Elder Council Reflection

One of my activities I am currently doing is volunteering for the Honors Academy at California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) as head of the elder council. The Honors Academy is a six week long summer program for students 11 to 15 years old, and is an integral component for selecting students to enter college early through the Early Entrance Program (EEP). The elder council is a group of students in the EEP who have recently graduated or are at least entering their fourth year of college. These EEP students, elders, must be approved by the director of the program to be a good role model. They interview and evaluate students in the Honors Academy for thirty minutes, and contribute to the admissions decision. I was chosen to be

Students felt comfortable approaching me to ask for help or advice, and I was well-liked for my enthusiasm and easy-going personality. During spring semester 2017, I selected elders who were available during the summer to be a part of the elder council, and then presented the list of students for the director of EEP to approve. Afterwards, I created time slots to conduct interviews during the Honors Academy, ensured that at least three council members would be present, and reserved a conference room. I was also in charge of compiling a list of interview questions with input from the other council members that were then approved by the director. During the Honors Academy, I am participating in interviews and representing the council during the admissions decision meeting at the end of the summer to select which students from the Honors Academy will be accepted into the EEP. Being head of the council required me to have strong leadership skills, manage my time wisely and to be constantly communicating with the other council members and the director to ensure everything would run smoothly during the

My research investigates general chemistry students’ understanding of general chemistry using a model in chemistry education known as the chemistry triplet involving three multiple representations-- macroscale, nanoscale and symbolic. The macroscale refers to the phenomena that can be experienced with the physical senses, such as sight, hearing and touch. The nanoscale refers to the behavior of molecules, atoms and other particles that cannot be seen with the naked eye, and the symbolic refers to letters, numbers, operations and equations used to represent physical and chemical states and processes. I am revising a manuscript where I am first author, assisting other laboratory members in designing their studies and analyzing their data, and attending weekly lab meetings. Educating others is important to me, and I feel that publishing the manuscript may encourage general chemistry professors to think about how they assess and teach their students. Since I have been in the research lab the longest and I am on campus nearly every day to conduct elder council interviews for the Honors Academy, I have continued attending the weekly lab meetings and spending time with one of the undergraduate students who is continuing to conduct research during the summer. I am helping her analyze the data using SPSS. Conducting research has helped develop my written and verbal