Final Senior Exhibit Blog
I am pleased to say that I have officially reached the end of the senior exhibit process. With my application, written document, and final presentation done, all that is left is this blog. Looking back, it has not been that bad. I definitely picked an easier topic, but I wanted to have fun with this project and I can officially say that I accomplished that goal. I truly love the sport of fly fishing and I can officially say that I have reached new levels. When I started this process, I could probably cast about 50 feet of line rather consistently. During spring break I went to the Bahamas with Andrew Cooper and through working on our casts for a while, I was able to hit 75+ feet. That is a distance I truly thought I could never hit.
The application I completed was the one thing I wish I could have done better. I wanted to an instructional clinic for a few friends and then maybe have then come out to the Rappahannock. Unfortunately, the second part of that was unable to happen due to scheduling conflicts. I think everyone truly enjoyed it and although they may never fly fish again, the basics are now bestowed upon them.
I sort of have mixed feelings about my written document. I don’t want to say I thought it was pointless, but I know that I could have put my efforts towards something a little better. I did the best I could with the fly fishing manual, but I was so much more towards actually teaching people because not a single person is going to read my manual. In the end, I did what I could and it is all ancient history now.
The Senior Exhibit process is something I truly will remember. I think this is because I picked something I liked. I am going to college in Clemson next year and I can almost guarantee that I will check out the local fishing scenes. I look at some of my friends like Nicholas who did Architecture and he says that he has absolutely no future in the area of work. Therefore the process might have been less for him than it was for me. The sad part about it is that he will probably score a much higher grade, but in the end, what will matter is how much I keep up with fly fishing and I know that it will be a lot.
I am happy the Senior Exhibit process is over, but I can say with conviction that it will have a lasting effect on me and that is bigger than the grade itself.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Presentation Blog
Rehearsal and Presentation Blog
I have officially finished the presentation part of my Senior Exhibit and it feels great. Despite the fact, I still have to do a written document; I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Sadly, I did not score as highly on my presentation as I wanted too. I feel that I can be a fairly good public speaker if I am comfortable with what I am talking about. In the end, I didn’t really struggle with the talking part of it, but I think my passion for the topic got in the way of actually showing people what I learned the impact the project had on me as a whole. I guess that this point it is already done, so it doesn’t help to see what could have been.
I am not lying at all when I say that I was significantly more nervous for my rehearsal than I was for my final presentation. Prior to my rehearsal, I had a solid idea of what I wanted to do. I had a giant, very descriptive, note document that I was going to use to guide me through my rehearsal and final presentation. I went into the rehearsal with much visual aid; I simply had pictures projecting in the background. Therefore most of the attention was on me. I had a few stumbles in the beginning solely because of the nerves. In the end, I thought I gave a pretty decent presentation and I didn’t really get any feedback, so I thought that was a good thing.
Unfortunately, after my rehearsal, my laptop proceeded to crash at the schools lock in. This really set me back because I lost my detailed note document, my written document, and three blogs two days before my final presentation. I was extremely bummed about this, but with some amount of perseverance, I managed to assemble a note document similar to that of my previous one.
The only twist I added to my presentation that was not in my rehearsal was the fact that I wanted to get the audience more involved, so I went to Wal-Mart and bought so small string and some large rings to teach everyone there how to tie a fisherman’s knot. This went extremely well, I got the impression that everyone liked it and I still today have people coming up saying they still remember how to do. Also, since it was raining during the time of my rehearsal, I was not able to take the group outside and teach them a little bit about fly fishing first hand. I was able to do this during my presentation and I think the people who got to try, found out firsthand how hard it is to fly fish, but they had a great time.
I do have some regrets about my presentation. I am kind of upset that I did not get any feedback from my rehearsal because when I gave a very similar presentation on my final presentation date, apparently I forgot to talk about some of the stuff that was vital to me getting a good grade. I kind of feel that my rehearsal was kind of a waste because truly nothing became of it. In the end, it is what it is and I can’t change what happened, but I feel that I did a pretty okay job on every part of my final presentation aside the reflection part.
I have officially finished the presentation part of my Senior Exhibit and it feels great. Despite the fact, I still have to do a written document; I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Sadly, I did not score as highly on my presentation as I wanted too. I feel that I can be a fairly good public speaker if I am comfortable with what I am talking about. In the end, I didn’t really struggle with the talking part of it, but I think my passion for the topic got in the way of actually showing people what I learned the impact the project had on me as a whole. I guess that this point it is already done, so it doesn’t help to see what could have been.
I am not lying at all when I say that I was significantly more nervous for my rehearsal than I was for my final presentation. Prior to my rehearsal, I had a solid idea of what I wanted to do. I had a giant, very descriptive, note document that I was going to use to guide me through my rehearsal and final presentation. I went into the rehearsal with much visual aid; I simply had pictures projecting in the background. Therefore most of the attention was on me. I had a few stumbles in the beginning solely because of the nerves. In the end, I thought I gave a pretty decent presentation and I didn’t really get any feedback, so I thought that was a good thing.
Unfortunately, after my rehearsal, my laptop proceeded to crash at the schools lock in. This really set me back because I lost my detailed note document, my written document, and three blogs two days before my final presentation. I was extremely bummed about this, but with some amount of perseverance, I managed to assemble a note document similar to that of my previous one.
The only twist I added to my presentation that was not in my rehearsal was the fact that I wanted to get the audience more involved, so I went to Wal-Mart and bought so small string and some large rings to teach everyone there how to tie a fisherman’s knot. This went extremely well, I got the impression that everyone liked it and I still today have people coming up saying they still remember how to do. Also, since it was raining during the time of my rehearsal, I was not able to take the group outside and teach them a little bit about fly fishing first hand. I was able to do this during my presentation and I think the people who got to try, found out firsthand how hard it is to fly fish, but they had a great time.
I do have some regrets about my presentation. I am kind of upset that I did not get any feedback from my rehearsal because when I gave a very similar presentation on my final presentation date, apparently I forgot to talk about some of the stuff that was vital to me getting a good grade. I kind of feel that my rehearsal was kind of a waste because truly nothing became of it. In the end, it is what it is and I can’t change what happened, but I feel that I did a pretty okay job on every part of my final presentation aside the reflection part.
Application Blog
Application Blog
I have successfully completed my Senior Exhibit application. For my application, I went down the route of trying to spread my knowledge amongst other people. I love to fly fish and I thought there was no better way than to teach some of peers how to enjoy the sport also.
I had everyone (Raleigh, Nicholas, and Landon) arrive at my house at 1:00 on a Saturday. Truthfully, when the time came around to actually doing the application, I was still a little bit nervous, despite the fact that I was teaching three of my best friends. When everyone arrived, I started by teaching them the two basic knots that are used in fly fishing; one was the standard fisherman’s knot that is used to the fly onto the line, the other was a knot used to attach the liter to the larger fly line. It is impossible to fly fish without knowing how to tie both of those knots. As expected, everything went smoothly and all three students mastered both knots with very little difficulty.
Next came the actual fly fishing. I have been fly fishing off and on for a few years now, so I kind of forgot how hard it is to learn. When I had my meeting with my fly fishing mentor, Harry Robertson, a few days prior, he warned me not to get frustrated because it was going to be very difficult. At the time, I sort of blew the comment off, but I was definitely in for it if I hadn’t have lowered my expectations. I had an area of a field lined off at the bottom of my house with markers every 10 feet all the way until 60 feet. Mr. Robertson had warned me not to start casting before they tried because see someone good fly fish is not going to help a beginner. I took his advice and went through the basic motions of fly fishing without casting any line. After I finished my whole spiel, Nicholas decided he wanted to go first. I seeing him attempt to cast the first time, I knew I would have to try and break the cast down into a forward cast and a backward cast. After ten minutes and lot of instruction, his cast was not “good” by any means, but it was functional and for that I was kind of proud. Slowly but surely, each person came up one by one and I encountered some new roadblocks with each one, but I felt very prepared and I believe all of them finished with a solid understanding of the sport. Nicholas decided he wanted to go again, and this turned out to be a blessing for me. After some more instructing, Nicholas had a solid back cast and forward cast and was able to link them together and hit 40 feet on a good cast, I was very happy to see that.
Overall, I thought my application went well, but the main thing I learned is how hard it is to teach people knew things. I gained a lot of respect for anyone who is a teacher. It is truly so hard because it feels like fly fishing is such a simple sport, but one little thing can ruin the entire cast. Therefore, I was forced to pretty much eliminate all expectations I had and take baby steps with the new casters. In the end, I would call my application a success and I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed fly fishing and maybe one or two of them will try to continue to learn.
I have successfully completed my Senior Exhibit application. For my application, I went down the route of trying to spread my knowledge amongst other people. I love to fly fish and I thought there was no better way than to teach some of peers how to enjoy the sport also.
I had everyone (Raleigh, Nicholas, and Landon) arrive at my house at 1:00 on a Saturday. Truthfully, when the time came around to actually doing the application, I was still a little bit nervous, despite the fact that I was teaching three of my best friends. When everyone arrived, I started by teaching them the two basic knots that are used in fly fishing; one was the standard fisherman’s knot that is used to the fly onto the line, the other was a knot used to attach the liter to the larger fly line. It is impossible to fly fish without knowing how to tie both of those knots. As expected, everything went smoothly and all three students mastered both knots with very little difficulty.
Next came the actual fly fishing. I have been fly fishing off and on for a few years now, so I kind of forgot how hard it is to learn. When I had my meeting with my fly fishing mentor, Harry Robertson, a few days prior, he warned me not to get frustrated because it was going to be very difficult. At the time, I sort of blew the comment off, but I was definitely in for it if I hadn’t have lowered my expectations. I had an area of a field lined off at the bottom of my house with markers every 10 feet all the way until 60 feet. Mr. Robertson had warned me not to start casting before they tried because see someone good fly fish is not going to help a beginner. I took his advice and went through the basic motions of fly fishing without casting any line. After I finished my whole spiel, Nicholas decided he wanted to go first. I seeing him attempt to cast the first time, I knew I would have to try and break the cast down into a forward cast and a backward cast. After ten minutes and lot of instruction, his cast was not “good” by any means, but it was functional and for that I was kind of proud. Slowly but surely, each person came up one by one and I encountered some new roadblocks with each one, but I felt very prepared and I believe all of them finished with a solid understanding of the sport. Nicholas decided he wanted to go again, and this turned out to be a blessing for me. After some more instructing, Nicholas had a solid back cast and forward cast and was able to link them together and hit 40 feet on a good cast, I was very happy to see that.
Overall, I thought my application went well, but the main thing I learned is how hard it is to teach people knew things. I gained a lot of respect for anyone who is a teacher. It is truly so hard because it feels like fly fishing is such a simple sport, but one little thing can ruin the entire cast. Therefore, I was forced to pretty much eliminate all expectations I had and take baby steps with the new casters. In the end, I would call my application a success and I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed fly fishing and maybe one or two of them will try to continue to learn.
2nd Senior Exhibit Blog – The Update and major change
My senior exhibit presentation is approaching faster than I would like it too. It is about a month until everything goes down and I have a major change in my Senior Exhibit. Prior to now, I was going to be giving a presentation on my experiences in Alaska and Alaska itself to the 7th Grade Class. I had always been a little bit skeptical of this plan, because I was kind of clueless on how I was going to do it. I initially started the Senior Exhibit process with the concept of fly fishing on my mind. Also, it is still the main part of my presentation; I don’t really feel like I should get away from it that much. It is what I feel comfortable doing and my initial goal was to spread my passion for the fly fishing to some of my peers. Also, I just didn’t feel like the 7th graders geography class was a good fit, I know that they would have really wanted to hear what I had to say, I am truly was drawing a blank on how I could change that.
Therefore, I felt that it would be much more beneficial for me to switch gears and go down the teaching people how to fly fish. I think that it would be better for me because it is something I want to do and I feel that I could really make some people love the sport of fly fishing like I do. I am very heart set on this idea and am going to pursue it despite the lack of time left in my Senior year. Also, I written document was going to be the lesson plan I used to give a presentation to the 7th Graders, but since that is no longer happening, I am either going to do a paper on fish preservation in Alaska or a fly fishing manual in paper form. I guess I need to figure that out very shortly. Despite this change, I am feeling pretty comfortable with my Senior Exhibit right now. I am working on scheduling a date for my application and when that is over with, I came put all my efforts into coming up with the outline for my presentation
My senior exhibit presentation is approaching faster than I would like it too. It is about a month until everything goes down and I have a major change in my Senior Exhibit. Prior to now, I was going to be giving a presentation on my experiences in Alaska and Alaska itself to the 7th Grade Class. I had always been a little bit skeptical of this plan, because I was kind of clueless on how I was going to do it. I initially started the Senior Exhibit process with the concept of fly fishing on my mind. Also, it is still the main part of my presentation; I don’t really feel like I should get away from it that much. It is what I feel comfortable doing and my initial goal was to spread my passion for the fly fishing to some of my peers. Also, I just didn’t feel like the 7th graders geography class was a good fit, I know that they would have really wanted to hear what I had to say, I am truly was drawing a blank on how I could change that.
Therefore, I felt that it would be much more beneficial for me to switch gears and go down the teaching people how to fly fish. I think that it would be better for me because it is something I want to do and I feel that I could really make some people love the sport of fly fishing like I do. I am very heart set on this idea and am going to pursue it despite the lack of time left in my Senior year. Also, I written document was going to be the lesson plan I used to give a presentation to the 7th Graders, but since that is no longer happening, I am either going to do a paper on fish preservation in Alaska or a fly fishing manual in paper form. I guess I need to figure that out very shortly. Despite this change, I am feeling pretty comfortable with my Senior Exhibit right now. I am working on scheduling a date for my application and when that is over with, I came put all my efforts into coming up with the outline for my presentation
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