This past week was extremely busy for multiple reasons. I had my fourth mentor visit, finished final presentation invitations, worked on my grant, researched sources on pubmed, and was absent for several days.

 

I really enjoyed my mentor visit, and I felt like it was very beneficial. We talked over my grant and Dr. Phillips and Wetzel highlighted a couple of sources and people to check out. Honestly, my biggest issue right now with mentor visits is missing class. I feel like my teachers are getting annoyed; I talked to Ms. Peters about a visit I ended up cancelling, but she seemed really upset about ISM kids missing her class even though I always make up the work. My next visit on a B day will be my fourth time missing her class, so I’m not sure if she’ll sign the form. I may have to start going every other week and just missing A days. Additionally, catching up with classwork is getting pretty stressful, but that’s not just because of ISM. I’ve missed Physics three times in the past two weeks for Choir, the blood drive, and ISM, so I feel really behind. Not to mention, I feel like I’m losing motivation towards the end of the year. I think just need to knock some work out, though, and then  I should be fine.

 

On a more positive note, I actually feel really good about the work I’ve been doing in ISM. I missed a couple deadlines due to stress and stupid mistakes but now I think I’m getting back on schedule. I've started using my remind app more, so that’s helping. I’ve ordered my invitations and they should be here 4/16. I think they look really good online, but we’ll see. I’m also progressing really well on my final product and I really like it. I was worried the material would be too over my head or I would just hate the writing process, but I can actually see myself doing this everyday. I’m loving the in depth learning about one topic, and although it’s difficult, it’s very interesting to find the open topics in the field. My mentors are extremely helpful at guiding me through the process, and what felt like an impossible project in the beginning now feels like and attainable goal.

 

Hopefully the coming week will allow me to get back on track with my schoolwork so that I can focus on my ISM work (which I like way more).