Bianca Lopez Reflection Blog #2

Managing Projects and Managing Myself

Becoming one of project managers for this class has been a very interesting experience for me so far. I truly didn’t know what kind of job I signed up. Now, I’ve realized that I have become a person for my classmates to run to whenever they need support and encouragement, I’ve had other students message me for help and guidance - being able to assist my classmates in a way that is caring and useful has been extremely rewarding. It truly pushes me to want to be more attentive towards my classmates and our assignments to ensure that their experience in this class is the best it can be. Project 2 was significantly less stressful than the first one. The first presentations we were assigned for this class felt like we were all scrambling like mice to get the projects ready and organized in time. But for this past project - me, my fellow project manager Erika, and my classmates had the luxury of having a little bit of flexibility when it came to time. 

This time around, me and Erika decided to swap our places for introductions and conclusions. I had two conclusions and one introduction, while Erika had two introductions and only one conclusion. Having the introductions for our first presentations was super fun for me. Having to do two conclusions was surprisingly very easy and brief. I made sure to keep the introduction quick, easy to follow, and relatable for my classmates. 

Group 1 – Economy and Potential Careers

For the introduction, Erika decided to do an interview of some of the group members. She made sure that the three people she chose had very different majors so that she could go over how each of them can impact our society and make a difference to the world. The questions that Erika asked were very insightful and helped the class learn a little bit more about our classmates. In my opinion, these were the hardest chapters to go over. Economy and potential careers are very sensitive topics to go over, and I was very impressed by how respectively the groups went over the chapters. We learned about a lot in this presentation by Group 1. We learned about different forms of communication and how important it is to be communicative towards the people that you surround yourself with. Whether it be individuals that you are friends with or individuals that you work with. We also learned about the economy in Miami Dade, which is a very significant and important topic for us to go over since it’s the county that most of us live in. Group 1 also provided an insightful Q&A from interviewing a woman who works at a federal level. I concluded the presentation recognizing the three group members that were interviewed in the introduction can impact the world in the future, and by explaining that the economy is more than just money and numbers. The economy is about recognizing how various factors shaped the job market and influence our career choices. The economy influences our potential careers. 

Group 2 – Families and Education 

I had the pleasure of introducing the topics for Group 2. However, when coming up with an introduction, I had a lot of trouble figuring out how I could introduce the group in a meaningful and educational way. I landed on talking about how parental involvement in a child’s education is proven to have a lot of benefits on the child. I used sources from the National Education Association. I utilized an article that encourages parents to be more involved in their student’s education, especially when it comes to homework and getting to know the teachers that are educating their children. Statistics show that parents who are more involved with their students’ education have children who have fewer behavioral issues and are more inclined to do well in school. On the other hand, children who do not have involved parents are more likely to fail a class. I even spoke about how many of us in the class might be able to relate to having parents who were involved, having parents that weren’t involved at all or potentially having both. The rest of the presentation was about different forms of educating students and how Miami Dade county handles education, and families. Working with Group 2 was an extremely organized group to work with.

Group 3 – Mental Health and Social Life

The chapters that group 3 decided to go over we’re very straightforward. In more recent years, mental health has become a very prominent topic of conversation amongst many generations. And social life is part of everyone’s daily lives. We have social interactions with family members, friends, neighbors, and even strangers. Group 3 described what mental health is and went over the different types of mental health disorders. The group also went over what social life is and the different types of social connections. Furthermore, describing how the two topics intertwine and connect with each other on a very serious level. I concluded the presentation by talking about the importance of friendships and the individuals you surround yourself with. It’s important to ask yourself questions about the type of friendships and relationships that you’re fostering in your daily life. I continued my conclusion by reminding my classmates to make smart decisions for a bigger and brighter future. 

Concluding my experience as Project Manager for Project 2

From my experience with the first presentation, I feel like I was able to learn a lot and better understand how to manage three groups at once while simultaneously working with them in a group environment. I’ve come to recognize that working on a group presentation is more than just putting slides together. I’ve learned a lot about my classmates’ personalities and how well they all work together in these group settings. All the topics that were discussed during these presentations are very important. I feel that it is very important that we continue to educate ourselves on these topics. I’m definitely very excited for the next presentation that we’re working on.