Carrie's Sample Presentation

     At my mentor meeting last week (oops, haven't blogged about that yet but better late than never), Mr. Holl and I discussed what a WISE presentation should be like, or maybe I shouldn't say should, but what my presentation could be like. Since he has mentored two people in the past Mr. Holl has some experience in the area of presentations. We discussed powerpoints and what your presentation should be communicating. I decided after hearing examples of past presentations that I wanted a slide show of pictures running in the background of my presentation, but other than that I just want to be talking to my audience about my experiences. Of course I will also be doing my presentation in my clown costume.
    While Mr Holl and I made some great progress the other week on what I envisioned my project presentation to be, attending Carrie Haas' sample presentation was the most helpful of all. First of all, her presentation was very moving. I have never seen someone that confident about sharing their emotions with a crowd of people and her passion for her project was amazingly visible and uplifting. While I don't know Carrie very well, I was so proud of her and what the WISE program teaches kids who really take advantage of it.
     Her presentation made me think about what I learned about myself in my project and what skills I would like to share with my evaluators. I really enjoyed how she actually shared her poetry with us, it was a true testament to her projects journey. I want to be able to show my evaluators what I've learned as well, in both the physical tricks as well as the mental discoveries. I made a list of the core things I want to communicate that I learned during my presentation while I was listening to Carrie's.
1. I learned to be okay with being goofy.
2. I found a way to connect with kids that I really enjoy, I've never really liked them before now.
3. As a professional stresser, my WISE project and my whole clowning mindset has given me an outlet to step back and take a chill pill every once and a while.
      Also listening to her evaluators talk about the other parts of her project like the research commentary and the narrative I realized that I need to get my butt in gear because all of my materials are due on June 7th and I have a lot of work to do before then.

This weeks summary

     The AP season has hit my life with full force, but amidst the testing chaos this week I did manage to have a few conversations about clowning opportunities around town. Ms. Lord had mentioned a that the Youth Bureau had a Tots Spot on Saturday mornings during which I could clown. On Thursday morning I visited the Youth Bureau to inquire into this opportunity only to be told that the Tots Spot had ended for the school year and would start back up in October. That's a bummer, but Janet Olsen, the very nice lady at the entrance of the Youth Bureau, gave me some helpful suggestions about other places I would be able to clown. She suggested GIAC, IC3 and then gave me the name of the theater coordinator at IYB, along with all of the contact information. I was very thankful and more than a little pumped up that someone was so interested to help me out with my project!
    I also talked to Ms. Gergly this week and she explained that she had a young daughter with a birthday in June and that she knew of a lot of other parents with kids who had birthdays this time of the year. She suggested that I make an advertising flyer for myself and she would pass it along to her friends. Not only is this a great opportunity for a clowning experience at a birthday party, but it added another layer of my project: advertising myself! I have to let people know who I am before they can ask me to clown for them. I've thought up some ideas for the flyer and I am hoping to have it done this week.
     Lastly, I spoke with my lacrosse coach this weekend and we have a tentative date scheduled for me to clown for her special education classroom. Hopefully this Friday, May 13th from 10-10:30 I will be able to come and play with them. If not this Friday then next Friday because we have a very full week of games this week and my coach thinks I will probably be exhausted by Friday. When she said this however, I realized that clowning wouldn't be that stressful for me on the last day of a busy week, but more of a stress reliever!
      Mr. Holl and I also had a mentor meeting on Friday and reviewed my progress on my project this year and things are looking pretty good! We talked about possible dates for my presentation, taking into account both of our busy schedules and also how I wanted to present my project. I don't have all of my ideas nailed down yet but I definitely have a vision of how I would like my final presentation to flow.

Mentor Meeting and Monday Successes!

    Today I met with Mr Holl in activities for our weekly mentor meeting. We talked about my recent juggling endevours (see video below) and the people I've been trying to contact in the community. Many people in my WISE class (thanks jimmy and jordan!) have suggested that I clown for those adorable kids we see everyday in the Tots and Teens program. Since their door is always closed I was really hesitant to walk up and just knock; I didn't want to interrupt anything important or come at a bad time. A few have you many have seen me lurking around D-building earlier today, trying to decide what the best course of action would be. Fortunately, Mr. Holl suggested that I knock quietly and ask if it was a good time, using my most polite manners of course.
     Emboldened by our conversation, I left activties and went right to their door, only to find it open and the kids gone! I timidly walked in and was greeted by a really kind, enthusaistic woman who was so excited about my project! We scheduled my clowning for April 12th, 2nd period. When I introduced my name, she was even more excited because apparently she was a close friend of my aunts and knew my entire dads family. Who knew she worked right at the high school! Overall it was a great success and I shouldn't have been nervous about asking. We agreed that I would stop by the week before and make sure it was still a good day.
     Mr. Holl also suggested that I start finding schools and classrooms I can clown in during may and june and make contacts with teachers because the last months of school will be upon us before we know it.

Mentor Meeting

Mr Holl and I met 7th period today and discussed how my project has been progressing so far. I went over all of the details of the carnival, most of them positive. I mentioned that I kept popping my swords and Mr Holl mentioned his friend who was a balloon animal whiz said when you keep popping it means you're overfilling. Next time I'm practicing those swords I will try being less generous with my pumping. I explained how I wanted to focus my research, with my macro topics encompassing interactions with people; what they find funny, why do they find it funny, how does the recognition of humor develop as you get older? and my micro topics of research being the fundamental skills of being a clown; juggling, balloons and jokes. Mr Holl suggested I contact a professor at Syracuse, Robert Thompson who specializes in popular culture, tv and basically the science behind entertainment. Thanks Mr Holl!