April Blog

Basically all of my April was spent doing my Independent Component, as you can see below. I have started preparing my slides of my final senior presentation. I have my activity ready. I have thought of some extra things to include in my presentation just to entertain, and also further inform, my audience. No matter what, I feel confident. In all honesty, I just want to get it over with. I know what I am doing, and I feel ready to graduate.

Independent Component 2

Literal
(a) I, Caroline Salinas, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 31 hours of work.
(b) The "Wellness and Health Fair Planning Guide" from ModaHealth.com really helped me to follow the correct procedures and tasks needed to organize a successful health fair.
(c) My Independent Component 2 Log is updated.
(d) I organized a Health Fair at the West Covina Senior center on April 8, 2015.

Interpretive

• For my Independent Component, I had to work closely with the West Covina Senior Center's director, Adrian Reynosa, to organize the event. I had to gain permission for the use of one of the senior center's buildings. In collaboration with Adrian and my mentor, Augustin Alvarado, I was able to schedule 13 booths. This was the longest portion of my project because I had to research the various organizations that could come, and I had to call them each and wait for responses. Organization is long and tedious, but vital for any successful event. The booths that attended my health fair included local health organizations and businesses. A spread sheet of these contacts is included below.

• Afterwards, it was time to start the advertisement for my event. Through my research, I have found that currently the best forms of communication with seniors is through paper announcements and work of mouth. This is also my third answer for my senior project. 

• As a part of my advertisement, I really emphasized that a raffle would be held during the health fair. I really cannot express how much seniors love free stuff! I asked many of the booths to bring something to raffle off a part form the free trinkets (pens, bags, etc.) that they would be passing out.

• As another form of advertisement, I noticed that mainly seniors attend city council meetings and watch in on tv, this is based off of my personal experience in local politics. Because of that, I decided to announce my event at the city council meeting. I got permission to speak before the council and the audience to tell them a little about my project and invite them to attend my event.

Me speaking before the West Covina City Council

• As you can see in my flyer below, I made the font big and only included the information necessary. This way, seniors can read my flyer quick and easy. I placed several at the Senior Center from desk so many seniors can get a copy.

• As each senior arrived I had them sign in by writing their name on a blank list that I had, and when they signed, they received a free raffle ticket. After counting all the signatures at the end, I concluded that over one hundred seniors had attended my event. I was very proud of my accomplishment. 

• The day started early and it had been a hectic week, even though it was my spring break. The day before, I had to call and confirm with each booth again that they would be attending, and keep in contact with the senior center employees. The morning of I made an announcement on the microphone at the Senior Center reminding them to check out my fair. I also had to help set up tables that morning and bought coffee and donuts for the booth representatives and senior center employees, just as a thank you.

• Below are some pictures from early on in my event.

 Augustine Alvarado and I.

• Right above is me with West Covina Mayor Sykes. It was really cool to have him attend my event. FUN FACT: I had the chance to speak with him briefly a few months ago, and he mentioned to me that his daughter is an IPoly Alumna. The West Covina Community Services Director was also in attendance.

• On April 21st, during a City Council meeting, I had the honor of being recognized for my Health Fair. My whole project has been a cool experience. It is really neat to have people around the city know my name.

Special thanks to my friends Desiree Zarate and Hannah Tran, who came to support me.

• Did I stress out during this project? Heck yes. Was it worth is? Totally! I helped out my community and promoted a healthy lifestyle for seniors. I am very proud of all the hard work I put in for this successful event.

Applied

• This Independent Component really helped me find my third answer for my senior project. I had to find the best forms of advertisement for my event because there would not be one if nobody showed up. That is where the city council announcement and flyers played a role. I learned the best forms of communicating with seniors and adults. Planning an event for the senior citizen audience required me to investigate what attracts them, which helped me answer my EQ. A big example was learning how much they love free stuff, which I followed through with a free raffle.

• It wasn't easy having to make so many phone calls to businesses and organizations, going from contact to contact, to schedule a booth at the fair. I learned various forms of communications through phone, email, and in person. These skills and experience will help me not only in my intended major of Communication, but also in any career I choose to pursue. 

March Blog

• This month has been pretty hectic. I have been working on my Independent Component and my competition pieces for the Fullerton Theatre festival. The festival ended last weekend so now I can fully focus on my Health Fair that I am organizing. 

• With the help of my mentor and the manager of the senior center, I have been able to get some     booths booked for the fair. I already have the date picked and it will take place during my spring break. I plan to be catching up on hours all week anyways. Hopefully everything comes out all right.

• It was hard this month, balancing long theatre rehearsals with mentorship hours. In the end, I was very pleased with the outcome of my hard work in Drama. I was a part of Suessical the Musical and played Mayzie the bird. We had wonderful performances and the cast was a great team. I was very proud of all our effort. even though we did not make it to finals at the competition. We got great scores anyways from the judges.  In honor of that,  I did a Dr. Suess theme drawing this month on the menu board. A picture of that can be found below with another picture of the IPoly Suessical cast.

Fourth Interview Questions

1. What aspects or trends appeal most to seniors? 

2. What is some information that the common should people should

know about senior citizens and the centers? 

3. What are some important things that senior center employees or future employees should know?

4. What is the best advice you could give to someone educating others about senior centers? 

5. For how long have you been working with seniors?

6. What differences have you noticed at the senior center since you first started working there?

7. What forms of communications are best used to reach and advertise to seniors?

8.How has this specific senior center advertise to seniors?

9.  What do you think is in store for the future of senior citizen advertising?

10.Why and how did you end up working at the senior center? 

11. How can senior centers better cater to each generation?

12. What are the most important needs of seniors that the centers could cater to?

13. What have experiences have you learned from working at a senior center?

14. What are some misconceptions about senior centers, and how could they be resolved?

15. Why do you think that most local citizens take advantage of senior centers compared to teen centers?

16. What are some expectations senior citizens would have for a health fair?

17.. What are the biggest health concerns for seniors?

18. What do the seniors enjoy doing most at the senior center?

19. What are some significant differences between local senior centers and this one?

20. What do you predict for the future of senior centers? (10-20 years)

Blog 17: Third Answer

• 1.  What is your EQ?
  • What is the most effective way to maximize participation at community senior centers?
• Answer #3 :
• Seniors must be informed about their opportunities through proper media channels. 
• 3 details to support the answer:
• The Voice is a popular newsletter that seniors can pick up at the Senior Center. It provides them with events, menus, classes, and other opportunities for the upcoming months.
• The West Covina city app and website have  been helpful with finding local senior services.
• Local newspapers, such as the San Gabriel Vally Examiner, often advertise senior citizen opportunities in local cities.
• The research source (s) to support your details and answer:
• An interview on how seniors have been using social media and how to advertise with that knowledge. I also read other articles on this and am basing my answer on personal experience at my mentorship.
• Concluding Sentence:
• The latest in technology is not always the right way to go when marketing to the oldest generations.

February Blog

• This month I brainstormed with my mentors on ideas for my Independent Component 2. I ended up choosing to do the Health Fair which as of now will take place on April 8th. i talked to the main person in charge at the senior center, and got everything approved. No in this upcoming month I will contact companies and organizations to be a part of the senior center. 

• I will try to contact health insurance companies,  health organizations to provide free health screenings, beauty schools or business to possibly give free haircuts, and I also would like to get a dance teacher or some dance students to give a Zumba class.  These are some of the ideas that I have for this project as of now.

Answer 2

1.  What is your EQ?

• What is the most effective way to maximize participation at community senior centers?

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• Senior centers must have activities and services that cater to each senior generation

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• Senior centers must offer services that cater to all the needs of seniors

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

• Most seniors only use businesses that meet their absolute needs
• Senior centers should  be all about seniors and offer the right services they need
• If seniors need these things, then they are most likely to use it

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

• Several articles on senior marketing from Entrepreneur.com, which is also a magazine

6.  What other source supports your answer?

• My mentorship and first-hand experience with seniors

7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.

• The best way to market to seniors is to provide them with their typical needs. This applies to everyone.