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Reflective Journal
1) June 1, 2014
As, summer began; I was recommended a mentor by a close friend that he had shadowed
that previous year. The mentor that was recommended to me was in a career field that I was
looking into at that current time, which was an Orthopedic Specialist or Doctor. The
experienced mentor was a doctor named Kent Vincent, who practiced at his own office called
Childrens Orthopedic Specialists. It was located at 1605 East River Road, in which I contacted
immediately after the SEP Board approved my SEP proposal on Orthopedics. I contacted his
main secretary named Jennifer Curri through messaging on e-mail several times before I
received a response of approval. Approval continued through the signing of confirmation forms,
mentor forms, and liability forms, before scheduling of shadowing dates began. The dates
covered a long time period to a total of twenty hours, in which started at the end of summer after
completed surgeries.
2) July 21, 2014
My very first day of shadowing for a total of four hours with, Kent Vincent, the
experienced doctor and mentor. The time of shadowing was planned from a time of one to five
in the afternoon, so I had to leave around twelve to make it to his office in time, as it was quite a
long drive to his office. When I arrived I was immediately impressed by the look of his office
and the size and appeal of the building. I walked into the office and checked in to inform the
nurses and secretaries who I was and my purpose for coming to the office. They recognized my
name quickly and welcomed me kindly to his office, and then I was told to have a seat, as Dr.
Vincent was just beginning to ready and knowledge himself on the next set of patients. I was
called back by one of the many nurses after some time of patiently waiting, in which we went

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straight to his office. He stood up from his desk and shook my hand with a firm, steady
handshake. He thanked me for coming in to supervise that day, as we sat down to analysis the
first patients x-rays. That was how the rest of the day went, going back and forth between
studying x-rays and checking on patients.
3) August 1, 2014
After shadowing for the first time for that summer, my senior year had already begun at
Cienega High School. SEP is on the fast track setting this year, so we began the discussion of
shadowing and the critical issue paper immediately in our literature classes. We started with the
annotated bibliography, which was the basis of research sources for the entire paper. The
annotated paper set the structure of the paper, so students had to find a minimum of ten sources
that would provide the most amount of information for our chosen critical issue. I chose a
critical issue over the current research and information that my mentor had discussed with me. It
was a critical issue that is currently sweeping across the United States, which covers the obesity
epidemic. I finished with ten total sources that would fully explain the seriousness of the obesity
epidemic, while partially covering short-term and long-term effects on orthopedic structure.
4) August 4, 2014
After earning the approval of all ten sources that I had chosen to support the critical issue,
we were given another assignment to keep moving on the project. The assignment correlated
with the sources and annotations, as I had to go through each source carefully, and comprehend
all the information given. I then had to choose through that information to write down two to
three notes in my own words under the source they were found in. These notes had to apply
directly to the critical issue and were required to have at least two sentences of information. The
notes that I had taken were the comprehending of sedentary lifestyle, long-term excess weight

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structural damages, factors of the growing obesity epidemic like fast food, and numerous
statistics of obesity in the United States. Many of the sources repeated the values in the
numerous statistics, reassuring that my paper would have the most accurate data available.
5) August 13, 2014
After approval towards the last twenty-five total notes that we had gathered, we were
informed that we would have to find at least seventy-five more. I had a total of ten fully accurate
sources that I was going to use, so I wrote ten notes around one to two sentences long for each
source, so that I would reach a total of hundred notes. Each note was quick and simple to
understand; yet it was very time-consuming to write each one in my own words. Each source
was unique in its own way, as one could focus on United States obesity effects statistics, while
another could focus on the definition of obesity and the drive that causes it entirely. I took each
note carefully in my own words, to avoid the threat of plagiarism, in which would make it
simpler on the writing of my rough draft paper. Then, I highlighted the notes to fit into 5
different categories of structure differences, western lifestyle, advertisement, obesity statistics,
and chronic or orthopedic effects.
6) August 15, 2014
I visited the office of Childrens Orthopedic Specialists specifically for a career question
and answer interview of my mentor, and not regular shadowing hours. When I am shadowing,
he is too focused and engaged in patients and paperwork to sit down and apply the best answers,
so this was a perfect time on his break. I had thought and typed out the questions that I was
going to ask ahead of time, because I wanted the best answers from a person that is experienced
in the field. I had chosen and written ten questions that split equally into two categories. These
categories included ten questions on the generalization of the career, and another ten questions

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on the chosen critical issue, United States obesity epidemic, and orthopedic topics led from
obesity. One of the best answers that I received from DR. Vincent assisted the accuracy of the
connection between Orthopedics and obesity. My question was Does excessive adipose tissue
affect bone health and structure, which he went on to explain how the excess tissue applies
greater pressure and wear on the joints and exposes the bone to greater risk of fracture.
7) August 18, 2014
Today was the due date for our detailed outline for our critical issue. The main
requirement for the SEP paper outline were listed as to have a minimum of seven pages, but I
exceeded that minimum through consideration of the benefit it would have on my rough draft. I
organized the outline quickly, but carefully, as I had to follow the structure that I developed
when organizing each detail and fact in the notes. I began the concept of the paper outline with
the introduction paragraph, which I had only developed the supporting thesis, as a strong opening
sentence would take longer to develop. My supporting thesis applied to the later paragraphs
directly, as it stated, American citizens are to blame for the growing obesity epidemic, due to
the practice of sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy food consumption. Setting the theme of the
critical issue in the paper, and allowing for the development of paragraph location and
supporting details. The outline of paragraphs was organized with opening topic, first fact,
explanation, second fact, explanation, and then transition to the following paragraph.
8) August 20, 2014
My second day of shadowing was a complete success in the learning experience. I arrive
and instantly began to enter his cycle of patients that day, as he had started the clinic early due to
a larger amount of patients coming in. The very first patient was the most interesting throughout
the day, as he was injured similar to how I was injured previously in my life. He was a sixteen-

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year-old male, who was extremely prone to patella dislocations, in which that day he was coming
in for a checkup and update from his last surgery. He had a chronic condition in his knees, in
which his kneecaps were unstable at all times. The surgery he underwent was to realign and
strengthen, through tightening, the tendons that support his patella. Many of the other patients
were similar to each other, with the regular checkups and appointments on fractures and
scoliosis. One of the last patients surprised me though, as he was born with dwarfism in his arms,
so he underwent surgery, which broke at the head neck of the humorous, pulled the lower neck
of the humorous to measured length, and allowed the bone to fill in the space created to a
proportionate arm length.
9) August 25, 2014
The due date of the rough draft of the SEP paper, in which I finished the final touches
earlier this morning, unsure of the quality. I like to write important papers over a divided period
of time before I turn it in to analyze the writing and corrections to make the paper as defined as
can be. The time spent on the rough draft was a short period of time of just one weekend after
the due date of the outline. The writing of the outline was a benefit to crafting the paper, but I
needed to have more organized notes and statistics, which was time consuming to search through
each source, causing a stressed increase in writing the paper. Creating an opening sentence was
also time consuming, as it most be significant to the reader to continue to read the rest of the
paper. The opening sentence pulls in the reader, before introducing the thesis and facts that are
going to makeup the entire paper. I had a total of fifteen paragraphs that transitioned to each
other poorly but accurately to total eight and half pages. The number of pages in my paper was
one and a half more than the requirements on the SEP rubric, which I later read required two
thousand seven hundred and fifty words. I had turned in my rough draft at a total of three

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hundred and fifty words lower than the requirements, penalizing me sixteen percent at the very
beginning of the grading process.
10) September 3, 2014
My third time shadowing with Dr. Kent Vincent and it was quite a busy, yet successful
learning experience day. Im still impatiently waiting for my AP Literature teacher, Mrs. Duron,
to release the grade on my rough draft, but Dr. Vincents patients took my mind off the wait.
One of the patients was extremely interesting as he was in ninth grade and has faced rapid health
decline his entire life. As, a newborn he needed immediate heart surgery, and as he grew up he
struggled to gain normal amounts of weight. Going into high school at a total of forty-nine
pounds, compared to a healthy ninth grader at a hundred to a hundred and twenty pounds. He
was placed onto a feeding tube, which assisted in the discovery of a sixty-degree curve in his
spine, which is how he was recommended to Dr. Vincent. When I first met the patient, he was
expressing great signs of improvement from surgery, which fused two of his thoracic vertebrae
together to help transition his spine into decreasing curve. Following this patient, all the others
were just checkups, casting off, and cases of small fractures and dislocations.
11) September 5, 2014
As, the Senior Project was in full effect, all the SEP students were finally given advisors
or mentors. After a long wait to see my personal advisor, I finally received my advisor, who I
had written down as number one on the mentor request form, as Mr. Farr. Today, I went to find
him in his classroom and reintroduce myself, as I had already had him in two of his classes the
previous year. This was marked as our first conference with each other, and it was a complete
success, as we caught each other up on progress towards the project. We met all the
requirements for what was set out by the SEP Board through the turning in of the parent and

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mentor request letter, parent consent form, and the evidence that our interview was correctly
cited in our paper. The interview was cited correctly in my paper, but I didnt highlight exactly
where it was located in the paper. So I quickly went back and highlighted the parts that the
interview was used as a source, and showed him. I received a hundred on all the assignments
that were required and I was excited that I received one of my favorite past teachers as an
advisor.
12) September 12, 2014
The second mentor and student conference with Mr. Farr was a successful one as I turned
in the document that was required. That document was the mentor confirmation form, which I
had printed off and had signed the first shadowing day, before school had started. I also received
the news that my mentor had yet to contact my advisor through the phone or email, even though
I had asked Dr. Vincent earlier. Assuming he had just forgotten, I immediately sent him a link to
Mr. Farrs email address and what to state and inform him about. He immediately answered and
sent it quickly to Mr. Farr, yet it had just passed the due date earlier, so I was penalized 30
points, giving me a grade of seventy percent on that requirement. After getting all those
requirements straightened out, I signed up for the texting notifications that Mr. Farr creates to let
his students that he doesnt see everyday, be informed of due dates and requirements. For the
rest of the conference we just discussed progress on the paper and portfolio, along with the
activities I do while I am shadowing. He was very interested in the activities I do, because he
teaches Anatomy and would like to know of some of the day-to-day plans of an Orthopedic
Doctor.

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13) September 18, 2014
Today, in my AP literature class, we went to the library to complete our paper editing on
the graded rough drafts. We had just finished filling out our first draft review forms that helped
us analyze the paper, and the mistakes that were made. Analyzing each page through my rough
draft made me aware of the amount of mistakes that was made, and made me understand the
reasoning for the D+ grade I received. The most influential mistake that was made was the
missing word count, making my paper under requirements. That penalized my paper at a
deduction of sixteen percent, only with a large percentage taken off for inaccurate citing of
sources and development of the work cited page. The work cited page needed a correction of
title, correction of margin and format development, and removal of links of the sources. I
followed the MLA formats to the exact detail that was required, before analyzing my paper for
places of facts that needed source citation. I noted factors that needed attention after finding all
facts that needed sources, being the takeout of personal pronouns, efficient transitions, and a
greater flow of introduction and the thesis.
14) September 19, 2014
I finished all personal edits and remarks before moving on to my older sister, Jordan, for
assistance on an efficient guest analysis. She is a junior in college and is an excellent source for
editing with many years of writing and editing behind her. I printed out the guest edit form, and
we sat down together to fully analyze the paper and mark all remarks on the form. She analyzed
quietly for some time before mentioning the assistance of spell proofreader, as she circled
spelling mistakes and skipped over personal pronouns. She commented on the transition of
paragraphs as being mostly varied throughout the structure of sentence, yet the through
effectiveness of opening sentences was quite choppy and flowed poorly with the previous

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paragraph idea through conclusion. She also noted the missing or rejected sources throughout
the paper, as certain facts and notes remained incorrectly cited, along with several first or second
personal pronouns that needed to be taken out completely. I finished with the correct page count,
but needed to incorporate ideas into paragraphs and new paragraphs to meet the requirements of
word count. The analyze and notes on my rough draft through edits with my sister made me
anxious to start my final draft, as I knew it would be a well-done paper.
15) October 10, 2014
Another successful conference with my mentor, Mr. Farr, in which I brought the fully completed
transcript for my interview that, was due. The transcript for the interview was more formal and
serious, as it was completely typed in MLA question and answer format. Each question began
with a bolded letter of Q, which was followed by a bolded letter of A, standing for the answer to
the question. The SEP Board, for evidence, required the mentor to observe the transcript that the
interview actually occurred and was not just searched for and placed into the paper at random.
One of the most important questions that were placed in the career question set stated, What are
the advantages and disadvantages of becoming an Orthopedic Surgeon? In which, Dr. Vincent
throughout thought out before answering that it allows for diverse conditions, numerous
acquaintances, and a stable job. While there are many benefits, there are also disadvantages,
consisting of large amounts of pressure and stress in the numerous forms of decision-making.
Decisions for each patient vary in complexity, as one could be a surgical candidate, while
another could be a casting candidate.

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16) October 15, 2014
My second to last time shadowing date was another complete success, as I observed
many varied and diverse patients. I arrived slightly early at the office, yet that didnt matter
because I was know by all the nurses and secretaries, so I was instantly sent to the back towards
Dr. Kents office. He was in the middle of speaking into the microphone, which typed into
forms while he talked, allowing him to finish paperwork in record time. After, he finished the
earlier patients analyze and forms, he switched over to the next patients x-rays that had just
recently arrived. He immediately began to observe and ask me questions on my personal
analysis of the x-ray and the factors that played into effect. In that specific x-ray I pointed out
that there was small dark-lined fracture on the left side of the elbow. He congratulated me on a
well-observed find and said that he had seen that area and confirmed it as a fracture. The patient
was just coming for the emergency room, as he had injured his elbow during football practice.
He had fallen and before he could stand back up, someone fell hard into his elbow, causing an
immediate dislocation and relocation of his elbow, and a pressure fracture to form from the
force. The rest of the patients were there for checkups on broken bones, castings off, and
checkups on improvements to curvature in spines, legs, and feet.
17) October 24, 2014
Another conference with my advisor, as it had been a great deal of time with little contact
and work on the SEP portfolio. At the conference I was informed of the next development step
to the SEP process of building a successful portfolio. My advisor, Mr. Farr, was attempting a
new process of online portfolio, in which it was created through a website generator. Mr. Farr
recommended that I signed up with all my personal information to a controlled website that
would makeup my entire online portfolio. After completing the list of all personal information, I

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went thought security of the website and created a proper domain name. I then addressed the
theme and layout of the website, focusing on a simple blue colored theme with background
images relating to orthopedic doctors. The home tab was created around a picture of a doctor,
several personal shadowing images, a map to Dr. Vincents office, and a brief biography on how
Dr. Vincent has gotten to where he is today. He has come far from his biology major and
attendance to medical school, with current practices in areas within neuromuscular shoulder and
brachial plexus injuries, management of complex limb-length discrepancies and pediatric spinal
deformity & scoliosis.
18) October 30, 2014
I continue to patiently wait for news on the grade I have received on the final draft of the
SEP paper. News of a passing grade, would allow me personally to be finished with the SEP
paper entirely, and move my full attention to the Weebly online portfolio. I had been working on
the portfolio somewhat as I became fully accustomed to the tools and edits on how to perfect the
website and develop a structure to include everything required on the rubric. I also added all the
pictures that I had the nurse take of Dr. Vincent and I only, as I was not allowed to take pictures
with the patients in the room, due to the various legal and rights issue that presented themselves.
As, I worked on the structure of design on the website, I printed out the rubric of requirements
that I would be graded on. The rubric stated needed documents, forms, papers and projects that
were needed in the tabs of the website, along with the demonstration example, personally doing a
day in the life, and a total of twenty-five journals. The website was going to be filled with SEP
information, yet with the structure I developed it would be easily navigated through to find each
thing that was being searched for. I then sent Mr. Farr and email with the link to the website,

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and discussed what had been worked on and what was in line to be worked on next to completely
finish in time.
19) November 2, 2014
Finally received the overall ending grade on my SEP paper final draft. On the paper I
received an eighty-seven, in which I was deducted points for simple overlooked mistakes.
Deducted various points for a few facts that could have been easily cited, and yet was done
incorrectly. My research was clear and informative, with facts to efficiently support, yet various
explanations for those facts unfinished and were supported with sources that were reputable. I
was also deducted points for the entire paper organization, as it was in a predictable manner,
somewhat clear, and at certain points weak in the present structure. I received full credit on
many parts throughout the paper, especially proper word choice and sentence variety through
expressiveness and originality. Also expressing strength for point gain in the paper was the
development of voice and opinion, as a great sense of audience and an appropriate expression.
My format for the final draft was structured and perfected through analyze of MLA forms and
mistakes made on the rough draft. Format points were given up to full credit though accuracy on
development of a heading, font, size, spacing, margins and the finished work cited page.
20) November 14, 2014
Another conference meeting with my personal SEP advisor to fully discuss and
understand the progress on SEP. He was questioning our progress for understanding exactly
where we are in steps of completing twenty hours of shadowing and the development of our
website for the online portfolio. I am at a total of seventeen hours with shadow dates with the
same mentor, and already planning for one last time of three to four hours. In that last time of
shadowing I would have to finish up all the journals and single day logs, the complete final log

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form, and take lasting pictures. I couldnt take many pictures due to the legal issues with the
patients, but I took as many as possible with Dr. Vincent teaching me. After assuring my advisor
that I planned to finish all my twenty hours of shadowing soon, we discussed the progress of the
website to the online portfolio. I had not made a large amount of progress in the website
development, as I was focusing on the organization of the documents and the writing of the
reflective journals. The reflective journals required a total of twenty-five entries, which covered
the entire scope of the SEP experience from the searching of the mentor to the turning in of the
finished portfolio. I completed all the journal entries in an old notebook, before typing them, to
ensure that I would have the most accurate details and dates.
21) November 17, 2014
I have continued my progress towards the development of the online portfolio, as the due
date was announced to be on December fifth. I continued typing the highly detailed journals,
before analyzing the Portfolio Assessment Rubric. The rubric began grading with the structure
development of the entire website through the functional, relevance, and efficiency in navigation
factors. Also enforcing basic structure throughout with a home page, tabs, various links, media
sources, and a simple layout and design of details and information. Then, after the development
of the home page, there was a tab that discussed the critical issue taken from the SEP paper. The
tab completely addresses the critical issue, biography of Dr. Kent Vincent, and discussion of
experiences, tasks and memories, during shadowing. The following tab is used for the
discussion of the demonstration example, which fully reflects personal knowledge gained,
effective application of that knowledge, and creativity on how to apply that knowledge through
the entire orthopedic field. The last tab includes all twenty-five-journal entries and forms of

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documentation of the project, through the parent consent form, project proposal, final log sheet,
interview transcript, and many other SEP forms.
22) November 19, 2014
My final day of shadowing my mentor, Dr. Kent Vincent, at the Childrens Orthopedic
Specialists was busy and time-consuming with each patient. Dr. Vincent and I saw many
varieties of patients, through differences in ages, and each of their ranges in correlation to
problems in structure and severity in injury. One interesting patient that came in today was a
young seven-year-old boy that as he was growing, was experiencing problems in the
development of his major leg bones including his femurs and tibias. This leg structure
development was actually set in through development at birth, in which his femurs were
developing at a slight angle, in cause turning his tibias, which caused his feet and toes to point at
an inward direction. His x-rays expressed that he would need surgery to correct the issue, in
which Dr. Vincent would cut the bone at the upper femur, turn it to the correct growth angle, as
the current growth angle was causing his legs and feet to brush and trip each while running and
walking. After this extremely interesting patient, the other patients were just follow up
appointments with fractures and spine curvatures. After finishing the last four hours of
shadowing, my mentor signed all the necessary paperwork like the final log document, and then
we said our thank-you and goodbye to each other, and then I left his office for good, unless I
break another bone soon.
23) November 24, 2014
I have continued my progress on the development of my online portfolio, as I finally
understand the layout and design of the website and how to maneuver through the tools and
editing formats to perfect the website. I wanted to make the portfolio as best as it could be, as I

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wanted to get an excellent grade and for it to benefit me during the presentation when the judges
view it. I gathered all the paperwork that was required, which included; the parent consent form,
project proposal, mentor confirmation form, the final draft of the research paper, all the
individual mentor logs, final log sheet, interview transcript. I had to develop a way to place all
signed forms onto the website electronically, which was to take my printer, change the settings to
scan, and then transfer the scanned in paperwork onto the computer. That scanned paperwork
would scan into one file, which I would then take and place it into the correct website tab that I
had previously made. After scanning in the paperwork, I began the process of typing the critical
issue through the combined discussion of the final drafts thesis and experienced knowledge
during times of shadowing. After quickly finishing that, I had to start the separate project called
the demonstration example that correlated with the career that each individual shadowed. For
my personal example, I had chosen for my example to cover a basic day in the life of an
orthopedic surgeon or doctor, for the topic of my demonstration example, which I would start
soon.
24) November 29, 2014
After finishing the process of the discussion of the critical issue and shadowing tasks, like
perfecting the journal entries, I started the demonstration examples. I had previously decided to
focus the demonstration example project on the expressing of a typical day in the life of an
orthopedic doctor or surgeon. I started the research immediately, as the online portfolio due date
was rapidly approaching, in which I found that most orthopedic doctors begin residency in a
hospital before transferring to a private office, or opening their own private office. An
orthopedics day begins quite early, with the starting analysis of admissions and disasters that
occurred the night before at the hospital. After learning of the nights activities, he would start to

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mentally prepare and plan the days activities, with many influencing factors. Factors like the
order of cases, outpatient scheduling, and necessary organization of tasks that all fall under the
decisions of the orthopedic surgeon or doctor. Then the doctor reviews all the tasks completed
the night before to understand each treatment plan and how well each case was performed. Then
comes the seeing of that days patients, in which each injury and problem is diagnosed and
decided upon to the next step. The rest of the day is split between the tasks of teaching and
assisting the performance of orthopedic residents, which usually last until the end of the clinic at
five or six p.m. This demonstration example project has really made me understand how an
orthopedic doctor works and functions through each day, and if it were something I would want
to do after college.
25) December 5, 2014
Today marks the final due date for the entire online portfolio and I was rapidly making
changes and corrections until the very last moment that we could turn it in. My SEP advisor, Mr.
Farr, required that the final mentor shadowing log, each individual shadowing log, reflective
journal entries, and the detailed thank you letter was to be turned in through a hard copy and
through a link to the website which contained the finished online portfolio. All twenty-fivejournal entries were completed through all the details of the long SEP experience, along with the
discussion of the critical issue, which in my paper was the rapidly advancing United States
obesity epidemic. The rest of the requirements like the demonstration example project and
numerous forms were placed into a file through the tabs on the website, ready to be
acknowledged as complete and then analyzed and graded through each detail. The background of
the website flowed evenly with the information and pictures taken of Dr. Vincent, allowing for
creativity between each tab. I spent a great deal of time on the development of the online

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portfolio, as I knew it would assist my presentation later on in the SEP progression. Now I sit in
wait for the next requirement and assignment that will come along during the span of my senior
exit project.