May 3
In my mind happiness is the main goal in life and is necessary to enjoy life. In order to find out more about happiness and explore its many values we created a project that will allow us to venture out into our community. We are reaching out to organizations to interview how they use happiness, we are also enjoying some activities that will teach us how to bring more happiness in our life. I am so excited to find out how other people and my amazing friends find happiness in their daily life
My mentor is Kate Webb she is an amazing inspiration because she has created a art therapy company called, Draw From Within. Her whole business is created on the foundation of becoming a happier human. She believes therapy including art therapy is amazing for so many people because it allows them to open up without being judged. Kate has already given us names of people we can interview and given us some great advice. Kate really likes our project and thinks it's a great idea. |
May 5
I have the most amazing work place, all over San Diego. I work on my project in my home or at my peers home. The greatest thing about my peers is that they are my closest friends, since I work so close with my friends I learn so much about them. I also get to learn what makes them happy and how they interpret that in their lives. I am really excited to interview and document all the amazing people in this project. I am most excited to start my small volunteering project with Lions Tigers and Bears. I’m kind of worried that me and Andra won't be able to finish our project in time, but i'm sure we will get it done. My first impressions of this project is amazing and I can't wait to see what's in store for me. The picture above is Bethany drawing what makes her happy. Aka her friends.
May 10
In just the second week I am already learning what it means to be happy. Before this project it never crossed my mind how others make themselves happy. Now that I have been looking for it I have seen elders faces light up when being reminded of “the good days” with just a song. I have seen children and adults struggle with learning a language but to then be shocked by how amazing knowledge is. I have seen my owns friends creating happiness for themselves, some of my friends channel there happiness through photography, music and art. One of my closest friends is her happiest when alone surrounded by her music, allowing herself to simply be who she truly is. I have so far learned that happiness is not a general term because everyone has a different way to make themselves happy.
May 12
Today was such a great day, I learned so much. We sat in on a aromatherapy class, at the beginning of class they all went around sharing what made them happy. Some of my favorite ones were things like “spending time with my kids” or “just being surrounded by nature”. It was awesome to see how these different aromas could make someone happy or relaxed or even sad. Afterwards we made cards that had nice compliments that would boost someone's self esteem. We took those cards and headed to a mall to watch people's levels of happiness as they read their complement. We got a bunch of different reactions some people were really shy and did not want to say much, some people's faces lite up as soon as they read it.
May 20
During this process I have learned a lot about being an adult. For starters networking and contacts is really everything when finding a job or an internship. What's so great about being a young adult during this internship is that I am still learning from my mistakes, along with learning how to act like a professional in the workplace. I am still learning about how to be professional when working with others because I am so used to working with my friends.
May 23
I have learned a lot about animal enrichment and why enrichment is important, at zoos and sanctuaries enrichment is a must for its animals. Without enrichment the animals can become lame and die of boredom. In the photo above is some of the enrichment items I will be working on. I am making Popsicle for bears, wrapped boxes with scents like perfume for the tigers and lions, balloons attached to toilet paper rolls for the leopard. I am excited to create the final product and learn more about enriching the lives of exotic animals.
May 26
These two photos are of my group with one of our mentors Marcy. Marcy has been a huge and amazing help she has lined us up with some interviews from people she has worked with. She also has given us contacts of people who can help us with our video. I think seeing all these people all over San Diego has helped me a little with what I want to do in life, it has inspired me to always do good and be good. My side project at Lions Tigers and Bears has taught me that I really want to help animals in my future.
May 31
During the externship project I felt like I was give contributions to society every day, because of all the volunteer work we did. The happiness project would have never worked if we did not make others happy as well as ourselves. My project gave meaning to my education and future by showing me different paths in animal conservation. I also learned I really enjoy working outdoors helping my community.
Our final product has changed a lot during the externship process, once we really got started on the externship journey we realized what we were good at and morphed our final products to reflect that. For instance originally me and Andra wanted to study the psychology of happiness on humans, although we did learn about that I wanted my final product to reflect the psychology of happiness on animals. My final project was to learn more about why animals in captivity need enrichment. We then made enrichment for our local animal sanctuary and tested what enrichment animals might like best. Below are a few photos of what we made. The cardboard boxes shaped like animals is to put meat and scents inside for large cats. We found that all of the large cats including Lions,Tigers, Mountain Lion, and leopard enjoyed tearing apart the boxes when meat was placed inside. We also found that putting scents like perfume and spices inside the boxes only made the tiger and the leopard happy. There is also a photo of balloons with paper mache around them was for the bears. We would put small treats such as marshmallows and nuts inside because it is challenging for the bears to figure out how to get them out, this creates an enriching activity for the bears(and is fun to watch).
June 2
Now that externship is coming to an end I am really realizing how much I have learned about being a professional in the real world. Because our project allows us to go out in our community and find people who are willing to work with us I have learned that networking is everything. With networking we were able to interview amazing people, join companies, and get great advice. Networking is a good skill to know and i'm glad this externship forces me to learn how to do it.
My small project is learning about animals and the psychology of animal happiness I learned that not only do I enjoy helping animals but I also love the science of animals. In the future I want to find a job that can give me both. It is great that I was given the opportunity to learn this now while I'm in high school.
This externship was such an amazing opportunity we could not of done it without the support from our teachers and our mentors. I'm so happy to see how this project changed the lives of me and my friends/coworkers.
My small project is learning about animals and the psychology of animal happiness I learned that not only do I enjoy helping animals but I also love the science of animals. In the future I want to find a job that can give me both. It is great that I was given the opportunity to learn this now while I'm in high school.
This externship was such an amazing opportunity we could not of done it without the support from our teachers and our mentors. I'm so happy to see how this project changed the lives of me and my friends/coworkers.