Blog 25: Mentorship

Literal: Log of hours and description of duties are below

• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsEoEBm8As4OdFNZa1lHTWNja0FodXkxSzJKNXo0QUE#gid=0
• Contact name: Cassandra Sanders-Holly
• Phone number: (951)340-0431

Interpretave: What is the most important thing you've gained from this experience?

• The most important thing I gained from my mentorship experience at Leaps and Bounds is the knowledge of how hippotherapy helps many children with special needs. Leaps and Bounds plays a big role in many children's lives. They are given the freedom attop a horse that they normally would not have. Hippotherapy is a fun and unique way for a child to recieve therapy. It has been life changing seeing children week after week grow and achieve their goals. I have really enjoyed interacting with the children and hearing about their lives and their everyday accomplishments. I have also loved working with my fellow volunteers. I have met many new people, from all walks of life, through my mentorship. Another thing that has been very important to me is the friendships I have made with the horse handlers, Melissa and Megan. They were of great help to me and always made me feel comfortable and welcome. My mentor, Cassie, was also of tremendous help to me. She is so brilliant and knows everything there is to know about hippothrerapy and clinical therapy. She was there every day, greeting me with a smile and a warm hello. I really, really appreciate all that she has taught and done for me.

Applied: How has what you've done helped you to answer your Essential Question?

• Everything that I have done at my mentorship has helped me answer my EQ. My essential question is, "What is the most important benefit a child with special needs recieves through equine assisted therapy?" If it weren't for my mentorship, I would have limited knowledge of hippotherapy, and I would not have been able to answer my essential question to the fullest. My mentorship gave me a hands on experience to hippotherapy. I was able to learn by doing, which was very helpful. Also, my mentor was always there if I had any questions. She was there to guide me in the right direction. She also explained some specific things about hippotherapy in her own words. I would later go and research further what she spoke of that day. Cassie reccomended places I should go to look up certain information. Without my mentorship with Cassie, I honestly think I would have been lost.

Blog 24: Exit Interview Questions

1)      My essential Question is, “What is the most important benefit a child with special needs receives through equine assisted therapy?” My best answer is the movement of the horse is beneficial to the patient. Hippotherapy is unique because it incorporates the horse into the treatment process. There is no other therapy that can compare. Without the horse, the therapy would be just like any other strategy. The horses walking gait is exactly the same as a human’s walk.  If there were no horse and no benefits of the horse’s walk, my other answers would not exist. This is why the movement of the horse is my best answer.

2)      I began the year interested in doing my senior project on something to do with horses. Because horses is such a broad topic, I wanted to hone in on a certain area. I didn’t know what I wanted to specialize in at the time, however. I later heard about hippotherapy. I looked into it, and I really liked what I had heard about it. So, I decided to proceed with hippotherapy being my final senior project topic. My essential question came to be, “What is the most important benefit a child with special needs receives through equine assisted therapy?” My three answers that I came upon were, the movement of the horse is beneficial to the patient, hippotherapy provides relaxation through a relationship with the horse, and hippotherapy provides postural improvement. Through a process of elimination, leveling out the pros of each answer, I finally decided that my final and best answer would be that the movement of the horse is beneficial to the patient.

 

3)      One problem that I faced was finding a mentor. Once I decided I wanted to do hippotherapy as my senior project topic, I really had trouble finding a center close by. This is because at the moment, hippotherapy is not that popular, and there are few hippotherapy centers in California. After searching and searching on the internet for places I could do my mentorship at, I finally just got lucky and someone I knew knew someone who worked at a hippotherapy center.  After explaining my senior project and hippotherapy to my aunt, my aunt mentioned that she knew someone who worked in the field. I was in contact with that person, Melissa Hidden, right away. Another problem I faced was that I did not receive my data for the science experiment in time. I resolved this problem by coming up with another experiment and performing it.  It was not as strong as my initial experiment, but I completed it on time. If I were to rely on my other experiment and hope the data would come in time, I would have been sorry. My data would not have come in time.

 

4)      My first and most important source would have to be my mentor, Cassandra Sanders-Holly. Cassie is a licensed physical therapist and a professor at USC. She helped me arrive at two of my answers and would always be open and willing to help me with whatever I needed. It was really great having her there. I got more information from her, than I did any other paper article that I read. My second important source would be the American Hippotherapy Association. I found several helpful articles from their website. From what hippotherapy is, to who it is used for, it can all be found from their website. It is also the official website for hippotherapy.

5)      My product is that I developed a relationship with the patients and children at my mentorship. I really feel like I connect with many of the patients who I see during hippotherapy. I also have developed a strong relationship and friendship with my fellow volunteers, horse handlers, and my mentor. I think the relationships that have been created have the potential to carry on for many years. Because I have enjoyed my mentorship so much, I plan on continuing to volunteer at Leaps and Bounds after the school year.

Blog 23: 2014 Interview

Content:

1.  I interviewed Daisy Zavala from East house.

2.  What ideas do you have for your senior project and why?

            "For my senior project, I want to do something involving animals. Maybe I could volunteer at a Vet clinic. If that doesn't work out, I am thinking of volunteering at a hospital."

3.  What do you plan to do for your summer 10 hour mentorship experience?

            "I plan on working at an independent animal hospital by my house.  I also plan on learning more about nursing  in case I change my mind and want to do nursing instead."

4.  What do you hope to see or expect to see in watching the 2013 2-hour presentations?

            "I expect to see presentations with a variety of topics.  Some presetations can possibly change or confirm my decisions for my own senior topic."

5.  What questions do you have that I can answer about senior year or senior project (or what additional information did you tell them about senior year or senior project)?

            Q: What is your senior topic? Did you enjoy learning about it?

            A: My topic is equine assisted therapy. I really enjoyed learning about it! I hadn't really heard of    hippotherapy ahead of time, so it was really great learning something new. I also really enjoyed           working with the children while they were on the horse. Overall, It's been a great experience.

            Q: Is senior year and the senior project hard?

            A: Not necessarily. Just don't get behind. Don't procrastinate. Stay on task and get done with        everything on time. If you do that, you should be good. It is stressful at times, but in the end it is           worth it. You feel accomplished knowing what you have done.

Blog 22: Final 3-Column Chart

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IjO6MGvGGO7dbv2gSHuPZ73Fj1UyQMZ1Vx8RhhrzomY/edit?usp=drive_web