Blog #10: Self-Reflection.

Q: How do you think you are doing so far in your senior project and why?  AE, P, AP, CR, or NC

A: So far I am at a P, I honestly think I could be doing better. I have had really good contacts, met deadlines, and have really good research sources. Even though I did get an amazing first interview and a great opportunity to do my service learning at BeDazzle My Events, and obtained really good research; I feel I should do more outstanding things to meet an AE.

This is my way to make myself work harder and tell myself I am at a P, but I WILL meet the AE.

Q: What one thing do you think you have done well on and why?

A: Good contacts for both interviews and my service learning place. I have had luck to find good contacts to guide me into the right direction to answer my EQ. I am the most proud of my first interview, I learned to never wait for a response and take the initiative to go in person.

Q: What is one thing you would like to improve on and why? 

A: A LOT, even though I am not as behind as others I feel I should be more on top of stuff. Like my service learning place; I have not done any hours due to scheduling problems. I need to call as soon as possible and make sure I will be able to do my service learning there, or if not look for an alternative. Besides my service learning I need to get on top of my science experiment journal and data, Ms. Melogno said she knows I can do better, and I will.

I got this (:

Blog #9: Science Fair Proposal.

Q: What is your hypothesis?
A: My hypothesis for this experiment will be the following:
If an event planner has over 20 years in the field then they will achieve financial success.
Q: Identify the dependent (produced), independent (manipulated) and control variables in your hypothesis.
A: dependent: income success.
independent: over 20 years.
controls variable: event planner.
Q: What is the connection between your science fair project and your senior project EQ?
A: My EQ is; What is most important on being a successful event planner?
The connection between experimenting event planners incomes and years in the field with my EQ is being  successful includes being economically stable. Having more experience will allow an event planner to be more successful.As my first interviewee stated having experience in a popular field nowadays will increase your chances of being successful event planner.
Experience is the key to success. (:
Q: How will you perform the experiment?  Include the equipment you plan on using.
A: I will perform this experiemnt by contacting about 25 event planners; emailing a survery i will conduct using survey monkey. This survery will consist of questions such as; range of age, range of income and range of the years they have been in the event planning industry. I will be sending out this survey through email.
Q: Which category will your project be listed under? 
A: The category in which my experiment would be listed on would be the Behavioral Science.

Blog #8: What I've Learned So Far.

Q: What have you learned how to do since you started working on your senior project?
A: I have learned to experience myself by planning events in order to become a successful event planner. Being part of ASB has made this easier, as of right now we are planning Scare Faire. It requires a lot of planning, such as planning the location of each booth, to the small details. I learned how to be more organize about planning the whole event.

Photo: This photo shows the work that has been put into the event, starting with the different layout we came up to this year, and a picture of the quad in which we label were each booth will be located. (after friday I will post a picture of the product of scare faire.)  Also the last picture shows the goodie bags that are going to be given to students that day. This are just a few pictures of the planning I have been part of Scare Faire.

Q: What research helped you to do this and how?
A: My interviewee, Dr.Fawaz Al-Malood & 10 Steps to a Fab Job as a Wedding Planner.
Both of these resources have taught me a lot. From having to have experience on planning events to the steps you need to take in order to have a successful event, not just weddings as the article says but all events. They have both taught me that planning an event is hard work and you need to be able to be organize in order to pull a successful event.
*How = What in the research specifically helped you do what you are posting as evidence

Blog #7: Independent Component 1 Plan Approval.

ASB Events.

Q: Write a description of what you plan on doing for your independent study component.

A:I plan on planning events at school. Being part of E-Board will allow me to plan events every month. Every elective we plan something new; for example right now we are planning Scare Fair  and every detail that goes into the actual event. We also have movie nights coming up, this involves selecting a theme and the food that will be sell. The biggest event that I will be part of planning will be Winter Formal, this event will probably take the most planning. It involves the most work just like a wedding. For example, getting the location, date, decoration, entertainment and decor. My first independent component will consist of my ASB events that will be plan in these upcoming months.

Q: Describe in detail how you think your plan will meet the 30 hours work requirement.

A:In order to meet the 30 hours I will keep track of all the hours I spend in ASB actually planning an event. I will have a calendar with the hours and days I spend planning the actual event. Especially for Winter Formal I will keep track of the visits we make to the location, the places we go to buy supplies, for the decor, etc.

Q: How does your independent study component relate to your EQ?

A: My EQ is; what is most important on being a successful wedding planner? One of my main answers would be having experience. Having experience planning events will lead you to being a successful event planner not just a wedding planner.

Blog #6: Defining the Essential Question.

EQ.
What is most important on being a successful wedding planner?

Definitions.
important: key factors.
successful: someone that has master the key factors.
wedding: an event celebrating a couples' marriage.
planner: a person who plans every moment- detail of the event.

Answers?.

• organization
• communication
• experience
• knowledge on event planning
• personality

Most important source.
The professor of Hospitality and Management of Mt.Sac, Dr. Fawaz Al-Malood has been my most important source. He taught me so much in just a 20 minute interview- he told me the process you need to go through in order to be a successful event planner. One of the the key factors he mentioned was experience, having experience will open so many doors for you to be a successful event planner. For my essential question my main focus is weddings, but the key factor of  experience never changes even if my essential question isn't about event planning .

Blog #5: Second Interview Questions.

1. Why did you decide to be an event planner?
2. What  was your career path like when you were in high school?
3. What is your educational background?   And how has it helped you in your job?
4. What is your work experience?  And how has it helped you in your job?
5. What is the most important thing you have done in this job and why?  
6. What is some background information about event planning business?
7. What skills does an event planner have to have in order to be successful?
8. How many years have you been in the field ? 
9. How did you end up working as an event planner here at Bedazzle my event?

Blog #4: Presentation Refelection.

Q: In what way did your first interview affect your presentation?
A: It affected by the way that my first interview with the professor of Hospitality and Management of Mt.Sac, Dr. Fawaz Al-Malood was mainly about being experienced in order to be successful in the event planning field. I talked about a personal experience that I planned an event. So I focus on the set up of my quinceanera. My interviewee made it clear that a person with a degree and no experience versus a person that has both will a a more successful career than the other one. So that is why Purther helped me come up with the idea of talking about my personal experience of this event in my life.

Q: What you say stood out about your presentation performance and why?
A: I will have to say that I spoke with experience. That I talked about something that had to deal with my topic and something that had happened to me. It wasn't all scripted, even though I was nervous about forgetting to mention something I was there that day so I did know what I was talking about.

Q: What was the most challenging to do and why?
A: Knowing what my 5 minute presentation will be about! I wanted to talk about what a wedding consist of , and talk about all the small details that an event planner has to be planned. I wasn't realistic enough to think that five minutes isn't enough to talk about what goes in a wedding. I have learned so much on my research that I wanted to tell the class about it. I was stressing about what I would talk for five minutes and was still stressing the day of the presentation.

Blog #3: Senior Project Presentation1.

5 Minute Presentation Rough Draft.

Objective:

• Give students a better understanding of the "behind the scenes" of planning a wedding.

Procedure:

1. Introduction

• Who in the room has attended a wedding recently?
• Call on 2-3 people and ask them; What are some of the details that go on in planning a wedding?   [ex: venue,cake, menu, etc.]

2. Talk about the different details about planning a wedding.

• theme
• budget selection
• date selection
• guest selection
• attire selection
• ceremony selection
• venue selection
• catering selection
• cake selection
• decoration selections
• entertainment selection

3. Explain the different aspects of selecting each of the different details of a wedding.

• The different type of selections that could be made.
• Selections being made to accommodate your wedding theme.

4. Conclusion

• In order to plan a successful wedding you need to be on top of your "to-do list" to make your clients have a successful wedding themselves. 

Check for Understanding:

• Ask students why they think planning each detail of a wedding is important?

Resources/Materials:

• Display board of pictures of all the selections that have to be made for a wedding

Blog #2: Interview Check.

Q: Who are you interviewing and why?
A: I am interviewing a hospitality professor either at Cal Poly or Mt.Sac. Hospitality consists of a broad  category of fields and event planning is one of them. I think that interviewing a hospitality professor will open a lot of doors for my interviews and service learning later on. I was planning on interviewing an actual event planner first but then my sister suggested to start with the broad profession of event planning which is hospitality so I can get more information about it and more contacts, so why not just interview a professor that knows all the aspects of event planning. 

Q: What additional questions will you ask them?
A: Besides the 5 questions I will ask the professor :

• What made you decide becoming a  hospitality professional ?
• What steps as a student do you have to take in order to graduate with a hospitality degree?
• What category of hospitality do you think it's the most common in our community?
• What does a person wanting to pursue having their own event planning business have to do in order to accomplish it?
• Where are some event planning courses that I can take for my independent components?

Blog #1: Senior Project Topic.

Q: What is your topic?
A: Event Planning.

Q: Why?
A: So I have changed my topic three times already, and I have come to the conclusion that my topic WILL be event planning. I will mainly focus on the celebration side of event planning such as weddings. I have always been a big fan of television shows that deal with wedding planning. I have no idea why I didn't think of event planning for my senior project when I spent most of my summer watching TLC shows about wedding planning and I even said I wanted to be a wedding planner later on in life.
I wanted my senior topic to be a topic that I can show off my creativity and a topic that people will be interested on learning about. And for some reason I couldn't come up with one until Purther help me out and asked me why I like ASB and I answered that I love being part of school events, and BAM event planning came to the picture. Since that day I know this will be my senior topic no matter what.

Q: What do you hope to accomplish after studying this topic this year?
A: I hope to learn more in detail about event planning, more than just knowing you need to have organization and be able to manage your time. I really hope I get to do my service learning with a professional event planner and for he/she to teach me the steps it takes to become a successful event planner. Maybe I will make event planning a side job later on in life.

I am proud to say that I am really looking forward to this year and learning more about my topic.