Blog 10: Self-Reflection

(1) How do you think you are doing so far in your senior project and why? 
AP.
I think my senior project is coming along well, but my research hasnt quit been up to par. Because I chose to do my project on miss America, it's hard to find articels with a lot of depth. I believe my research checks are the only things keeping me from reaching a P, or AE.

(2) What one thing do you think you have done well on and why?
I think I have done very well with the first presentation. My presentation went great, giving me an AE, which I believe is because I have a lot of experience with my topic, since I have been working with the miss America organization for about a year now.I have done a lot of research on miss America, and have spoken to different people about it (ie: my interviews) to help me understand everything iPad mentioned in my presentation.

(3) What is one thing you would like to improve on and why? 
I need to improve my research checks. Ihave just been looking at the surface of miss America, but am planning on changing my focus so I can do more in-depth research.

Blog 9: Science Fair Proposal

1. What is your hypothesis?
If perfection is beauty, the most beautiful past Miss America's will have symmetrical features in their faces.


2. Identify the dependent (produced), independent (manipulated) and control variables in your hypothesis.
Dependent: beautiful Miss Americas 
Independent: symmetric feature 
Cotroled variables are the people i will be asking to rate the women biased on their beauty.


3. What is the connection between your science fair project and your senior project EQ?
My essential question is about the positive effect young women get when participating in these pageants. Young women receive things like interview skills, self confidence, posture, and other things of that nature.  My science project will help me find out if winning the pageant is about more than just the things it teaches you, if it is, in fact, about a women's beauty. 


4. How will you perform the experiment?  Include the equipment you plan on using.
First, I will go to a public place, such as the mall or the park, and ask random participants to rate pictures of the past 50 Miss Americas, on a scale of 1-5. 5 being the most beautiful and 1 being the least. Then, i will use the points for preference method of ranking vote to find the top rated pictures. Once i have 1/3 of the top rated pictures, I will see if there are any symmetrical features to their faces. If my hypothesis is correct, the highest rated picture over all will be a symmetrical face.


5. Which category will your project be listed under?  (For a full list of categories, go to the iPoly Physics webpage, then to the Science Fair tab.)
Behavior Science

Blog 8: what I've learned so far

1) What have you learned how to do since you started working on your senior project?
Since beginning my senior project, I've learned how to be proactive in all things that I've done with my senior project.


2) Post evidence of this accomplishment.  It can be in the form of a picture, video, document, etc..
The evidence I have are my first two interviews. I did my first interview on september 10, two weeks before it was due on Sept 20. Also, I did my second interview on October 17, when it's due October 28.

3) What research helped you to do this and how?*
The source that helped me realize I needed to be proactive was actually my brother, Richard morales who graduated in 2010. I had a conversation with my brother in the beginning of the school year, and he told me the only thing difficult with senior year is staying on to of everything. He told me the best thing to do is have all my sr project components done at least a week before theyre due so I have time to do all of my class work, and it's probably the best advice he's ever given me.


*What research = name the source
*How = What in the research specifically helped you do what you are posting as evidence

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Plan Approval

(1) Write a description of what you plan on doing for your independent study component.
For my Independent Component 1, I plan on doing research on the preparation needed for a  Miss America pageant, and turning that information into a video series on YouTube. 
I will do research on all the different things pageant girls do to get ready for the pageant, like practicing their interview skills, buying the right kinds of outfit, having the best talent,  and just practicing their walk. After doing intense research on a certain topic of pageants, i will take all the information and put it in a video with my advice and experience.

(2) Describe in detail how you think your plan will meet the 30 hours work requirement.

I plan on doing at least 5 videos, which will take at least 2 hours of research each, 2 hours for filming and possibly 2 hours of editing each, totaling 30 hours.

(3) How does your independent study component relate to your EQ?   

My essential question asks what is the most positive effect Miss America pageants have on young women, and at the end of my component I will have found out if the preparation for the pageant is a positive of negative effect.

Blog 5: second interview questions- updated

Originally, i had planned to interview Chrisina Campbell, the executive director of he pageant, but after emailing her to set up the interview, i found out she has stepped down as director and Katrina Moramarco has taken over the position. I will now be interviewing Katrina, who was originally the event chaperon for the title holders.


Questions:
1. What exactly do you do as executive director of the pageant?

2. What what was your previous involvement in the miss covina pageant before becoming the executive director?

3. Have you ever participated in the Miss Covina, or any other  pageant? If so, what pageant?

4.  How did you initially get involved with this pageant?

5. How has working so closely with the pageant changed your perception of the miss America organization, if at all? 

6.  Does it ever become stressful for you when working with the title holders or contestants? 

7. I know the 2011 Miss Covina pageant is coming up pretty soon, is there anything you're thinking of changing this year as opposed to previous years?

7. From your perspective, what is the most positive effect of this pageant on it's contestants and title holders?

Blog 6: Defining the essential question

1. EQ: What is the most positive effect young women can gain from participating in Miss America pageants?

2. Define words in EQ

 Positive effect: a positive quality of characteristic that is gained
Miss America pageants: All local, state and national pageants under the Miss America organization

3. Possible answers:
Interview skills
Social skills
Learning to speak and preform before an audience
Being able to inform people of your platform

4.What has been your most important source and why?
My most important source would have to be my first interview with Sara Gleason. She has competed in Miss America pageants at the local level for about 5 years now, and had a lot of insight to give me about her experiences. She loves being in the pageants so she was able to tell me all of the positive things they've done for her life and has only ever competed under the Miss America organization. 

Blog 5: Second Interview Questions

For my service learning, i am participating in the miss Covina pageant, which is run by Christina Campbell, the executive director. She has been the executive director for two yeas now, and before that was the 2009 Miss Covina title holder. She is the person I plan on interviewing for my second interview.

Questions:
1. How long have you been the executive director of the Miss Covina pageant?

2. What what was your previous involvement in the miss covina pageant before becoming the executive director?

3. I interviewed Sarah Gleason about a month ago, and she told me that you were miss Covina from 2009, and you really got the pageant back on track, getting sponsors and whatnot, how did you do that?

4. Is that why you wanted to become the executive director?

5.How has working so closely with the pageant changed your perception of the miss America organization, if at all? What have you learned as director about the pageant that you didn't know as a title holder?

6. What exactly do you do as executive director or the pageant?

7. From your perspective, what is the most positive effect of this pageant on it's contestants?

Blog 4: Presentation Reflection

1.  In what way did the first interview affect your presentation?  Please explain, be specific and use an example.
I think my interview affected my presentation in a very positive way. In my interview, the person I interviewed really stressed the fact that miss america pageants stand out from other pageants because of the fact the talent and intrview portion of the competition. Knowing this, I really tried to get that point across. Also, I learned through my interview that th miss America organization is the world leading scholarship provider for young women, so then I did some more research on that and was a able to talk about some important facts about the scholarships.

2.  What you say stood out about your presentation performance and why?
I believe what stood out in my presentation, was that the facts were straight forward and simple. I did cover a lot about the miss America organization, but I think I made it easy to understand. I really tried to present the facts in a way where the students would not get confused. Especially in talking about miss USA and miss America, I would talk about them separately so to not mix them up.

3.  What was the most challenging to do and why?
For me, the most challenging part was just presenting the information. I have a naturally soft voice, so it's a little hard for me to give a presentation without at some points speaking a little bit softer.

Blog 3: Senior Project Presentation 1

Objective: Students will learn the difference between Miss America pageants and other types of pageants, like Miss USA.

1. I will start out by asking the students what they think of when they think of Miss America pageants.
2. I will then explain how Miss America pageants work, and how they are dfferent from other kinds of pageants.
3. To check for understanding, i'll ask the students who answered before if they still would make the same assumptions about the Miss America organization.

Materials: I will show a poster with the biggest differences between the Miss America Organization and the Miss USA organization.

Blog 2: Interview Check

1. Who are you interviewing and why?

I interviewed Sarah Gleason. I chose to interview her because she has competed in several Miss Covina Scholarship pageants, which is a local level Miss America pageant. She was the first runner up this past year, and is currently the princess of covina, working closely with the winners of the pageant.

2. What additional questions will you ask them?

The main questions i asked her, besides the 5 required, were:

1. Why did you start competing in these pageant?
2. When did you start?
3. Why did you continue?
4. What positive effects has it had on you?
5. What skills has it given you that you didnt have before?
6. Would you every consider competing in pageants that aren't under the Miss America Organization, like Miss USA?

Blog 1: Senior Project Topic

What is your topic? 
The Miss America Organization

Why?
The miss America organization is something I see as a positive thing in the lives of women. It's a scholarship pageant that is about crowning a women who is an all around good role model for people to look up to. I participated in a pageant at the local level this past year and it was something that I had a lot of fun with, and i walked away with some really great skills I didn't have before. The pageant gave me great interview skills, helped with my posture, and gave me a chance to meet a lot of great people.

And what do you hope to accomplish after studying this topic all year?
With my senior topic, i hope to show people that the miss America scholarship pageant can be a very positive thing is a women's life. I also want the opportunity to show people that not a pageants are about just a persons looks.