It Never Is The End

As the last day of high school approaches faster than ever I came to a final decision. I have never been more glad to have attendees iPoly because of all of the opportunities I have received. My senior project has lead me to the shelter and all of the wonderful animals there. Due to all the craziness of this month, sadly, I have not been able to go to the shelter. I miss all the puppies and even though I am exhausted at the end of the day I am content. Being able to help the animals at the shelter is a great feeling. Plus the greatest things in life are free and as a volunteer playing and seeing the dogs wag their tails is great. Through my senior project I want to make a greater difference for the shelter animals and I know that even though my senior project as come to an end my life at my shelter has not. I will continue to help the animal and strive for no kill shelters everywhere. I know I am not alone with this goal and I will join with the rest.

Blog 22: Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement:
What are you most proud of in your Block Presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

                I am really proud of my activity because the flyers came out really good, they were all creative and all of the students participated in the activity.

(2) Questions to Consider:
a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Block Presentation (self-assessment)?

                AE  

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

                 P   
  
(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

                 What worked for me was not only nav's clicker but also the fact that I knew my answers really well and my hook. I liked the questions I asked because I noticed the students did not know that information.

 (4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would have you done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?

                   I would have liked to practice my foundation more. I had a lot of information that I was proud of but because I got nervous I was not able to say the complete "script" I had for my foundation.

 (5) Finding Value
How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.
                   The senior project has changed me and the way I look at shelters. Before I would have never though to volunteer at a shelter and even though it can be hard work I love it and I know I will still keep going to volunteer at the shelter. It has also, and sure just like all my other peers, helped me with my presentation skills. When I came in as a freshman I did not want to be noticed, much less speak in front of the classroom. Now, even though I still get nervous, I am able to get my point across and I noticed during my presentation I am able to gaze through out the whole classroom and make some eye contact. My voice is loader and I do not forget half of my information when I need to speak. I know this will not only help me in my future classes and possible job to not be as shy and get out in front of the people and say what I have to say. I also believe that this will also help me with my communication because not only of the mentorship I had, my shelter, that made me speak to strangers to help with their needs. Also having all three presentations, the 10 minute, 20 minute and 1 hour, really did make more confident to be vocal. I am really glad for this project, even though it caused a lot of stress, for all of the new contacts I have created through it and the new abilities I will be able to exercise through out my life. Thank you iPoly!

Blog 21: Mentorship

Content:

    Literal

·     Check

·     Upland Animal Shelter

    Interpretive

     The most important thing that I gained from this experience was my new knowledge for shelters and my communication skills. I chose these two because I really did enjoy finding out what it took to maintain my shelter how it is. I liked working in the kitchen and being able to see the big washer and dryer that they have. Also being a volunteer required me to walk up to the visitors and ask them whether they needed my help or not. By attending the visitors that came to the shelter really did help me with my communication skill because I had to force myself to approach them since I am very shy with strangers. In some cases I spoke Spanish to make it easier for some people. I enjoyed seeing myself get better with my people skills, I feel like this experience will improve my presentations skills.
 

   Applied

    What I have done for my mentorship has helped me answer my EQ by seeing and being able to ask questions of how my shelter promotes adoption. Because of the time I would spend at my shelter I would see a couple flyers that were placed on the front desk to advertise for an upcoming event or yard sale that was coming up. I was also able to browse the website that the shelter uses, their Facebook, the cities page, and a page where they put the dogs for people to see which dogs are available. From there I say what they were doing right or what can be improved according to my research. Even though I was not able to apply my new found research suggestions to my shelter I was able to see and understand how advertisement was done for a shelter helping me answer my eq.

 

 

Exit Interview

Content:

(1) What is your essential question and answers?  What is your best answer and why?

           My essential question is how can animal shelters best promote animal adoption? My answers are the best way for animal shelters to promote animal adoption is by writing an effective bio through the animals perspective, complete honesty and no longer that eight sentences. Animal shelters can best promote animal adoption through special animal adoption events because it attracts a lot of people, it's easy to broadcast and is not limited to any time frame. Animal shelters can best promote animal adoptions by reaching out to the public through flyers, internet media and word of mouth. My best answer out of my three answers is my third one, by reaching out to the public through flyers, internet media and word of mouth. This is my best answer because even though it is common it was made this way because of the ease and efficiency that these methods can be used. Also they can be used successfully with a limited budget.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

For my answers I decided to start from within the shelter because I remember the saying "if you want to change someone else then start with yourself." This saying is what I was applying to the shelter which is why my first answer is effective bios. From that I answer I decided to go bigger but still remain close enough to "start changing the shelter first". This was how my second answer emerged. Finally I decided to spread out and have a larger target audience than what my first answers target. To accomplish this I knew I had to choose the common methods. This was how I arrived to social media and flyers. However, I did not think to include word of mouth until my third and fourth interview told me that word of mouth is very important and very effective. After hearing it not once but twice, I decided to included it as well in my third answer.

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

 I didn't face any major problems but I did experience several bumps along the way. For example, the first problem I encountered was trying to find a mentor ship. When I had my first topic, veterinarian, I was not able to find any clinic near my house that would accept me. The first thing I tried to resolve it was by widening my range of the area I was looking at. So instead of searching 10 miles near my house I went to 15 or as far as I could with my moms permission. However that didn't work so I had to switch my topic since I didn't have much time by then. Another problem I was challenged with was when we were nearing to find our second answer. I was already struggling to find good pieces of research that would be able to strongly support my answers and I just remember thinking "I don't know how I'm going to find another answer much less a third one". So went to purther, since I am more comfortable talking with him, and told him want I was thinking as a second answer. From there he asked me questions of specifics of the answer I had in mind until we molded it into a good thesis answer. 

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

One source I completely fell in love with is an article titled "How to Promote Shelter Dogs for Adoption" written by the best friend organization. This article was absolutely amazing for me because not it only did it help me come up with my first answer but, I didn't know it then, it also shaped my following answers. During the first research checks I stumbled upon this PDF file and it is like the holy grail for me. It provides dos and do nots, examples, and visuals. This article provided advice to not only writing effective bios but as well as hosting events and how to advertise with doggie cards and flyers. I used this article to piece together my answers. My second significant source that I used was an titled "Do Social Media Ads Really Work?" I found this article after I had picked my third answer by reading an article titled "How to Advertise on Social Media." Through this article I found the link to my significant source. I choose that article because the author Christopher Null conducted an experiment in test trying different web pages to advertise his business. From there he would say the results, what might have happened, and say positive things about the page he used. For example, on Facebook it writes about his experience setting up the ad and what happened until the time he ended his experiment. At the end he provides a verdict for each page and for Facebook he summarized what he saw. Because this article provides actual feedback to certain web pages is why I choose it to be my second.

   

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

Content:  
LITERAL
(a) I, Briana Arreaga, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
(b) Upland Animal Shelter and Instagram
(c) Mkay
(d) I worked at the shelter since there are no nearby events. Towards the end of my independent component I got the idea to create an Instagram page for the animal shelter. However in order to create the page for the shelter I had to obtain permission from the shelters manager, needless to say the Instagram page came a little late to actually count many hours for my independent component as I would have liked but better late than never.
INTERPRETIVE 

Nothing is better than hands on work. It helps me look at what the shelter is doing to help bring in more visitors to adopt. I really wanted to participate in an event but there were none for the time period I need or close enough. It is hard to present pictures demonstrating the 30 hours of work that I do at the shelter. Mostly since I take pictures of the dogs. But....

Super glad they posted this up. There was this one time I was showing a dog to a man and his son and when I told the boy to let the dog sniff his had he immediately pushed his hand to the dogs nose so fast. I had a mini heart attack. Thankfully the dog was gentle and not easily provoked.

I was invited to choose a dog and join a puppy play time!

For the puppy play time I was told to take out Happy or Wendy and I chose Happy. He was so excited and he loved to chase a ball. He was a ball hoarder XD 

APPLIED

I mostly used this component to help me refine my three answers. For my first answer, which is how to write effective bios, I would look at the bios as the shelter and see the ones they have for certain dogs and which dogs do not have one. I would then create a bio myself for the dogs that do not have one of their own and compare it to a Facebook page I was told about from a volunteer. On the Facebook page they would post pictures and bios of the dogs that are available in the Upland Animal Shelter. As I started to read the bios that are on the Facebook page it blew me away. The bios that are on that page are the bios that I am aiming for, not only for this component but also for my final senior presentation because I will be using the best bios I created to use them as props. For my second answer, how special animal adoption events as a way to promote animal adoption, I wasn't able to use this component. On the Facebook page I found out there was an upcoming adoption event but because of the date that it lands on I would not be able to attend to it. Finally for my third answer which is, advertisement through social medias, I thought halfway through to create and Instagram page. However, when I asked if it was okay for me to create the page they told me I would have to ask John, who is the manager of the shelter. By the time I was able to reach John the component was already coming to an end. Even though it is late I would still love to make the Instagram page to help my animal shelter. All in all this component was able to help me dig deeper into my answer 1 and answer 3 for my eq. Giving me ideas on what to do for my final presentation and without going through this component I would not have had that need to look at the Facebook page fast enough to see that it was worth it.

 

Blog 18: Third Answer

How can animal shelters best promote animal adoptions?

 

Answer 3: 

Animal shelters can best promote animal adoptions by reaching out to the public through flyers, internet media and word of mouth.

1. Flyers are a great way not only to hand out to people but to also leave on the windshield of a car or hand them on buildings. For example, we sometimes leave to a store and when we come back we find a paper on our windshield or sometimes we find them stuck to our door.
2. Internet media grows because of all the people who not only have to go on but also because of the people who go on for pleasure and through clicks they can see our ad on the side of the website they are on or whether it pops out on the middle of the page.
3. Word of mouth is the greatest tool for advertisement because if a friend or family relative tells you about something you would trust them and try it out because it has reliability from someone that you know



Research:
• Bestfriends. ʺHow to Promote Shelter Dogs for Adoption.ʺ Bestfriends.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
• ʺAdoption Process.ʺ 7 Tips for Taking Great Adoptable Cat Photos. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
• Todd, Helen. ʺEight Easy Ways to Promote Your Small Business for Free.ʺ The Business Journals. American City Business Journals, 24 May 2013. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.

 

Concluding Sentence:



Even after advertising inside and outside by bringing the public to the shelter it is time for the shelter to go to the public.

A Little More Extra Perhaps?

March has been quite the month for me. Even if volunteering at a shelter seems uneventful sometimes there are great stories that can be told and for me those stories happened this month. I love my shelter and I can't say it enough and I love all the animals even more. From the Chihuahuas to the Pit Bulls, they are all great animals and I can't wait until they find their forever home and it makes me so happy knowing that I can help them find it. The days for me at the shelter start off as any other day I go in. I grab my key, log into the computer, check my locker, grab my badge and look into all the puppy rooms to say hello to all the doggies. I look at all the doggies we have not only to see if the same puppies are there but also to see what kind of new breeds came in, this way if a potential adopter comes in, which has one time, asking if we have a certain breed I can answer their question with ease and lead them to the dog they are interested in. On March 23, there were so many cute doggies! I was in love with all of them but then again when do I not fall in love with all of them. I said hello to Val and Bell. Both of them are Pit Bull Terriers but Bell is a mix. I love them so much and they are the sweetest dogs I know, I just wish I could take them out on walks but they are to strong for me. I do pet them for a while though. Anyways, I saw this man with a little boy and I walked up to them and asked they if there was anything I could help them with. At first I noticed the man's accent and thought to myself maybe he spoke Spanish so I replied to him in Spanish but he didn't say anything, leaving me to think maybe he was Italian. After a while later talking with him I finally asked if he spoke Spanish because we were outside with a German Shepard that his son wanted to meet and pointed at a wood pecker and said mira, which means look in Spanish. It took a while for me to ask him but I got it. He told me how he lived in Ranch Cucamonga and how he went to their shelter looking for a German Shepard because that is what his son wanted. When he got there and asked for one the shelter declined him the ability to adopted. I was astonished at this because yes I know some shelters do this but as he kept talking he told me they kept asking how many hours they would play with the dog, what is the dog going to sleep on and where. When he replied that the dog would be staying in the backyard they responded by saying that type of dog does not stay outside. Again I understand why some of these questions are necessary for some shelters to ask to adopters but to tell an adopter they can not adopt with these types of questions is something I cannot understand. In my opinion if an adopter would be declined, in this case, because they are worried that a young child may be hurt by a big dog such as a German Shepard is after determining whether or not they know how to handle such an animal. I believe the questions that should be asked would be: is this your first dog, have you had any experience with large animals before, how many dogs have you had before. These types of question will be able to give an insight on how much knowledge the adopter has on dogs and whether or not they are capable of taking care of a large dog.  At the end of the day I was able to show them a dog they liked and was interested in buying but they shelter was closing they were not able to receive any information, I just hope they come in again asking for the dog. On another note, I went into the kitty room. I hardly go into that room and this time I went in to interact with some of the cats there. I saw this really cute and I wanted to pet him. He was so cute and he was purring so much, at one point he put his front paws on my chest while he kept is back paws on the floor of his kennel. He started to rub is check across my face, it was completely adorable and I couldn't stop laughing and when I least excepted it he bit my nose! Talk about battle scars. He was to cute to stay angry with anyways. So those are just two stories that has happened to me at the shelter and I would write more but this post is already long enough.

Another thing I would like to write here, and I know it is not part of my topic, is about the awareness of Pit bulls. The fist thoughts that come up when a pit bull is mentioned is aggressive and dangerous. However, I believe these thoughts should not come up when considering a pit bull for adoption. The truth is that pit bulls are really great dogs, they can be trusted. It has been show in a temperament test that Pit Bulls score the highest at a 85% followed by the Golden Retriever. Also the reality is that Pit Bulls do not have the same chances as other dogs in shelters. On average the intake of Pit Bulls and Pit mixes is around 33% nationally. In large cities it is around 40-65%. Around 75% of these dogs that enter municipal shelters are put to sleep immediately, they do not receive a chance at adoption. Also when a shelter is experiencing overcrowding Pit Bulls are chosen to go first. Per year, studies estimate that around 1 million Pit Bulls are euthanized. Also an organization Animal People did a study that reports a 93% euthanasia rate for these dogs and that ONLY 1 in 600 Pit Bulls find a forever home. Sadly it is because of the unwillingness of the people of wanting to adopt these beautiful dogs and the many dogs that go unfixed. The need to educate the public on spaying and neutering is essential to help lower the number of dogs that are not finding there homes because there are to many. Please before you begin to say Pit Bulls are an aggressive breed inform yourself about the facts, they are truly beautiful and kind dogs. I volunteer with some and I love them so much, help me find their forever homes!
http://www.examiner.com/article/pit-bulls-and-euthanasia-rates


Cute Karma came and jumped on my lap while I was eating. So cute!


The kitty that bite me, still love him.


I had too! He was just so cute sleeping with his little cone of shame!


A super cute border collie mix! She had a blue and brown eye.


Just Val, my baby Pit Bull, looking super cute!


Don't you just love his face!!


He was so sweet, he's a licker too!


Another super cute pit bull that presses his body side ways so I could pet him!