Blog Entry #24- Last Blog Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

• The thing that I am most proud of is the fact that I had my audience engaged into my presentation by involving there thoughts and opinions. This allowed my audience to enjoy my topic and not fall asleep like most people would during these long presentations.

(2) Questions to Consider

A. What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation? Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

• I would honestly give myself an AE. I feel that I accomplished everything needed to receive a P and surpassed that because of the amount of props that I used as well as how I presented myself. I also engaged my audience throughout my presentation which kept them awake and happy. 

B. What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project? Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

• I would give myself an AE because of how much I was able to learn and uncover with my topic. I didn't just research these things I actually worked with companies that helped individuals receive free exam or glasses. I was finding advice and answers through the real world instead of the virtual.    

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

• I feel that my activities worked very very well. They all worked with each other smoothly and efficiently to engage and educate my audience on my 3 answers. Everyone was excited and happy to move on to the next step to show off what great idea they have. 

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

• At times I feel that I was repetitive when explain certain slides. If I could go back in time I would try to be smoother and funnier just to further engage my audience. 

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors? Be specific and use examples.

• This senior project has taught me how to become independent. I have been able to call and talk to people on my own to set up interviews or even finding a mentor. This project has also showed me how to manage time and schedules by allowing me to organize my mentorship hours. Research is also key because I can research things efficiently and correctly because of the amount of time I spent with my topic. This project has also opened my eyes on the social injustices around the world. Even if I can't do much to help I still try. 

Blog entry #23- Exit Interview prep

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

• My essential question is, "How can an optometrist reduce the effects that poverty has on vision?"
• My top three answers are eye health awareness/education, volunteer ship, and valuable resources.
• My top answer would have to be volunteer ship because of the fact that it is actually making a major impact on the effects that poverty has on vision. It is instant while my other two answers required time and major global efforts to make a big impact. If optometrists volunteer, they are tackling poverty and its effects of impaired vision on the spot. These doctor will continuously visit and supply optometric resources for poor individuals. There is no better way to help these people medically when they lack the necessary resource to maintain healthy vision.  

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

• Poverty and vision didn't come to me until my mentor, Dr.Hinh, introduced me to a very interesting book called "Infinite Visions". The overall story of this book was about an ophthalmologist in india that made vision care affordable for everyone. The shocking factor was that if you couldn't afford the treatment then it would be free, you pay what you could afford. This book influenced my mindset towards individuals who suffered from poor vision in impoverished countries. It wasn't until I researched more that I found that poverty greatly affects your vision. Once I found that out poverty and vision has been the basis of my senior project. 

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

• The major problems that I encountered was in the beginning of this project where I still didn't have my research anchor. In the beginning I was running out of ideas when it came to research and interest. I wanted my project to be unique and impactful. I knew that the field of optometry itself wouldn't be enough. The way I resolved this issue was asking for help from my mentors. They recommend books and different research ideas that may help me. If it wasn't for my mentor, Dr.Hinh, I wouldn't have ever known about poverty and the effects it has on vision. 

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

• The Stanford Social Innovation Review and The BrienHolden Vision Institute where the most significant resources because of the diversity of information these websites provided. They enlightened new ideas for my project and research, without them I wouldn't have discovered certain bits of information. 

Blog Entry #22- Independent Component 2

“I, Trino Arellano, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 33 hours of work.”

Glasses?

• For my second independent component I want to head in a similar direction as I did with my first independent component, but this time with glasses. I want to learn and understand the fundamentals of glasses. There are so many complexities that go into making a pair and fixing a pair of glasses. There are many subjects to head into with glasses that need a lot of work, time, and attention to fully understand exactly what you are doing. 

Defending my work.

• Because there are so many complexities with glasses I am able to reach and surpass the 30 hours required. I have divided my second independent component into 3 sections that have taken up roughly 10 hours for each section. The first ten hours were "Equipment & Tools", in which I broke down and understood the functions of all the items needed to repair and make glasses. I also repaired and made glasses myself to further understand the process. The second ten hours was "Fighting patients", which consists of various things that have to deal with the different features glasses have. This ranged from the type of material the lens is to the style or brand of the frame. I also interacted with patients to understand their needs for their glasses. The final ten hours was "Trouble shooting", which is essentially customer service revolving around glasses. This is when patients have complaints and other things that need fixing that could range from a wrong prescription to lab errors.

"This is the frame room. Here patients browse the floor, searching for glasses for vision purposes or just to look good. I would talk with patients and make sure all of their needs were checked off."

This is the working or fixing area of the office. Here the opticians would fix glasses to meet the needs of the patients. Here we would fix the lenses, the frames of the glasses, and much much more."

This is part of the frame room. Patients would pick glasses and bring them there to the desk to ask for assistance and opinions from the opticians and staff. We would also discuss finances and other things that needed to be taken care of."

"These are glasses that were recently priced to sell on the floor (frame room), Inventory is extremely important and we try to keep organized and up to date with everything we have."

These are patient files. Here we stash all of our patients information in regards to their vision, glasses, contact lenses, etc. We try to keep organized at all times to keep the business running smoothly."

How did the component help you answer your EQ?

• Despite how off topic my independent component may seem from my essential question, it actually really helped me understand specific aspects of one answer that would lead to the overall answer of the EQ. The research that went into understanding the fundamentals of glasses lead me to different NGO (non-governmental organization) websites that actually gave away glasses to the needy. "Vision spring" was one of theses organizations that gave away glasses to the needy, they gave away just about 201,000 glasses. This generosity is what can reduce the effects that poverty has on vision. The main issue in having poor vision is financial, people can't afford proper eye care, giving away glasses can greatly reduce that burden. 

Work Citied

• Haddril, Marilyn. "Your Guide to Eyewear Essentials." All About Vision. AllAboutVision, 24 Apr. 2015. Web. 18 Apr. 2016. 
• Monk, Dmitri. "Repair Plastic Eyeglass Frame with Thread and Superglue." Instructables.com. Instructables, 18 Mar. 2015. Web. 18 Apr. 2016. 
• "Designer Eyeglass Brands." Designer Brands. Eyeglassrepair, 6 July 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2016. 

Blog Entry #21- Fourth Interview Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?

• The most important thing I learned during my interview was the importance of educating and marketing healthy vision to patients. This allows patients to be knowledgeable and aware of different aspects of vision. Patients can now be calm and ready when things go wrong with their vision because they are educated thanks to their optometrist. Stella made sure that her point was clear about educating patients. Her answers have opened my eyes and influenced my decision for my essential question answers.    

2. How will what I learned affect my final lesson?

• What I learned in my interview heavily influenced the answer to my essential question. Although I had a basic knowledge that education and awareness could definitely help those who's vision is affected by poverty I am now sure about it. My last answer was kind of hard to figure out, but now I have the answer thanks to Stella Arellano. 

Click here for my interview questions and answers.

Blog Entry #20- Interview 4 Prep

Who do you plan to interview?

•  I plan on interviewing Stella Arellano.

 What is this person's area of expertise?

• Stella is the manager at Chino Optometry Center and has been for over 15 years. Her knowledge and experience is diverse for she has to know every aspect of the office in order to keep the business running smoothly. The reason I chose to interview her was because of her stance on the importance of awareness and education for vision health. These two things are answers for my essential question and I feel that she will help me expand my views on vision health awareness and the importance of education for vision. 

Blog Entry #19- Answer 3

EQ: How can an optometrist reduce the effects that poverty has on vision?

Whats your 3rd Answer?

• An optometrist can reduce the effects that poverty has on vision by providing assistance in countries that have few resources and few eye clinics. Volunteering will relieve the financial burden that impoverished countries face when paying optometrist. "VOSH" is a NGO (non-governmental organization) that allows an optometrist to select a country to volunteer at. The website gives information on the status of the location in need of assistance. Volunteering also benefits impoverished countries by giving away free supplies likes glasses, contacts, and other equipment used to treat patients. An example would be an organization known as "vision springs", which manufactured over 102,000 glasses to give away to those in need of visual correction. Lastly, volunteering raises publicity by appealing to individuals on an emotional level. This correlates back to my first answer, awareness, because people will start to get involved if publicity raises. Optometrist that volunteer their time to help those in need greatly impact the effects that poverty has on vision by reducing vision loss. Their help can make a huge impact if more and more optometrist get involved and volunteer their time to help others in need. 

Blog Entry #18- Answer 2

1. What is your EQ?

• How can optometrist reduce the effects that poverty has on vision? 

2. What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• An optometrist can reduce the effects that poverty has on vision with eye health awareness/education, which focuses on educating the public on a global scale through social media on how to keep your eyes healthy. 

3. What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• An optometrist can reduce the effects that poverty has on vision by voluteering their personal time to help those that are financially unstable with eye checkups.  

4. List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

• Awareness: creating trends, hashtags, informative post or tweets, etc will influence people to make a difference for individuals who are visually impaired, especially if the issue could be reversed and fixed. An example of this would be "Kony 2012" a trend that rose in 2012 to capture a bad individual who mistreated children in Africa.   
• Volunteering: I came up with this answer because one of my mentors, Dr.morris, who actually left the United States to volunteer in Mexico to help those who are visually impaired and financial unstable. Money is an issue when it comes to helping millions of people that have no money to pay for eye exams, which is why volunteering is essential to make a difference in the world of visual impairment. 
• Volunteering: there are non-governmental organizations like Vision Spring that gave away over 201,000 glasses to those who where financial impaired. Other organizations like Trickle Up have a website that allows people to donate money that will be later disbursed to families living in poverty. 

5. What printed source best supports your answer?

• "Uniteforsight.org" is an example of organization that addresses the issues and successes of visual impairment/blindness in developing countries, which helps me understand the answer to my EQ.  

6. What other source supports your answer?

• "Vosh.org" is a non-governmental organization that ask for volunteers in different places around the world that need optometrist. This website helps me understand just how important volunteering really is. 

7. Tie this together with a concluding thought.

• Nelson Mandela once said, "Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings.". With this statement lingering in my mind I believe that blindness and visual impairment can be reversed in a matter of years with global unity to ensure a healthy and happy lifestyle for all no matter your socioeconomic stance.