Weekly Report #4

September 22th- September 29th

We made an enormous amount of progress in the dynamics of our class this week. We have a great group of students, but not everyone is comfortable enough to participate as much as we can be to get the most out of every class. I suggested we have a party in class!  Since our class is during lunch everyone brought food.  The party was a big hit!  Everyone brought something unique.  My favorite were the donuts Tiffanie brought which were the flavors of bacon, Oreo, and M&M.  People definitely broke out of the comfort zone and we all got to know each other better.  I think this activity will benefit everyone as the class progresses over the year!   

On Monday, Mr. Wysong allowed us to start calling contacts from our call log and start setting up interviews.  I scheduled an interview with Dr. Milton Mize for Saturday afternoon. Dr. Mize and I met at a Starbucks off of Coit and Spring Creek and spent about an hour discussing his chiropractic business. I felt the interview was fantastic!  Not only did I get answers to the questions I had, but Dr. Mize was very helpful in giving me other information I hadn't considered.  Although the interview assessments are not due for another few months, I have already typed my assessment while everything was fresh in my mind.  I also made contact with Dr. Groves, who is very nice, but very busy.  He said he would like to do anything to help and is more than willing to let me interview him. The demands from internships he oversees from Parker University is going to make it difficult for me to squeeze into his schedule.  Outside the ISM classroom, this week I announced to everyone that I will be playing volleyball at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. I will be signing my letter of intent in November during the early signing period. I am very excited!  UMass Boston has a fantastic science program where I will be majoring in Health Science and Minoring in their Entrepreneur program. 
 -I spent approximately 4.5 hours on ISM work this week.

Goals

Short Term-

1. Graduate High School With a 3.74 GPA
2. Get a full scholarship to a university - Volleyball, Academics, Extracurricular
3. Get into Rotary Club Foreign exchange program
4. Maintain a 3.8 GPA in college

Long Term-

1. Graduate from chiropractic college with a 3.8 GPA
2. Start and own a practice within a year or graduating
3. Partner with a physical therapist to own a cross-fit gym and have clients get adjusted before and after they workout

Weekly Report #3

 September 15th - September 21st


On Tuesday we had a discussion on how to properly talk to adults over the phone. Our teacher needed someone on the other end of the demonstration phone call so I volunteered to help show how a correct phone call should go.  Following the first call, we practiced what should be avoided in a poor phone conversation.  After the exercises were over, we created a short paragraph to use as a guide for when we start making phone calls to set up interviews.  I found this information beneficial and it was helpful to practice holding a conversation.   Conversations are extremely important and in a business where building relationships is crucial, learning how to communicate is a skill I am glad to be strengthening.

Thursday we brought our rough draft resume to school and participated in peer editing in class. We all reworked each other's resumes making sure we were constructive with our criticism. This was also a beneficial activity because now, after so much feedback, I feel like my resume is a very strong and is an accurate reflection of myself. With business symposium seeming to creep up, we also worked on our business symposium outfit. It was a little difficult trying to put together a mature outfit but not something my grandma would wear.On Thursday we were assigned to wear our full professional outfit that we will wear on the business symposium, research showcase, and final presentation night. Unfortunately, homecoming week was last week, so instead of wearing a pants suit, I wore a hula skirt and lae as it was “Tropical Thursday”. Instead I brought a full length picture of my outfit to class and got it approved that way.  School spirit is always important.
-I spent approximately 4.5 hours on ISM work this week.

Goals to Accomplish this Year

• I would like to learn about the mental aspect of healing and how it correlates with the physical adjustment of the body.  
• I would like to learn about how flexible a chiropractor's work schedule is (week by week).
• I would like to learn the best thing to major in while completing an undergrad degree.
• I would like to learn what the most beneficial class in high school is that will help with becoming a chiropractor.
• I would like to learn what the future outlook for this career is. Will the need for chiropractors rise or drop?
• I would like to learn how often the salary fluctuates, being that it is a private business.
• I had a difficult time finding organizations for upcoming chiropractic students to join. I would like to learn about some local clubs and organizations in my area.
   
  
  

Weekly Report #2

September 18th-September 15th

This week flew by!  I am starting to get a rhythm of how to manage college classes, stressful due dates, and varsity volleyball.  Instead of the approach I have taken in previous years of reacting to day to day assignments, I am developing a schedule to work in advance and it is turning out to be much more beneficial.  I now start the assignment as far in advance as possible to ensure success on that assignment and give myself the opportunity to revise and edit when needed. This week, I completed my contact list of possible mentors.  Surprisingly, this list took a lot longer than expected.  My contact list is composed of 25 people with names, phone numbers, emails, web addresses, office hours, travel distance and much more.  I will use this organized list to help narrow down all the possible and well qualified chiropractors in the North Texas area. In my ISM class it has become a regular thing to introduce ourselves to our peers and have a short but informative conversation with them.  I found it very easy to start and hold a conversation, but I really struggle with ending a conversation in a polite professional way.  Ending a conversation will be one of my main goals for the next few weeks I am beginning to see improvement in the way I participate in conversations and I am excited to try out my new conversational tools at the business symposium on October 8th from 8am-1pm.

-Outside of the classroom, I spent approximately 5 hours on ISM work this week.

Weekly Report #1

August 25th-September 8th

It is hard to believe the first two weeks of my senior year are complete!  These first two weeks were a bit stressful in trying to manage between two different schools and where no two days have the same schedule. However, starting the Independent Study Mentorship program, ISM, has been very exciting. Over the summer students had access to the syllabus of work that would be required the first six weeks.  I have taken advantage of having those assignments and tried to work ahead of schedule.  ISM has started off strong with numerous tasks including a career forecast, speech, blog, and mission statement.   A career forecast consists of questions that I answered about the subject I want to focus on in college and what I want to learn this year, my final one at Liberty.   Although I have thought a great deal about what I want to major in at college, to go through the exercise was surprisingly difficult as I realize how much I have to learn and how fast my last year at Liberty is going to go.  The second task was to write and give a speech without reading it.   The speech had to be about what makes me who I am and my goals for the upcoming school year.  I found it is hard to define myself and what I want to do in a speech others would find interesting and not boring.  There is definitely a talent in holding the attention of the room and making what you say important yet entertaining enough people want to listen.  Our third task was to set up a Google Blogger account. I didn’t realize how many details it takes to set up a blog. I now have a greater appreciation for professional bloggers!  Beyond setting up the skeleton of the blog, I added the color scheme and uploaded my first post.  At this point, I have also developed my mission statement and found a quote that is an extension of me.   Again, like the blog page, it was more difficult than I originally thought to come up with a statement that succinctly describes what I want to do how I want to get there.  In trying to stay ahead of my ISM assignments I have come up with a list of questions to use when I interview professionals.  Beyond the obvious questions like, "What did you major in?" and "How many years did it take to get your degree?" I have done research to come up with questions they may not expect.  I'm hoping to get the comment "That's a good question" at some point during the interview.  Next week I plan to compile my contact list. This list will consists of names, phone numbers, emails and approximate travel distance of possible mentors I could work with this year.  Whew!

- Outside of the classroom, I spent approximately 6 hours on ISM work this week.

Mission Statement

By increasing my knowledge of the science of chiropractic medicine through an Mentorship, my mission of the Independent Study Mentorship program is to experience and research the components that aid in the mental and physical adjustment of the human body.

Quote

“On one hand, we know that everything happens for a reason, and there are no mistakes or coincidences. On the other hand, we learn that we can never give up, knowing that with the right tools and energy, we can reverse any decree or karma. So, which is it? Let the Light decide, or never give up? The answer is: both.”

Yehuda Berg

Most quotes have one rule to follow, but much like in life, one way simply does not apply to everything. This quote is significant to me because it shows the importance of using a mixture of actions to determine the right path. Not all situations are the same. Therefore, quotes and ideas that guide us, should have the ability to see different points of view.  I feel we should have many quotes and role models to follow based upon what is happening in our life. It is important to examine each situation and to take action depending on the specific circumstances.  There are instances when it is best to sit back and hope something good happens, and there are occasions where it is best to take action and never give up.  My year in the ISM program is going to be a mixture of both philosophies.  There will be many times where I will be driven to do everything it takes to accomplish the goals I set for myself.  Yet, there will also be situations where I must realize that not everything is in my control.