Helping 2013

Who did you interview: Alyssa Mutas
What day and time: Wednesday, March 25, 2012, 12:40pm


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

• Answer: Hela Cells, they are cancer cells that can be read in a laboratory, they are the first human cell that can be read out of the body. I read about it through a book my aunt gave me, and it was really interesting and I want to research it because I want to be a Microbiologist. I want to cure cancer.  I would probably focus on the use of the cell, how its use has developed over time. 
• Feedback: I told her that her idea was good, and that she should focus on one specific topic as opposed to a general topic such as cancer, because there are different types of cancers and to broad a topic. I also told her to have a plan b just in case her chosen topic doesn't work out.

2. What do you plan to do to complete the 10 hours of service learning?

• Answer: My aunt is a Dean of a college in Maryland and she has a lot of connections with people from the City of Hope, so I'm trying to get an internship there for the summer, I sent her a resume to send to the people from City of Hope, so I'm waiting on that. For the 50 hours, I would plan to still work at the City of Hope.
• Feedback: I told her to have a back up for her service learning, that if that doesn't work out, she needs to be able to have a second or third choice. She said if City of Hope doesn't work out she would probably work at a near by hospital or college.

3. What do you hope to see and expect to see when watching the class of 2012  present their two hour presentations? 

• Answer: I'm not really sure, I don't know that much about the senior project. A few weeks ago, Edwards had a previous student give us a condensed version of her senior project on advertising. It was pretty intense, really well done, I'm just really excited to see how you guys make use of the time and not stutter away, because right now I'm thinking I'm going to stutter my way through my presentation
• Feedback: I told her that as long as she does her research, getting credible sources, doing research properly, by actually researching for a purpose than she will not have a problem presenting, that she will not stutter. I also told her that by researching and knowing the research like the back of her hand she will be fine, because she will have plenty to talk about in her 2 hour presentation. I also told her that if she ever has a problem presenting than, pretend to look at the audience, but instead look at the back of the wall, don't imagine them naked, it never works.

4.  What questions do they have about senior project? What additional recommendations would you give the 2013 student about senior project? 

• Questions:  What are you doing for your Senior Project? What is the hardest thing about senior year?
• Recommendation: I stressed the point of having a back up plan again, just in case things don't work out the way she wants them to she needs to have a back up plan, I couldn't stress that enough.  I also recommended, when she asked what is the hardest thing about senior year, that the most important thing to do during senior year is to prioritize her time and to be organized. I told her that the amount of things she will be doing are not hard, there are just a lot of things that have to be done in a short amount of time. I told her time management is her biggest priority and researching is important so she will know her topic like the back of her hand. I warned her that maintaining her service learning, independent component, maybe science fair project, if she is doing that will make things easier for her later on.