Jimenez 1

Erandy Jimenez

Advisory

Senior Portfolio

23 October 2018

The first interdisciplinary project I completed at HPIAM was based on Staphylococcal

Infections. The assignment was completed as part of a group project in 9th grade. Although I was

in 9th grade, I completed the 10th grade IDP because I was part of the honors cohort. The

interdisciplinary project was completed in December 2015. In this project, I was responsible for

presenting information to a group of panelists on what a staph infection was and what caused an

individual to get this infection. During the presentation I talked about the symptoms of staph

infections, how to treat and prevent staph infections, and how it affects the community. I also

explained my “creative element,” which was a creative video that my group and I did to show the

panelists how an individual catches staph infection. The reason why the problem solving

category fits my ninth grade IDP is because I had to spread awareness and show our community

ways to prevent contracting staph infections. This is important because staph infections are not

really known within the community of Huntington Park. As a result, the citizens are not aware

that they might be affected by this infection, and what causes a person to catch the infection, it

can be problem.

The title of our second IDP assignment was “Lead in Our Water?” The assignment was

completed in a group project in 11th Grade due in April 2018. In this assignment I was asked to

grow two plants with two different types of water (tap and spring water) and document the data

collected from the plant’s growth. With my group, I tested the plant that was given tap water
for lead and compared it to the plant that was given the spring water. With the information we

collected, we created a presentation to educate our community about lead toxicity with a “call to

action.” We focused on educating elementary students, and communicating the effects water

causes if contaminated with lead. This IDP fits the problem solving category, because the people

in our community are unaware on what lead is because of the lack of resources, and how it gets

into the water. A solution to the problem was that my group and I created a “call to action”

where we informed third graders at Miles Ave. Elementary about lead and its effects. This was

done by making a tri-fold poster and explaining the information to younger students as to how

lead affects the body and showing them how a lead test works. This shows problem solving skills

because we had to come up with ways third graders would understand the information that was

being presented.

The student learning outcomes I met in both IDPs were willing collaborator, and effective

communicator. I was a willing collaborator because I worked with group members that did not

want to work with me, but I was willing to work with them in order to create a product. At times

when we would discuss our ideas, we did not agree but I was able to put the project first and

make it a priority, and put my opinions aside. I did this by staying after school to finish the

product, and meeting outside of school to prepare the presentation. I was also a willing

collaborator because I prioritized the project and gave up some of my free time or time from

other tasks in order to finish the final project. Finally, I was a willing collaborator because I

listened to everyone’s ideas and worked with them to understand the concepts. I was an effective

communicator because throughout the projects, I would bring in ideas to organize the product

and see how the product would be created. The day of the IDP presentation I was also an

effective communicator because I needed to be able to explain certain component of the

powerpoint to the audience. Being able to effectively communicate the call to action also makes

me an effective communicator because most of the time I had to explain the call to action in a

way the panelists or other audience would understand. I was a critical thinker in these IDPs

because I had to be able to come up with ways, (such as vocabulary) as to how the presentation

would be presented depending on the environment. I was also a effective communicator because

we always had to include statistics in our presentations, and I would present this portion of the

information in ways where I was making sense.

Three areas of growth I had during these IDPs were my communication skills, my critical

thinking skills, and my effective management. The area I still need to improve on, is to be able to

work with others despite our differences. I can use the skills I learned from the IDPs in the future

by being able to communicate publicly, without being shy. The IDPs helped me grow as a

person, to be more opened with ideas and solutions. I know in the future when I attend college, I

will do a lot of presentations, and I feel like doing IDPs these past years have helped and will

help me throughout my communication and presentation skills.