Special Thanks

So, now that I'm done with everything, except the product presentation, I'd like to give a special thanks to my close friend, Yareli Castro because with out her my senior presentation wouldn't be possible. The reason I say this is because I was in jeopardy of getting kicked out of iPoly because I didn't have mentorship or a mentor. She talked to her uncle and hooked me up with a mentor and mentorship. So thank you Yareli. I owe you a lot. 

I'm done!

So, today I had my 2 hour presentation and successfully met speaking time and overall presentation time. I guess I'm graduating now! 

Senior project reflection

1) I'm most proud of my activity 1 because it was teaching the people in my presentation how to properly do an oil change by finding the filter and the oil needed for their car using a makeshift oil pan that I made. 

2a) P

2b) P

3) My mentorship worked for me the most. 

4) I would go back and change the date that I started my mentorship. I would have asked my friends if they knew anyone that I could do mentorship with because Yareli was actually the one the got me my mentorship. 

5) My senior project has mostly helped me with understanding cars, how they work and how to fix them. I learned all of this through my mentorship because I actually got to work on cars and gain first hand knowledge and experience about how to repair cars, which will devotedly come in hand in the future in case I decide to go into auto mechanics as a a career or just decide that I want to work on my car. 

Ceramic Engines?

So, apparently they're thinking of making engines out of ceramic now because they would be able to operate at higher temperatures which would lead to better efficiency, less pollutants, and better fuel economy. The only problem is that the sensors integrated into the engine wouldn't be able to withstand such high temperatures of heat, so scientists are figuring out a way to make it so that the sensors can withstand that type of heat. You can read more about it here.

Blog 25: Mentorship

Literal:

Click here to view my log of up to date mentorship hours.

Mentorship: 

Daniel's Auto Center

Jorge Ramos

(626) 814-4694

Interpretive:

I would have to say that the most important thing that I gained from my experience at my mentorship would have to the all the knowledge that I gained from the hands-on learning that I did at the shop. The reason for this is that, not only did I learn a lot, but I also got to put all that I learned to the test. I learned a lot at the shop that I could have learned from articles or books on automotive mechanics, but I learned it a lot faster by actually doing what I taught. I think this is important because all the knowledge that I gained from my mentorship is something that I will carry with me my whole life and that will help me throughout my whole life and even more if I choose to go into auto-mechanics for a living. 

Applied: 

Everything that I did at the shop helped me answer my EQ because everything that I was learning was auto-mechanics and I was learning about all the important parts of a car and what a car can't and can go without. I found two of my answers from paying attention to what customers brought their cars in for and learned what parts give people the most problems and which of those problems can become deadly for the car's mechanical life. The other answer, I got from my mentor from what he told me about engine oil, which was also at the shop. 

Blog 24: Exit Interview Questions

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

- My essential question is, what is the most important factor in extending the mechanical life of an automobile? My best answer to my essential question is regular oil changes because, as my mentor, Jorge Ramos, said: "Engine oil is like the blood of a car." Engine is what keeps your car running. You can have a prefect engine, a full tank of gas and any additional parts you want to increase horse power, increase efficiency, etc. but without oil your car won't run. Engine oil keeps all of the metal parts in your car lubricated so that your engine doesn't blow up from the friction cause by the parts. This is why, when compared to my other two answers, engine oil comes out on top. You can keep your car in almost perfect condition by replacing parts at certain miles and always making sure that your sensors are working but without properly maintained engine oil, your car's engine will be at risk. 

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

- The process to arrive at this answer wasn't very long, it was the process to arrive to the conclusion that regular oil changes was the most important factor in extending the mechanical life of a car, that was long. To find this answer, I simply asked my mentor what he thought was most important in a car. He said the fluids of the car were most important but he didn't specify what fluids. I later dug deeper into my research and paid more attention at the cars that customers brought into a shop to see what caused people the most problems when it came to their cars. I found that faulty sensors caused a lot of problems as well as parts that need to be replaced every so often miles. These two became my other two answers for my EQ. I then took these three answers and weighed them out and started looking at what the consequences of each were and came to the conclusion that you can change mile marker, or milestone, parts as often as you want and you can have your sensors in tip top shape all the time but if you don't keep your engine oil clean and healthy, your car will not last you and new sensors and mile marker parts will have been for nothing. 

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

- Throughout the year, I only faced two problems. The first was that when I first started researching for my senior project, I started off with articles that were really technical and had a lot of words that I didn't know, which led to me misunderstanding what I was learning. I resolved this by toning down the academic level of my research. The second was that I couldn't find a mentor. I found a lot of shops that were willing to help me but one of three problems always occurred. One, the shop didn't have enough room for since I wasn't an actual mechanic and would  be taking up too much space in such a crowded work area. Two, I had to take and complete an automotive class before the shop let me work with them to avoid probable and fatal mistakes that I could've made on the customers' cars. Three, liability issues with the insurance of the shop. One of these three was always a problem with the shops that I tried to get mentorship with. I actually didn't resolve this, I got this resolved for me by my friend, Yareli. She asked her dad if I could work with him and he said no, but her dad asked her uncle if I could work with them and he gladly said yes. That resolved my whole issue.  After that, I didn't have any problems because any questions that I had, my mentor answered. Even now, whenever I find that I have questions about an article that is a bit too technical for me, I ask my mentor to dumb it down for me and he does. 

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

- My two most significant sources were the Engine Bible on carbibles.com and my mentor, Jorge Ramos. The Engine Bible is what the name of it states; it's everything and anything you need to know about how an engine works, the different types of engines, possible problems with engines, how to take care of an engine and informative videos about engines. My mentor was a big help because when ever I had a question about something I didn't understand on carbibles.com or any other article, he'd dumb it down for me as much as possible. He also spent a lot of time with me working on cars and walking me step by step on how to do a job such as changing the transmission fluid or engine oil of a car, replacing the oxygen sensor of a car or changing the timing belt of a car. These jobs helped me figure out what a car couldn't function without and he helped me understand how important engine oil was In a car. So, I guess you could say my two most important sources worked in unison: one gave me written information and the other clarified any information I didn't fully understand. 

5) What is your product and why? 

- My final product is that I acquired the ability to be able to work on my car and the cars of my family members at home. I acquired this ability through the information I learned from articles and the hands on learning I got at my mentorship. Without my research and my mentorship, I could not have learned any of this without taking an automotive class in college. 

Blog 23: 2014 Interview

1) Susie Davidson (East House)

2) I don't know but I really like horses so I was thinking if I could so something with that.

3) There's a stable by my house where I take my horses that would probably let me take them there. 

4) I see that a lot of people are working really hard and I hope to see some really informative presentations.

5) No