88 and Tiffany got a 94. So in the end they were fairly close! I had a blast getting to go out and give this a try and I hope I will get another chance to do it! Required Questions: a) how does your website and blog showcase your mentorship experience? I explain every aspect of my mentorship in my blog and I also put pictures up to give people a better look into what I'm doing. b) what evidence have you posted on your website? I have posted my blogs and pictures from my experiences. c) what do you need to do to improve your website/blog? Maybe add more pictures or a gallery page, and work some more on my blog entries. d) what specific help do you need? I need help with figuring out how to get my pictures to upload quicker because it takes awhile. This week at my mentor site, my mentor had me sorting through the Stream Quality Monitoring Assessment forms. I took the stack of forms and sorted them into piles by river name and then into each mile marker for the designated river. After that I had to go through each stack and mark whether or not the volunteers had made it out at least 3 times and 30 days apart, for them to count as successfully surveyed. I then went back through to make sure they correctly tallied up the number of specimens found. It was a fun week being able to do things a actual Stream Quality Monitor does. I did this work over two days and after day one was over I was super excited to go back the next day. I can't wait to see what next week has in store for me.
Required Question: Visit a website of a Mentorship student that is NOT in your class and read the blog section: -Describe the strengths of the website The student is very strong at their writing and describing what they are doing weekly in their mentor site. -What did you learn about the student’s mentorship experience? I learned about their experience with mentoring at a school and how it has changed from their past school days. It was very interesting to hear about something I don't always hear about. -How is their experience different from your experience? In their mentoring experience they are working with kids and in mine I am working with other adults and animals, but also sometimes children. -What can YOU do to improve your website or blog? I can be more descriptive in my blog post and work on my writing. I can talk more about things not every person is getting to see and do. Today was Darby Days at Darby Creek Metro Park. I had a complete blast helping work it. When I first got there they had a big tent set up so I went there and waited for my mentor, Tiffany and her boss, Natalie. When Tiffany got there she introduced me to some of the people working there and then I saw my 6th grade science teacher. I was elated to see him. After we were introduced I reminded him that I had him as my science teacher. He was happy to see me. It was so great to see him and was definitely one of the highlights of my day! Tiffany then took me down to the river where we had a little table set up with different viewing tanks for the families to see. I then went out with one of the other helpers and using a net caught a lot of different specimens. We took them back to the table and sorted through the macro-organisms we collected. We had a good variety of specimens. As we sorted, the kids could come and help us. It was great to be able to get the kids involved with the whole process and get them interested. After a while of working at the creek, I was sent up to the main area to work at our tent, where we had a board with all the information on it about ODNR and Stream Quality. While I was up there I was working with my mentors boss, Natalie. We had a lot of fun hanging out and teaching the kids that came by about macro-organisms. I got to meet a lot of people who were in different fields of study. It was such a great event and I highly recommend attending it sometime.
Required Questions:
On Saturday I went to Blacklick Metro Park to help with their Blacklick Creek Celebration. I rode a tram through the park for about a mile when the tram stopped at the creek. I walked down the path to find my mentor, Tiffany. She explained what we would be doing. We were giving the kids small dip nets to go out and see what they could catch. The creek was extra low seeing as how it had not rained in a while so the dip nets were all we could use. The kids caught minnows, darters, a few frogs, but mostly just crayfish. It was great to watch the kids interact with the environment, and teach them to keep their creeks clean. We worked from 1-4:30. A family of 5 kids came at the end of the day. The kids were so excited because this was their first time at the creek. They asked me to help them catch something. We caught a few crayfish but that was it. I could tell they had a great time! I loved seeing their interest in the environment. It was such a great event and I'm so glad I got to be a part of it! Required Question: Focus on Social Media/Networking Prompt ODNR uses the internet mainly to spread information about their company. ODNR also uses Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The best social media platform for Environmental Science is probably the internet. When posting information on the internet never give away really personal information. Also never post about confidential information about patients, clients, or private data. When posting pictures for a business purpose make sure they are appropriate for the aspect of what you are doing. Always have someone else look at something before you post it in. On Sunday, I went out to the Indian Ridge Park on Darby Creek. I met Tiffany there and we walked down to the river bank and over to the other side. Once there we set up our equipment, which included a net on top of a shower curtain (which will collect any organisms that slip through the net). We had a plastic container to keep all the organisms we would find. And we also had some identification and data sheets. Then we headed out into the water. I held the net the first time while Tiffany kicked around the rocks in front so we could make sure we were stirring up all the organisms around. We took up the net and went back to examine our catch. We had caught Crayfish, Stonefly Larva, Mayfly Larva, Damselfly Larva, Dobsonfly Larva, Gilled Snail, and Water Penny Beetle Larva. After that trip we went out again, this time Tiffany showed me how to do it all by myself. So we moved to a different spot by the bank with some overhanging roots and brush. There we caught pretty much the same thing as before, some quantities varying, but we also caught something else exciting... A Queen Snake! The last time we went out I got to go all by myself, which was a little challenging because I had to be able to hold the net and still kick around the rocks without letting the current cause you to lose your balance. Unfortunately my turn didn't turn up anything new and exciting, however, it was cool to be able to know that when it's my turn to go out by myself I can do it! Required Questions: What do I need in my career field to be marketable?
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April 2016
AuthorI'm Haley and here you can learn all about how my mentoring experience is going! Categories |