W here My site visit was awesome! I got to sit down with Dr. Hovel and the grad students that will be working with me and we discussed what each grad student does and how they apply it. there is going to be some marine animal research ase well as food chain analysis and more. When it came to the questions on the sheet a lot of them seemed to be made for more of an office job, for example when I asked what a typical day was like they all responded that there is no day that repeats itself. We also established that I will be given a calendar because the internship is not all in one spot it is actually moving around a lot.
I am also going to be getting some form of "homework" that would be some research papers to read. I cannot really say any specific jobs that I will be doing since a lot of this is trial and error. For the project I would like to put all of what I learn like the different aspects of marine ecology and put it into something that I can share with everyone because I do not want to just do a project and forget about it I want to make a product that will teach people.
(Jan 3) What are your hopes, dreams, and fears for internship?
My hopes are that I learn a lot this month and really find out if this is a passion to pirsuit or not as well as just gaining a lot of expirience. I also hope to not just run trhough the motions but to pay close attention to all details so I can retain as much information as I can. My dream is to actually lve what I do and be able to just keep going and study it through college. My fear is that I do not make a good impression on my mentor or on the grad students and my biggest fear is to ever look or seem unprofessional. Tomorrow I am actually going to a lab in Point Loman and looking forward to it!
(Jan 4)Who is your mentor? Describe his or her life.
My mentor is professor Hovel but so far I have worked mostly with 2 grad students( my sub mentors/ the people I work the closest with). Robert and Julia, today I worked with robert and Julia on various tasks. While working on making some artificial sea grass with Julia we talked for a bit and I found out that she played soccer for a couple of years during high school and Robert was also a swimmer in high school but currently plays soccer. They both are scuba certified and as to where they each went to college I will update you on that tomorrow. What I do know is that they both have their bachelors and are currently working towards their masters and also they are T.A's.
(Jan 5)What are you most surprised by during your first week in internship?
(Jan 6)Well one of the first things that took me by surprise was how close the lab that I am in currently is to HTH its right across the water at NTC park. Some other things that have surprised me was how big the facility is and how much recources they have. Today for example Julia and I went to go collect some shrimp from the bay and we just took the van and put on our wetsuits and hopped into the water and then we collected our shrimp and went back to the lab and put them into the tank. Here is a link for pictures and descriptions of the facility http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/cmi/facilities/
(Jan 9)Today I was able to to out on the boat with Robert to collect the lobster traps that he put out on saturday. The first trap had a good amount of lobster inside of it and we were able to get a good amount of big lobsters (enough for 2 trials). The second lobster cage had nothing but fish in it! It was very weird and Robert told me he had never seen anything like it before so that was something very different. After I got back with Robert I ate lunch and then Julia and I got started with a trial. So basacly she put her fake sea grass into a tank. Then we got exactly 100 shrimp and put them into the tank and then we let them get used to the water for 30 minutes. After that we got the fish in a part of the tank were they couldn't eat the shrimp and gave them 15 minutes to get used to the water. Then we released the fish into the tank and recorded what we saw. Fortunately I did take a selfie today.
I am also going to be getting some form of "homework" that would be some research papers to read. I cannot really say any specific jobs that I will be doing since a lot of this is trial and error. For the project I would like to put all of what I learn like the different aspects of marine ecology and put it into something that I can share with everyone because I do not want to just do a project and forget about it I want to make a product that will teach people.
(Jan 3) What are your hopes, dreams, and fears for internship?
My hopes are that I learn a lot this month and really find out if this is a passion to pirsuit or not as well as just gaining a lot of expirience. I also hope to not just run trhough the motions but to pay close attention to all details so I can retain as much information as I can. My dream is to actually lve what I do and be able to just keep going and study it through college. My fear is that I do not make a good impression on my mentor or on the grad students and my biggest fear is to ever look or seem unprofessional. Tomorrow I am actually going to a lab in Point Loman and looking forward to it!
(Jan 4)Who is your mentor? Describe his or her life.
My mentor is professor Hovel but so far I have worked mostly with 2 grad students( my sub mentors/ the people I work the closest with). Robert and Julia, today I worked with robert and Julia on various tasks. While working on making some artificial sea grass with Julia we talked for a bit and I found out that she played soccer for a couple of years during high school and Robert was also a swimmer in high school but currently plays soccer. They both are scuba certified and as to where they each went to college I will update you on that tomorrow. What I do know is that they both have their bachelors and are currently working towards their masters and also they are T.A's.
(Jan 5)What are you most surprised by during your first week in internship?
(Jan 6)Well one of the first things that took me by surprise was how close the lab that I am in currently is to HTH its right across the water at NTC park. Some other things that have surprised me was how big the facility is and how much recources they have. Today for example Julia and I went to go collect some shrimp from the bay and we just took the van and put on our wetsuits and hopped into the water and then we collected our shrimp and went back to the lab and put them into the tank. Here is a link for pictures and descriptions of the facility http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/cmi/facilities/
(Jan 9)Today I was able to to out on the boat with Robert to collect the lobster traps that he put out on saturday. The first trap had a good amount of lobster inside of it and we were able to get a good amount of big lobsters (enough for 2 trials). The second lobster cage had nothing but fish in it! It was very weird and Robert told me he had never seen anything like it before so that was something very different. After I got back with Robert I ate lunch and then Julia and I got started with a trial. So basacly she put her fake sea grass into a tank. Then we got exactly 100 shrimp and put them into the tank and then we let them get used to the water for 30 minutes. After that we got the fish in a part of the tank were they couldn't eat the shrimp and gave them 15 minutes to get used to the water. Then we released the fish into the tank and recorded what we saw. Fortunately I did take a selfie today.
Robert did his undergrad in north Carolina and is doind his grad school and research with SDSU and UC Davis. Right now he is working on researching how fisheries affect the food chain on specific areas. He also works on how sea urchins are affected by lobster and sheephead.
Robert and I after scraping off the boats in mission bay.
(Jan 10) Over all what I have been doing is helping with a lot of research and trials to prove a hypothesis or further investigate certain habitats or communities. So in the bigger picture this is all to protect and prove different ideas. For example if I can prove that putting out traps for lobster is too harmful for the habitat near the O.B pier I would have evidence to back that up. As well as people Like Julia and Robert that work with people like proffesor Hovel that publish their findings for others to see and be able to study. So all of the small things like picking apart a sample in the lab can add up to make a big impact.
Selfie of the day (behind me are the synthetis sea grass blades on which we attach bryzoans)
Eight Blog Post (January 11): You’ve been at internship for a week now and you should have a grasp of what your internship project will be. What will you be doing? What will the final product look like? Which skills (academic, creative, technical) will you utilize and/or develop while you work on this project? How will the project benefit the organization? If this is still your first week, write about what some options may be even if you don't have it settled
so basically what I'm doing is I am going to get some data that Julia and Robert have collected and I am going to
earn how to analyze it and also I will be putting it into graphs to visually represent the outcomes. then I will put it into a paper that summarizes everything about the data into words. this will help me learn to write in a way that is very direct and to the point. I will a
so keep on helping Robert and Julia on their research while working on that.
Today Julia and I went out to mission bay to get some fish. The tide was very low and the sand was extremely muddy and sticky, every step we took we sunk down and had to fight to take the next. IN the end we found 6 fish which is enough for 3 trials and we also found a huge crab that almost got my finger! Here is my selfie from when we went. We used a method called seine fishing which uses two people to drag a net across the water and it traps everything at once. So it was not traditional fishing with a line but it used the net to corral the fish.
so basically what I'm doing is I am going to get some data that Julia and Robert have collected and I am going to
earn how to analyze it and also I will be putting it into graphs to visually represent the outcomes. then I will put it into a paper that summarizes everything about the data into words. this will help me learn to write in a way that is very direct and to the point. I will a
so keep on helping Robert and Julia on their research while working on that.
Today Julia and I went out to mission bay to get some fish. The tide was very low and the sand was extremely muddy and sticky, every step we took we sunk down and had to fight to take the next. IN the end we found 6 fish which is enough for 3 trials and we also found a huge crab that almost got my finger! Here is my selfie from when we went. We used a method called seine fishing which uses two people to drag a net across the water and it traps everything at once. So it was not traditional fishing with a line but it used the net to corral the fish.
Ninth Blog Post (January 12): What are the social interactions like at your internship workplace? Do people spend a lot of time socializing? Are people isolated, doing their own things? Do they work in open spaces, cubicles? Lots of collaboration on work projects? Not much collaboration? How does the social dynamic impact or reflect the organization’s work?
well here we have an open room that is half desks and half labs. So basically at the desks people talk while doing their work.and here there are many grad students but not all at once for example I have met a good amount of people but different days different people are here so here it the desks there is some talking and socializing but when we go to the tanks usually not too many people are there and everyone is focused on their trials. for collaboration there is a little bit but people are usually just doing their own thing but we help one another out, for example yesterday Julia and I went out to catch some fish from the bay and we found some scallops that someone else needed so we brought them back and we gave them to here. |
Tenth Blog Post (January 13): Choose ONE:A. How do you see yourself growing or changing over the course of your internship?
b. How has, or do, you see your internship changing the way you consider the paths your future will take? c. How do you see your role developing at your internship For this I chose B. So I think that now I have opened my eyes when it comes to what I would like to do in the future because after Joanne's class I KNEW I was going to do something having to do with that class, but now I am loving this internship so much that I might consider marine ecology or something along that path. This is what it is all about, experiencing new things and finding out what I want to pursuit. As of right now my heart is with Joanne's class because I felt so empowered by being able to represent someone more than myself. |
Eleventh Blog Post (January 17): Wondering what your fellow interns are doing? For today’s post you are going to read and comment on THREE other students’ blogs (located under the blogroll link on the Internship website). Post comments on all 3 blogs. On YOUR blog, write down the names of the people you commented on and address the following prompts: What stands out to you from their experiences? What experiences do you have in common? What contrasts do you see? What questions do you have?
Miguel: So Miguel is working with teachers on teaching students math and I think that is great because having one more person teaching math just helps that much more. We do not have much experiences in common. My question is that is he going to have to replace his system every time it fills up with names or will he use a whiteboard so it can be reused.
Gisselle: For Gisselle she is working at an elementary school with the kids after school as well as making some lesson plans. She is going to do some cooking lessons with the kids. Our internships are very different so I couldn't find a similarity but my question is, what is the hardest part about taking care/looking over a group of kids?
Uriel: For Uriel I read about how he works with vets and he watches real surgeries! he also talks about how he will get to his career and what he takes away from his internship. Something that was similar is that he learned that to get the the point of where his mentor is at he has to go through college and everything else too and I also had a similar realization that is takes a lot of steps to get the the top. My question to him is, how is human surgery different from a dog's surgery and what would you change for both scenarios.
Miguel: So Miguel is working with teachers on teaching students math and I think that is great because having one more person teaching math just helps that much more. We do not have much experiences in common. My question is that is he going to have to replace his system every time it fills up with names or will he use a whiteboard so it can be reused.
Gisselle: For Gisselle she is working at an elementary school with the kids after school as well as making some lesson plans. She is going to do some cooking lessons with the kids. Our internships are very different so I couldn't find a similarity but my question is, what is the hardest part about taking care/looking over a group of kids?
Uriel: For Uriel I read about how he works with vets and he watches real surgeries! he also talks about how he will get to his career and what he takes away from his internship. Something that was similar is that he learned that to get the the point of where his mentor is at he has to go through college and everything else too and I also had a similar realization that is takes a lot of steps to get the the top. My question to him is, how is human surgery different from a dog's surgery and what would you change for both scenarios.
Twelfth Blog Post (January 18) : What is the biggest challenge YOU face at internship? Also, describe one challenge that arose at your internship site (related to the work the company does). How did your mentor and their colleagues solve this problem?
A challenge that Robert and I have faced while doing this is weather. Specially since it is winter and the San Diego weather is crazy right now we are always working around raining, just bad weather in general. There are days that are sunny and a perfect day the the same week it turns cloudy and overcast. For example today we had planned to go out and set some traps for the lobster but since the weather is bad tomorrow we would not be able to get the traps and the waves could wash the them up into shore. Same goes with Julia if it is raining like crazy we won't be able to go out and work. |
Thirteenth Blog Post (January 19): CHOOSE ONE:a. What limitations have you recognized in yourself that you want to overcome during internship, or use this internship experience to help you overcome b. What lessons or experiences at your internship will you bring back to school to help you further improve in your academics? I think learning to read and analyze scientific papers is a really good skill to have and almost necessary to have when trying to pursuit something is this field. At first I had a lot of trouble doing it but as I read more I kind of start to make more sense of what is on the paper. So when I get to school I will probably spend some time going on google scholar and looking up some more papers to read because it is very good to understand new topics quickly and to read effectively so you can pick out the things you need for your research. |
Fourteenth Blog Post (January 20): Compare and contrast the work week with the school week. How are your responsibilities, work, interactions, and time different? How might internship influence the direction of your life? What can you bring from internship to who you are in school? How was your work as an intern meaningful to your education? How was your work significant or meaningful for you beyond school and your specific internship site?
Well the work week seems to be a little longer than the school week. I go in at 9 and usually leave around 3:45. My lunch is not exactly one hour its just when I can take a break between tasks. I think it is much more independent compared to school. I can run a trial with Julia or read some research papers or work on samples. What I can bring into school from internship is the practice of sitting down and learning/reading/analyzing data. I think I lack some of that skill. My work has impacted the way I look at nature as well, now I ask myself some questions that I wouldn't ask myself before. |
Fifteenth Blog Post (January 23): You are now more than halfway done with your internship project. How is it going? How did your project(s) go from an idea or inspiration to a final product? Describe the project details → share out the process from beginning to end. What did you learn about yourself through working on the internship project(s)? Discuss challenges, solutions, skills utilized & gained, and overall learning achieved.
So far my project is not in a physical form. My project is to write a scientific style paper that ties all the work that I have done into words. The reason/inspiration behind this is for me to get an idea as to how to write a scientific paper because it is very different when compare to a writing peace in humanities. So as of right now I am about half way there, I have read the research papers and now it will be time to start writing my first drafts. |
Sixteenth Blog Post (January 24): What did you learn about the importance of (the role of) communication and self advocacy during your internship (with your mentor? Among colleagues?). How did communication and/or collaboration at work influence your understanding of professional working environments?
Well communication is key because what I do is help Julia and Robert with their projects so my role is to listen and learn about and ask lots of questions so I can absorb as much as I can. For example my first time running a trial I had trouble because I was new to it, but today we ran a trial smoothly and I have become more independent in a lot of tasks like starting the trial by collecting shrimp or just by knowing what types of things to do and work on during my day.
Well communication is key because what I do is help Julia and Robert with their projects so my role is to listen and learn about and ask lots of questions so I can absorb as much as I can. For example my first time running a trial I had trouble because I was new to it, but today we ran a trial smoothly and I have become more independent in a lot of tasks like starting the trial by collecting shrimp or just by knowing what types of things to do and work on during my day.
Seventeenth Blog Post (January 25): Post your IPOL presentation and reflect on the following: describe your IPOL preparation process. What presentation tools are you planning to use? Are you relying on notes, a memorized talk, something else? How are you preparing to address questions you might be asked? What new appreciations did you develop while working as an intern? Why? How did you make a meaningful contribution to your workplace (what did you do overall? What were your day to day activities/responsibilities)?
For my IPOL I just answered the questions that were sent to us and I am also showing my audience how to run a trial with Robert and how to run one with Julia. I am going to be reflecting on how this internship affected my life in and out of school and how I plan to use this in the future. I am using note cards to help me in case I forget what to say but I feel good. For the questions that I may be asked I just will answer them honestly and I hope to talk about everything that I have done so they know everything.
Eighteenth Blog Post (January 26): What qualities or characteristics did you see in the people around you that you want to develop in yourself? Why? How did your view of life beyond high school change or develop during your time as an intern? How might internship influence the direction of your life (college, career, goals)?
Julia and Robert are very good at pushing through setbacks that they encounter. If they are set back by something they either solve it or work around it. I think this is a very good skill to have because in the future when I work in a real workplace like I have here I will be able to just keep going and not get caught up by small setbacks.
Julia and Robert are very good at pushing through setbacks that they encounter. If they are set back by something they either solve it or work around it. I think this is a very good skill to have because in the future when I work in a real workplace like I have here I will be able to just keep going and not get caught up by small setbacks.
Twentieth Blog Post (January 30): What are you most thankful for in your internship experience? What people, experiences, situations, etc. What new appreciations have you gained through internship and how did you develop these?
Over the last couple of weeks I have gained an appreciation for people that are organized. As a student I don't really get to see the prep that goes into each lesson or into each class but now that I try and think about it I realize that it is very hard work. Just seeing the organization that these experiments and data take I now see how being organized is not only a great trait to have but a necessity.
Over the last couple of weeks I have gained an appreciation for people that are organized. As a student I don't really get to see the prep that goes into each lesson or into each class but now that I try and think about it I realize that it is very hard work. Just seeing the organization that these experiments and data take I now see how being organized is not only a great trait to have but a necessity.
Twenty-First Blog Post (January 31): In what ways has your internship inspired you to think about college? Have you discovered new colleges that you are interested in attending? Have you learned about new courses to study or majors to pursue?
Well over my time here since I have worked with grad students I have really seen how grad school works, it is very individual when compared to high school. I also had a chance to attend a college class that Julia taught and that was awesome because it kind of took that mentality that in college its impossible to do well. I understand that it is harder than high school but I can also see that if you just do the work and read the assigned readings you will be OK. I still do not know what college I plan to go to because I do not know where I will be in terms of my GPA and my SAT score, I hope to be able to apply to very good schools but only hard work and time will tell.
Well over my time here since I have worked with grad students I have really seen how grad school works, it is very individual when compared to high school. I also had a chance to attend a college class that Julia taught and that was awesome because it kind of took that mentality that in college its impossible to do well. I understand that it is harder than high school but I can also see that if you just do the work and read the assigned readings you will be OK. I still do not know what college I plan to go to because I do not know where I will be in terms of my GPA and my SAT score, I hope to be able to apply to very good schools but only hard work and time will tell.
Twenty-Second Blog Post (February 1): Choose ONE of the following two: a. How might you continue your internship experience beyond the scope of just this at HTHI? What ideas, skills, connections and so on will you bring back to the rest of your life? Will you continue working with, or be in contact with, your mentor and/or internship site after the internship concludes? In what ways?
b. What advice would you pass on to future interns? What are the most important skills for a student to be successful at his/her internship? How could another student develop these skills prior to beginning internship?d
For this topic I chose B.
My tip to another intern or future intern is to simply do what you like or what you are curious about. Ideally you go into a field or topic that you are passionate about and you work there and love it and plan to pursuit that. If you do not take the process of getting an internship seriously and you wait until the last minute to do the tasks then you probably will not get the internships you would like. So just put the effort into the process and you will be fine. When it comes to internship itself, if you love it and want to keep doing it in the future then great! But if you find yourself not liking that topic or field then that is great too because now you know that in the future you will not work in that area. Overall this is a chance for you to step into the real world and get yourself in a real working environment so take seriously and you will do great!
b. What advice would you pass on to future interns? What are the most important skills for a student to be successful at his/her internship? How could another student develop these skills prior to beginning internship?d
For this topic I chose B.
My tip to another intern or future intern is to simply do what you like or what you are curious about. Ideally you go into a field or topic that you are passionate about and you work there and love it and plan to pursuit that. If you do not take the process of getting an internship seriously and you wait until the last minute to do the tasks then you probably will not get the internships you would like. So just put the effort into the process and you will be fine. When it comes to internship itself, if you love it and want to keep doing it in the future then great! But if you find yourself not liking that topic or field then that is great too because now you know that in the future you will not work in that area. Overall this is a chance for you to step into the real world and get yourself in a real working environment so take seriously and you will do great!
Twenty-third Blog Post (February 2): Describe your reflections on your internship project – what went well, what should you have done differently, what stands out to you (address all three of these)?
Overall I am really thankful for this experience, it has been such a fun but learning experience for me that I wouldn't do any other internship if i had the choice to do it again. I think what went well was the internship itself like the work I did and how I helped. What didn't go well was that I had trouble keeping my blog up to date every day and sometime struggled to be able to post.
Overall I am really thankful for this experience, it has been such a fun but learning experience for me that I wouldn't do any other internship if i had the choice to do it again. I think what went well was the internship itself like the work I did and how I helped. What didn't go well was that I had trouble keeping my blog up to date every day and sometime struggled to be able to post.