Blog 2- Summer Mentorship

1) List the contact name, phone number, and organization of the person with whom you volunteered.

Boo Johnson, Blackskatehead1@yahoo.com, DGK skateboarding company and mentored Boo Johnson. 

2) What qualified this person as an expert in your topic choice? 

    Boo Johnson has many qualifications that makes him a suitable expert in my topic choice. It takes many years of experience in the sport of skateboarding to fully understand it and to be able to apply what you know when on the board. Boo is a professional paid skateboarder who knows exactly what it takes to strive and succeed in the sport of skateboarding. He can/did tell me everything i need to know from how to maintain a body when skateboarding to the daily life of a pro skateboarder. Thats what makes him qualified. 

3) List three questions for further exploration now that you've completed your summer hours. 

Three questions for further exploration i would be interested in knowing would be, 1. "When skateboarding do you have to be more mentally capable or physically capable?" 2. "When trying to go big in the skateboarding world, what is it that sponsors look for?"  3. "Does the dimensions of a skateboard change the way a person skates since they're different sizes and such?". I choose these 3 questions because these questions go more into depth and can open more doorways or my subject. 

4) What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why? 

The most important thing i gained from this experience in my opinion was just how much fun skateboarding can really be because it reminds me why I love the sport so much and why I do it. It also makes me want to do senior project more because I know I will be doing something I love to do. I think that is what I gained the most from this experience with my mentor.

5) What is your senior project topic going to be?  How did mentorship help you make your decision?  Please explain.

My senior project is going to be on skateboarding and something that will catch peoples attention and hopefully make them as interested in it as i am. I don't really know what exactly I want to do with the topic yet but it skateboarding will be for sure in it. My mentorship helped me with this decision because i had such a great time skateboarding and after thinking about it, its something i would really want to do for my senior project. 

Final Lesson Reflection

1) The three most helpful lessons that i had seen had to be Slades (hockey), Alexis (football), and Vincent (automotives). Slade and Alexis's presentation helped me in the aspect of visualizing what i can do for my presentation because they were doing a sport as well. I gained the knowledge on how to present about a sport and what to cover when presenting about it. Vinny's (Vincent) presentation helped me the most because I observed how calm he was during the whole presentation and it made it flow real nice. I learned to be calm and relax when presenting so it's much easier to get my words out to audience. 

2) One thing I learned when interviewing a senior that was most important to me was to never procrastinate on the senior project whatsoever because even if you know your topic like the back of your hand and can explain without preparation, the project itself still requires much more than an explanation so it can really bite you in the butt in the long run. What I learned was to take this project serious but also to have fun with it. So by having this in my mentality, I won't slack off in the beginning of the project like I usually tend to do with every project. This way I will be off the a good start and hopefully remain at a good pace.

3) The topic I plan on expanding my knowledge on throughout the course of my senior year is the sport skateboarding. I am excited to do this topic because it has been my interest and hobby for a few years now and i tend to be pretty passionate about skateboarding at most times. I was told to do a topic that will not be easy for me but something I will enjoy doing. Skateboarding, i will enjoy every second of it and explaining it to others because it's such a fascinating sport in my opinion and I can brainstorm many ideas already for my senior project with this sport. 

4) Since the whole presentation is based off the EQ, I've been taking serious consideration into it. I don't want to do a presentation with no science behind it because i feel like if there was science behind it than it would be a tad bit more interesting for myself. So an EQ that i thought about was "What is the best way a skater can make sure his body is ready and healthy to begin his skating day". From this EQ i wanted to go into the stretches that one must need to do in order not to break a bone of tear a muscle from the impact of falling down stairs. 

5) Since i've already been shut down from the previous mentorship ideas, i know have different plans for this summer. A cousin of mine is currently in a relationship with a professional skateboarder (Boo Johnson) who has had multiple injuries from the sport of skateboarding. So in order to maintain his professional career in skateboarding he must take good care of his body and health. He has talked to many experts, professionals, and doctors about stretching correctly and treating the body right. This being said i was going to politely ask him if i can mentor with him for the summer and he can show me what he does to to maintain his body.