ENRICHMENT EXPERIENCES

Joining the honors program gave me the opportunity to become more involved in my academic path, giving me the chance to be part of activities that have enriched me and helped me understand different perspectives, changing not only my way of thinking on certain topics, but also modifying my way of thinking in general.

The UP3RC was one of the most interesting events because I had the opportunity to see different presentations on different topics, the posters were mostly about Biology and Science, while the presentations were about humanities and social sciences, this gave me a broader perspective on both, as in the topic of my fellow honors classmates Molly Hedgepeth and Aydan Williams about the protests with focus on Utah, but I also had the opportunity to talk about scientific studies, especially one about the impact of blue light in devices on sleep cycles caught my attention, where I had a great conversation with the creators of the study due to our slightly different perspectives; Personally looking at the study I could see certain biases that had not been addressed such as the effect of brightness on the respondents which in itself was already very few, using only 5 participants cannot show recognizable patterns and can lead to misleading results.However, the talk was very enriching and really helps me to understand the processes to carry out this type of conferences. I will be presenting next semester!

The talk with Viet gave me a different perspective on the meaning of home and the reality of immigrants facing several challenges that I have personally experienced such as the loss of identity due to immigration, the change of the concept of “HOME” from being a place to something more symbolic and personal, becoming a set of experiences, relationships, communities linked with personal passion and significant preferences that shape the concept of HOME.

• Back
• Back to Home
• General Education & Coursework at SLCC
• Resume
• CV + Projects

HIGH IMPACT PRACTICES

HIGH-IMPACT PRACTICES are experiences that have pushed me beyond my limits, allowing me to explore my potential and engage in meaningful, hands-on learning. These practices have not only helped me grow as a student and professional but also as a person, teaching me how to navigate challenges—whether it’s developing a project, preparing a conference, or working on my own business.As part of the SLCC Honors Program, I am committed to engaging in at least three of these transformative practices. This page is a living portfolio of my journey, where I will document my experiences, challenges, and reflections as I take on research, community engagement, and other impactful learning opportunities.

One of the most transformative experiences in my academic journey has been the opportunity to present my research at the Western Regional Honors Conference (WRHC) 2025. My project, Implicit-Explicit Dynamics: Hispanic Acculturation Analysis (2023-2024), explores the intersection of cultural adaptation, identity, and the implicit-explicit processes that shape acculturation among Hispanic communities.
However, the talk was very enriching and really helps me to understand the processes to carry out this type of conferences. I will be presenting next semester!

Presenting at a regional academic conference aligns with the undergraduate research and experiential learning components of High-Impact Practices. This experience has pushed me to:- Engage in advanced research by developing a study that contributes to the understanding of Hispanic acculturation.
- Improve my communication skills through an oral presentation to an academic audience.
- Connect with scholars and students from across the Western Region, exchanging ideas and expanding my professional network.
- Adapt and refine my work based on peer feedback, deepening my critical thinking and analytical skills.

One of the most impactful experiences in my academic journey has been the opportunity to present at the Undergraduate Projects, Performances, Presentations & Research Conference (UP3RC). As part of winning the ePortfolio Tuition Waiver, I will be showcasing my ePortfolio, highlighting the projects, research, and experiences that have shaped my learning and professional growth.

Presenting at UP3RC aligns with key High-Impact Practices, including undergraduate research, public presentation, and digital literacy. Through this experience, I am:- Showcasing my academic journey through a structured and reflective ePortfolio.
- Developing professional presentation skills by delivering a speech in front of faculty, students, and community members.
- Engaging in self-reflection to draw meaningful connections between my coursework, extracurricular involvement, and research experiences.
- Receiving valuable feedback from an academic audience, helping me refine my ability to communicate my work effectively.

• Back
• Back to Home
• General Education & Coursework at SLCC
• Resume
• CV + Projects

PROJECTS IN DATA SCIENCE & MORE ...

Pneumonia Detection Using Deep Learning

• Project Research using deep learning for pneumonia detection on chest X-ray images, leveraging convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with TensorFlow/Keras.
• Dataset sourced from publicly available medical image datasets, preprocessed for training and evaluation.
• Used Tools & Techniques including Jupyter Notebook, TensorFlow/Keras, OpenCV, and Matplotlib for model development, visualization, and performance analysis.
• Conclusions based on model accuracy, precision, and recall, with results presented through performance metrics and visualizations.

Research Project: Identity and Acculturation in the United States

• Project Reseach using Harvard's Data from their IAT (Implicit Association Test) analyzing over 87,000 entries. Focusing in 3 principal Explicit questions about acculturation in United States. Focusing in different groups of people.
• Used Data analysis & Data visualization tools like Jupyter Notebook, Pandas, Matplotlib, Pyplot, Numpy & Seaborn.
• Conclusions made based in the data from the analysis and results presentated.

• Presentation

Glia-Driven Enhancement: A Data Science Approach to Predictive Issue Resolution in Customer Support - Data Science Project
(Poject proposal)

• Accurate predictions of issue resolution times can help organizations allocate resources more efficiently, improve customer experience, and identify areas for process improvement. Additionally, insights gained from the analysis can inform strategic decision-making within the company.

• Link to Overview

Disney Plus Analytics — Data Analyst.

• Conducted predictive analysis on a 2020 dataset to forecast the IMDb rating based on selected features.
• Utilized machine learning models to create predictions and presented results using visualization tools.

• Link to Presentation
• Project on gitHub

Monalco Mining — Data science team assistant.

• Formulated a SMART problem statement for Monalco Mining.
• Developed the project context, success criteria, solution space, and identified key data sources.

• Link to Presentation
• Project Overview

Big Mountain Ski Resort — Data Scientist

• Conducted budget analysis post-construction of a new chairlift.
• Applied data wrangling, exploratory data analysis, pre-processing, and training data development.
• Utilized modeling techniques and presented findings in a documented report.

• Link to Presentation
• Project on gitHub

DataCamp Study Cases:

1. Budget execution of the Nation — Programmed an application for data analytics on a nation's budget execution.2. World corruption indices — Programmed an application for data analytics on a nation's budget execution.

• Datacamp Portfolio

RR Dinner coffee study case— Data Scientist Group Project.

• Collaborated within a group of data scientists to make decisions using data science and machine learning at RR Dinner Coffee.
• Built a decision tree to predict the purchase patterns of new Chinese coffee among loyal customers.

• Link to Project in Collab

When I was 9 years old I started playing soccer, after trying different positions and realizing that it helped to win games as a goalkeeper, I decided to become a goalkeeper and my story began. Year after year I realized that with discipline and effort I could go further and with the great experience I have gained, I have learned valuable lessons that have served me not only in sports, but in life. Discipline, responsibility, hard work, perseverance, teamwork and leadership have been qualities that I owe to soccer and beyond trophies and titles, the experiences lived with friends and family have been undoubtedly the most important of my experience with this sport.

Honors Intermed. Writing (WC) - HON 2211

This course extends principles of rhetorical awareness and knowledge-making introduced in English 1010. By exploring the values and ways of communicating knowledge in academic and professional disciplines, students will analyze and create texts in a variety of genres, preparing them to enter into advanced disciplinary discourses.

In this course, I had the opportunity to explore the discourse and values of a discipline that interests me, Deep Learning, analyzing not only the discipline itself, but also the academic conventions used when writing about it. Beyond that, this course provided me with valuable tools to understand and critically evaluate writing within my field, from academic sources such as scientific articles to non-academic ones like videos and web pages.Through Project 1, I engaged with a scientific article in a new way, transforming it into an open space for inquiry by asking questions, commenting, and analyzing elements such as tone, voice, visuals, and sources. In doing so, I not only learned more about a fascinating and complex topic within my field but also discovered important writing conventions that deepened my understanding of how Deep Learning is communicated academically.Project 2 further strengthened my ability to analyze academic texts in my discipline. I was able to examine a range of articles, both academic and non-academic, actively comparing and analyzing their approaches. This project helped me gain an even deeper understanding of my field. In fact, it gave me insight into methodologies currently used in real-world applications, inspiring ideas for my own personal and professional projects. It was also very intriguing to see the wide variety of applications that my discipline can offer, having a significant impact on society. By understanding all the important applications and theoretical concepts, I was able to demonstrate my knowledge about my area in a visual and much more simplified way, writing about the discipline I had worked on throughout the semester, but now in a visual form. This gave me several challenges such as the need to summarize all the concepts and provide context in a clear and short way, while still being concise and effective. I also had to solve how related the discipline I wanted to write about was to other disciplines that, although similar, would require an introduction so that the audience could learn the discipline without overcomplicating the content by taking for granted concepts that had not been introduced. In spite of all these difficulties I managed to complete my work with a satisfactory result, managing to solve the challenges described above and to condense all the necessary content in a visual form, specifically in the form of a poster.Overall I have enjoyed this class not only for its rich content by analyzing forms of writing, but also for allowing me to learn more about a discipline that I am passionate about, giving me valuable knowledge in my area that I can even apply to my daily life and future projects.

• Link to Project 3 Reflection
• Link to Project 2

• Back
• Back to Home

United States Music and Culture
MUSC 1040

This course explores the diverse musical traditions of the United States, focusing on how music reflects and shapes American culture. Students will learn the basic elements of music, form, rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, timbre, and expression, while also examining how music connects to social issues such as identity, diversity, and regional culture. The course begins without a textbook, but later modules use the eBook American Music: A Panorama for its high-quality, copyrighted music examples and learning tools. This resource was chosen to enhance the learning experience while keeping costs low.

PRESENTATION:
(To view presenter notes, select "Notes" at the bottom right.)

• Willie Colón: Rhythms of Resistance

Throughout this course I had the opportunity to deepen my knowledge about music and specifically how music has shaped the culture in western cultures and especially the United States, throughout the course we saw a vast variety of musical forms, while learning to analyze very specifically the music, identifying its form, its tone, its rhythm, its melody, the range and harmony, in this way I formed an ability that allowed me to recognize patterns on this, identifying it with various musical tones. Finally, with the presentation, I was able to identify my own musical culture and delve deeper into an artist that in my opinion was and still is a great figure for the American culture, especially in the Hispanic population in the United States, however his legacy has no borders. Researching about him was a way to apply all the knowledge seen in class and apply it to American culture and subcultures.

• Link to Presentation

• Back
• Back to Home

COLLEGE BIOLOGY 1 - BIOL 1610

I am excited to learn from this class the principles of biology and explore fascinating aspects of life and its components. My background in data science and machine learning offers many opportunities to contribute to scientific fields such as biology and biotechnology. These fields are highly interdisciplinary, with applications spanning medicine, agriculture, and environmental science. For instance, I am particularly intrigued by the development of artificial intelligence models for disease detection using image recognition and the potential for studying neurons to create biologically inspired neural networks that optimize artificial intelligence. The knowledge gained from this course can provide me with valuable insights and strategies for future projects, helping me contribute to innovations at the intersection of biology and technology. This may also open doors to specialization in fields like computational biology, bioinformatics, or biotechnology and present exciting internship or career opportunities in these areas.One of my biggest challenges, however, will be overcoming language barriers. As a native of Colombia, I have worked hard to learn English and understand concepts, but linguistic differences can still pose difficulties, especially in grasping technical terminology. Biology introduces a wealth of new vocabulary and concepts, which will require deliberate effort to master. To address this, I plan to practice vocabulary using repetition, memorization techniques, and by associating terms with relatable objects, animals, or scenarios. Additionally, I will leverage my skills in data visualization and statistics, as they have been invaluable in helping me analyze and understand complex systems across various sciences.Ultimately, I believe that adopting a strong metacognitive approach—focusing on self-reflection and refining my learning strategies—will allow me to overcome these challenges and grow in ways that are essential for my academic and professional development. I look forward to the opportunities this course will provide.

• Arrow Down

• Back
• Back to Home
• back to top

Dr. Guillermina "Gigi" Lozano, Ph.D.
One of the most important findings in researching Dr. Guillermina has been without a doubt her exhaustive study on cancer, it is very disturbing the way she studies these diseases, and I also find disturbing the genetic mutations that lead the body to damage itself.
It is the study of these diseases by detecting the mutation that is found in the cancer that metastasizes. Lately I have been very intrigued by new machine learning technologies such as image recognition, which has led me to investigate the various impacts of this technology on society. Last January 14, I attended the Silicon Slopes Summit, where among others, a cancer organization was showcasing their methods for recognizing cancer cells through machine learning, helping doctors identify and treat cancer cells. This resonated with me to the point where I started doing image recognition and predictive modeling projects for medicine.
Cancer is a topic of interest to me because two family members have suffered from this disease, and there is an inherent fear that this disease causes, my aunt was fortunately cured of breast cancer, however, my stepfather is still battling cancer after apparently being cancer free they did the final tests and found more cancer in his intestine.
All of this leads me to seriously think about contributing to this using my skills in data science and my passion in machine learning to help stop spreading this disease that claims so many lives annually.
Her story shows the mindset of people who do science, dreamers and passionate people, fighting against cancer and a better world is truly inspiring, using their skills and passions to help society. The resources helped me to understand their methodology and the rigid way of doing science, I was also struck by the possibility of discussion with these people, being very open to be questioned or to discuss about the topic under study, this is certainly a representation of how rigid and democratic science is, allowing a constant questioning of knowledge encouraging creativity and the advancement of science.

• Arrow Down

• Back
• Back to Home
• back to top

• Arrow Down

• Back
• Back to Home
• BACK TO TOP

Signature Assignment 4: Replication, Transcription, and Translation Word Document

• Back
• Back to Home
• back to top

• Arrow Down

Signature Assignment 5: Genetics, Word Document

• Back
• Back to Home
• back to top

• Arrow Down

Signature Assignment 6: Pedigree Analysis; Word Document

• Back
• Back to Home
• back to top

• Arrow Down

final reflection here

• Back
• Back to Home
• back to top

INTELLECTUAL TRADITIONS: THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING - HUMAN EXPERIENCE THROUGH STORYTELLING - HON 2100

This course explores what it really means to be Human and the importance of sharing stories and human experiences to become a trully intellectual that is able to challenge power structures through education using expressive and creative ways to engage and involve with the society.

This project shares the inspiring story of my father, who overcame systemic discrimination and poverty to succeed, despite the oppressive challenges he faced. It also delves into his experiences as an intelligence agent during Colombia's most turbulent years, marked by political terrorism, drug cartels, and paramilitary violence, offering a personal perspective on the dehumanizing realities of the Colombian conflict.

I decided to talk about my father because he has always been an inspiration for me due to the difficult experiences he had to live through. At the same time, living in the most violent time in Colombia, I felt the need to talk about the armed conflict in Colombia and why violence has always been present throughout Colombian history in the most tragic and crude way.
Its history basically relates to the value of human life, the systems of oppression and the use of education to break these systems of power that oppress the underprivileged. The genocide that occurred during the era where dehumanization was constant and unparalleled, caused by government corruption and crime. My medium was a mix between a descriptive interview and a presentation of the facts, giving a meaningful and broad context to everything that happened in Colombia to give more meaning to the concepts seen in class. This class in general, has a fundamental aspect for life which is critical reading to be more informed from different perspectives provoking a greater involvement in the conflicts of our current society.

• Back
• Back to Home

AMERICAN IDENTITIES - HON 2060

The United States is a unique nation in that it is comprised of hundreds of Native nations and people from all over the world, but what does it mean exactly to be “American?” We will set out to explore various theories, ideas, and realities about identity within U.S. cultures.

Throughout the semester, various aspects of American Identity and the evolution of American Identity throughout the history of the United States have been analyzed. American Identity can be demonstrated as a dynamic identity that is uniquely perceived by each community. It is different for everyone.In the classes we perceived important themes that have shaped the American identity to a great extent as the history of slavery in the United States, discriminating and segregating people of color, forging an identity associated with “Whiteness”, discriminating racial minorities, however, we also saw throughout the class the great cultural identity that has shaped the American identity from immigration, bringing with it the creation of a mixed identity, which in turn faces the reality of the first generations of immigrants in their evolution of American identity, often facing several social and cultural challenges, such as social perspectives on immigration, calling immigrants or first generations of immigrants as “The Others” or as not belonging or not deserving to belong to the United States and therefore, to have an American identity, culturally, the challenges are not minor, because constantly immigrants or children of immigrants face a loss or lack of identity due to the most difficult moments of immigration, leaving their relatives, their home and the need to build a life in a new country full of new challenges. All this leads to a reality that in the class was identified as being “Ni de Aquí Ni de Allá”, representing a duality of identities where one has deep roots, but does not deny the fact of living in the American community, also generating an American identity.

• Link to Final Reflection Essay
• Essay in Google Docs

• Back
• Back to Home

Personally this has been one of the topics where I have felt more identified throughout the class, due to my situation as an immigrant I have lived all these challenges, when they label you as “You” referencing an exclusion that is like saying “You those who do not belong to the United States”, where the second question upon meeting me was “How long have you been in the United States?” labeling me as an immigrant. It was also interesting to find out that English is not the official language of the United States, even though it is widely spoken, however, I could see how English is still a key point in the American identity.In the midterm Project I had the opportunity to analyze data from the IAT (Implicit Association Test) generated by students at Harvard University in 2023 using more than 87,000 people to study the implicit perceptions of the participants, however, for this study I decided to focus on the explicit responses of the participants, specifically in the test in reference to the acculturation of immigrants in the United States, based on 3 statements where the participants selected from 1 to 7, based on how much they agreed with the statement. The statements were:

The results were separated and analyzed grouping the participants by different communities, being divided between:

This allowed me to analyze the data and find very interesting results about American identity and the various explicit views that these groups have regarding immigrant acculturation and adoption of American culture.Interesting conclusions were found in the study, showing the complexity of the opinions of acculturation, the opinions of the predominant groups, being stronger, showing interesting perspectives about the conscious opinions of the participants. The role played by both political and gender ideologies was also observed, showing how these ideologies show much clearer and more marked tendencies than the rest of the communities. Finally, as a conclusion I concluded with the need to do more studies and especially as a future project to base myself on the implicit associations that the study also offered. In this way it would be possible to see not only the implicit opinions, but also to compare the changes in these perspectives.Throughout the semester we have also touched on topics very representative of the dynamic and changing American identity such as patriotism as a sign of American identity, seeing it in different perspectives, as a tool for the generation of a community, using patriotism, for example, as a tool to expand American identity in Hawaii after its annexation, giving students patriotic rules and practices now could be considered excessive. It was also seen during the class how patriotism could be seen as a masculine form of American identity, relating to war and the military, which to some extent makes some sense mostly during the war-filled 20th century. However it is interesting how the more patriotic community is seen to be linked with masculinity, generating a creed in some situations, which prevents any show of lack of masculinity in men or lack of femininity in women as an unpatriotic act, relating these acts of change as directly not belonging to the United States.For this reason, it can currently be found that mainly minorities are the communities that face the most challenges to American identity and often suffer the most because of this, generating a detachment either to American identity or directly not wanting to identify with America in any way.Finally, as a final project, I decided to represent American identity from songs and video clips, presenting American identity from several perspectives, THE PAST, DIVERSITY, IMMIGRATION, THE PRESENT and THE FUTURE. Viewing American identity from these perspectives allowed me to identify the key points of what American identity can represent. As THE PAST I decided to represent an excerpt from the song “This is America” by Childish Gambino, especially the excerpt where a group of African American people are singing gospel until the protagonist gets a gun and shoots them and then keeps going as he sings “This is America” and police officers run in pursuit of the singers who have been shot. I also decided to use an excerpt from the song “Take Me to Church” by Hozier where two people are being persecuted for their homosexuality. Everything is what for me is part of the past of the United States and the American identity, where there was an extreme discrimination for minorities, especially for homosexuals and mainly African-Americans.DIVERSITY is a very important stage in my opinion that has also shaped the American identity, we can see how only in the United States are so many cultures united and American culture has also been shaped by this diversity of cultures, especially in arts such as music, food, infrastructure and cinematography. Brad Paisley's “American Saturday Night” was used in the presentation, using the excerpt where he says:“There's a big toga party tonight down at Delta Chi
They got Canadian bacon on their pizza pie
They got a cooler full of cold Coronas and Amstel Light
It's like we're all livin' in a big old cup
Just fire up the blender, mix it all up
It's a French kiss, Italian ice
Margaritas in the moonlight
Just another American Saturday night”This represents the cultural diversity that can be experienced in the United States that has shaped the American identity from cultural adoptions from around the world.IMMIGRATION is another crucial concept in the American identity, mainly due to the roots of immigration in the United States, which was forged and is what it is because of immigration, leading the United States to be a power in science and technology. History changers such as Einstein or Sundar Pichai CEO of Google are immigrants who have changed the history of the United States. However, the perception of immigrants has been affected and the experiences of immigrants are almost always overlooked, because of this I decided the song “corrido de Juanito” by Calibre 50, the excerpt reads as follows:“I worked and I worked, I have many days
That I don't look at the sun
My children are grown and I don't understand them
They don't speak Spanish”.This shows the reality of immigrant language barriers and the reality of immigrants who come to seek a better life, yet find themselves working non-stop to support their families in need and lift them out of poverty. I also wanted to use the song “D'ici et d'ailleurs” by Sheryfa Luna, an excerpt that says:“I am from here and elsewhere
Between two lives
The one I find outside
And the one I am still looking for
I am from here and elsewhere
Between two lives
The one from where I see the scenery
And the one that still escapes me
I am from here and elsewhere
Between two lives
The one I find outside
And the one I am still looking for”This shows the duality of immigrants especially of cultures.PRESENT is undoubtedly the most important part of the American identity, it is what we can change, in this representation I decided to show the need for especially students in shaping society to build an American identity that manages to be inclusive of all the different perspectives, including more vulnerable communities, but without ceasing to identify others. We are at an important moment with misinformation and the spread of hate through the media and the polarization evidenced in the last election can show us how important it is to unify a country through an American identity that unites us as a community.FUTURE for me represents the opportunities that the United States offers to develop as people and as part of society, the American identity can also unite us and make society a peaceful society where dreams can be achieved with effort and dedication, forgetting all about one's roots or identity, it is possible to build an American identity.Finally, in the class we were able to visualize different perspectives from different communities and my goal was always to best represent all these perspectives from those lenses. As a conclusion, in the class I was able to visualize these perspectives and see American identity as a changing and dynamic identity, with pros and cons that evolves with all of us who belong to this country. Studying these perspectives provides me with valuable tools to be able to be critical and construct my own perspective of what American identity is.

• Back
• Back to Courses
• Music Videoclips

INTRO TO WRITING - ENG 1010

Throughout this course I learned that writing matters. Every day we are making use of both verbal and non-verbal communication, making use of writing concepts as fundamental as communication itself, rhetorical concepts, writing resources, literary practices, context, etc. All this helps to create a message and make it easier to carry with the good use of all these existing tools. I have also learned that writing not only matters, but that it is everywhere, from my life project I have been able to observe it in the form of company marketing, or in scientific articles where they express an experiment or hypothesis, or in the communication between employees and colleagues. Writing is evident everywhere, and understanding the principles that make it up greatly enriches our writing in all areas, professional and personal.
Throughout this course, I not only had the opportunity to expand my skills through practical writing exercises, but also analyze and develop my own ideas based on topics of interest such as the heartbreaking images of animals affected by climate change, CRISPR genetic modification technology and the limits between morality and science, and lastly and most importantly the development of AI and new derived technologies. The vast majority are topics that exist today and where you can find debates around them, so being able to investigate these topics on your own was very enriching academically and personally.
The course ends with an analysis of my own writing, so I decided to do a temporal analysis of each era of my personal development based on my writing. With essays prepared when I was 15, 17 and 20 years old, I managed to make an analysis with revealing conclusions to understand my evolution process in writing and also as a learning point for the future.
Thanks to this course I was able to finalize my portfolio and start making small modifications to save every small step of my development in all areas, professionally, academically and personally. I hope with this to begin to save special moments of each current process, but specifically of this beautiful process of my life in college and academic progress.

• Back
• Back to Home

INTERMEDIATE WRITING - ENGL 2010

English 2010 builds on what you know and have already learned about writing, both in English 1010 and in the previous writing you’ve done. You’ve already learned about writing as a process, about critical reading, about academic writing practices, and about revision. We’ll keep working with these practices, and add an emphasis on a few more: genre, medium, and mode as tools for writing; writing using research and sources, writing in multiple mediums and modes; and writing for public or civic contexts, with an emphasis on local issues.

• Final Project: Overcoming Digital Barriers: Exploring Challenges and Implications of Digital Literacy Across Generations

• English 2010 Online Plus Major Project Instructions.pdf

Final Course Reflection - ENGL 2010

PART 1

Why did I select the local/social issue I did? How did I go about forming my perspective? What specific sources helped shape/reshape your thinking and writing about the issue?As a student studying Computer Science, I have developed a certain empathy towards people who become overwhelmed by the current speed of technology, which has made me empathize with people who have always had problems with technology and are now greatly overwhelmed by the conditions of the contemporary world where the use of technology in everyday life is mandatory. I also recalled that I had several experiences working in the financial sector where seniors had major problems with their online banking and I even had an experience with someone who simply unburdened himself to me about his experience looking for a job as a painter and the difficulties he faced because he was not digitally literate.
So this problem really made a connection with me and having a relationship with computers and new technologies, I felt the need to address this current issue.
Throughout the semester I have also learned the importance of the truthfulness of the media where information is sought. I have also found valuable resources that have helped me enormously in this course and will surely help me in the future, such as the search engines for serious scientific articles or the various suggestions for multimodal projects, which can be very useful if in the future I seek to develop a project of the same grade as the one developed in this semester in the course.
Throughout my search for references, I found quite interesting articles from which I learned a lot and gave me perspectives that I had not taken into account before, as for example in the linkedIn article, it showed the impact of digitization due to the pandemic and the coupling of post-Covid companies. I have also found quite interesting articles where they approached this problem from other perspectives, as in the need for older adults to use digital tools to not lose contact with their relatives and to give in to the current loneliness that many face. Perspectives such as the above have really made an impact and generated a greater awareness of this problem.Why did I chose to write in the mediums that I chose?
Describing my experiences with revision and design as a collaborative effort. Point to specific experiences in my collaborative work (for example, peer review, discussion, etc.) both on this project and earlier in the semester.For me, the multimodal project was a pretty good challenge because I am not originally from the US and I basically learned English after arriving in the US. So I decided on a challenge that would force me to speak academically about my social problem, and I really understood the commitment needed to address this problem.As I think about the goals with which I began this course, how do I see them now? What experiences did I have in this course that helped me achieve, or get closer to achieving those goals? And what goals do I have now, as I leave this writing course, for myself as a writer, a person undertaking an educational project, a citizen?Now looking back at the objectives accomplished throughout the semester, I feel satisfied with my results and feel that I have improved my knowledge not only in the problem I addressed, but also learning to write and analyze academically, to do a project explaining a real and current problem in my community and showing my work done in my own web page.
From now on I hope to be able to use this knowledge to help society through well structured projects like the one elaborated in the course. I also hope to do many more projects like this one and especially in a multimodal way since I found this way of attracting the audience quite interesting.

PART 2

We began the semester by considering, among others, these 2 Big Ideas about writing:1. Language and writing are resources people use to do things, be things, and make things in the world.
2. Rhetoric provides a method for studying the work that language and writing do.These two big ideas about writing made a big impact on me because I had never thought about the power of writing and how writing is a method of ACTION, and REACTION. Where it is basically whatever we are willing to communicate, language is also a very strong tool that will always be limited only to our own imagination.
By using writing I was able to really develop my ideas, making a REACTION to an existing social problem and in turn generating an ACTION that can help others and improve society. All with writing and language.Rhetoric is defined as the study of the use of language to effectively communicate, persuade, and influence audiences. This involves using language in many ways to communicate a message, whether it be tone, word usage, impressions generated, arguments, persuasion, etc. all of these qualities are methods of language use that can generate an improvement in rhetoric when communicating a message. In this way rhetoric becomes the analysis of language and writing, whether to have a good or bad rhetoric, this becomes a fundamental factor in writing.
It is very evident the use of rhetoric and the different forms of language and writing exercised in my project, starting with the most evident, my multimodal section where I explore an infrequent method in projects of this style which is the audio medium, also the rhetoric is found in the different methods of persuasion carried out to generate a strong belief of the audience with my problem, this is evident mostly in the bibliographic references of my project, because my great use of sources has generated a factual support to my project.
Also my story has been a form of rhetoric by using language in a more casual and descriptive way to generate a personal story, thus generating a connection of the audience with the problem I would address in the project.

• Back
• Back to Home

INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION - COMM 2110

This course focuses on the theory and the practice of human communication with an emphasis on the process and functions of communication, relationship development, communication strategies, interpersonal language skills, listening and response skills and conflict management.Through lecture, discussion, skill development exercises, and assessments students will achieve the following course objectives:

• Personal Change Project Proposal

• Personal Change Project Final Report

Final Course Reflection - COMM 2110

Throughout the course, I have learned several valuable insights into the concepts and principles of interpersonal communication. Learning about the platinum rule, active listening and other-oriented approaches has given me a structure to improve communication effectiveness. All of these principles have improved not only my personal relationships, but also my professional interactions and in my daily life.Personally, I have noticed a positive impact on family dynamics and friendships, as I now prioritize listening and valuing diverse perspectives.In addition, the course content intersects with other General Education courses, emphasizing the broader importance of effective communication across disciplines. Concepts such as empathy and understanding cultural differences highlight the interconnectedness of interpersonal dynamics with broader social contexts.Finally, the Personal Change Project and the course experience have been transformative. They have generated essential communication skills for me and have also marked for me the power of empathy to build meaningful connections. In the future, I intend to continue to apply these principles to navigate diverse interpersonal interactions with empathy, respect and authenticity.of a deeper appreciation for the role of empathy in building meaningful connections. In the future, I intend to continue to apply these principles to navigate diverse interpersonal interactions with empathy, respect, and authenticity.

• Back
• Back to Home
• Personal Change Project Proposal
• Personal Change Project Final Report

Personal Change Project Proposal

David Ariza
COMM 2110-508
Personal Change Project Proposal
2/16/24

Goal
In my conversations with my relatives I can respectfully communicate without overwhelming the perspectives of others, considering their perspectives.Rationale
When I often put my point of view above or take the communication where I want without considering the opinions of my relatives especially when I have knowledge of a topic or know a story.Strategies
During the semester, I will employ the following strategies to help me listen more effectively with my relatives:
1. I will use the Platinum Rule (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2020, p. 112) to treat the others as they would like to be treated instead of how I would like to be treated.
2. I will listen (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2020, p. 128) not interrupt and mentally summarize the detail of the message.
3. I will assume differences (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2020, p. 101) about experiences, values and cultures.
4. I will be other-oriented (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2020, p. 106) to focus on others and emphasize with others and work for others as well.Implementation
I will begin implementing my strategies as soon as possible, since I communicate with my relatives daily, however, I understand this will be a process of personal change and some attitudes may be more difficult to change than others, this process is planned to be implemented as soon as possible but is expected to be finished in three weeks because we plan to travel when the summer starts and I want to improve my communication skills on those days. Every week I plan to do a self-review to do a follow-up and see my results after that week. I will use on my desktop the three goals for my project in order to always keep on mind that I need to change. Every time I really know something, I will still take the time to Stop, Look and Listen (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2020, p. 129).
Works Cited
Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2020). Interpersonal communication: relating to others. (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

• Personal Change Project Proposal

• Back
• Back to SLCC Coursework
• Back to Home
• Personal Change Project Final Report

Personal Change Project Final Report

Professor Alisa Brousseau
David Ariza
COMM 2110
Personal Change Project Final Report
Date: April 21, 2024

Overview
In this project, my goal has been to improve my communication with family, friends and acquaintances by respecting their perspectives and avoiding my tendency to dominate conversations with my own points of view. Using different strategies such as employing the Platinum Rule, active listening, embracing differences, and being other-oriented (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2020), which is intended to help create more balanced and empathetic interactions. This report also seeks to delve into the evolution of my communication habits, the challenges encountered during implementation, and the results of this transformative process.Unwanted Communication PatternPreviously, my communication style with family members tended to exhibit a dominant pattern in which I gave priority to conveying my views over actually considering theirs. This manifested itself in frequent conversations in which I would steer discussions toward topics about which I had knowledge or stories I wanted to share, often ignoring the contributions and interests of others. Consequently, this pattern strained relationships and made mutual understanding difficult. The texts and class materials emphasized that these communication styles can lead to alienation and reduced receptivity among participants.In the past, especially with my girlfriend:
• I always sought my point of view over her opinions, whether it was telling a story to others, debating a specific topic, or even sometimes analyzing situations to make a decision. Specifically, one time we were talking to the parents of a close friend of a family member, where we started telling our story, then, even though she was telling why she had moved to Utah in the first place, I started annotating her story and ended up telling her story from my point of view, so much so that when I put my "Annotation" in, she had nothing left to tell. This not only shows a lack of listening to others, but a lack of patience in communicating, which can influence other people's feelings.• I have also had several situations where, while proposing ideas in a work group, my judgment clouds others without them being able to express themselves in an effective way. Although I like to be interrupted if there is an opinion that differs with my idea, I was treating others as I would like to be treated instead of as they would like to be treated, generating a bad impression in my group when my idea was to help the group and move forward together.In both situations I have evidenced very poor ways to not only communicate, but also to generate relationships with others, causing other people to be overshadowed in certain situations and also to be forced not to give their opinion. Therefore, it was necessary for me to start from scratch, accept my mistakes and apologize to try to reverse that opinion that I could have generated in others.StrategiesThe strategies I set out to implement were intended to address these issues by encouraging active listening (p.131) and empathy (p.129). The Platinum Rule (p.112), highlighted by Beebe, Beebe, and Redmond (2020), encouraged me to take others' preferences into account in communication rather than assuming that they shared mine. In addition, adopting a more other-oriented approach involved genuine efforts to empathize and understand different perspectives. These strategies were chosen based on their potential to foster healthier dialogue and deeper connections in my family interactions.1. The Platinum Rule (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2020, p. 112) to treat the others as they would like to be treated instead of how I would like to be treated.
2. Actively listen (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2020, p. 128) not interrupt and mentally summarize the detail of the message.
3. Assume differences (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2020, p. 101) about experiences, values and cultures.
4. Be other-oriented (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2020, p. 106) to focus on others and emphasize with others and work for others as well.ConstraintsThe implementation of these strategies faced several challenges. For example, overcoming the ingrained habit of dominating conversations proved more difficult than anticipated. In some cases, I struggled to maintain active listening, especially when the topics were closely related to my expertise. In addition, time constraints and competing priorities sometimes made it difficult to apply these strategies consistently, especially during busy periods.
I also had to face the challenge of understanding the judgments I had generated towards myself for my way of communicating and understanding others. Apologizing is never easy since it involves really feeling my mistake, and yet not always the apology is accepted or understood. However, I am fortunate in my relationships and after apologizing I received very good treatment.ImplementationWhen I started this personal change project, my first step was to reflect on my erroneous behaviors and accept that I was making several mistakes in my communication. For me, reflecting on my specific situation was crucial, all situations have different nuances that make each situation unique, therefore I took it upon myself to reflect on my weaknesses and my strengths in order to achieve more satisfactory results. I started generating a plan where I would employ new methods of communication, which sometimes seemed very extreme but helped me to understand different perspectives, for example I started to let everyone speak without giving any opinion until I had concluded with their idea, sometimes I simply decided not to give any opinion about it even when I really had something to say. I also employed active listening by taking special care with all my interpersonal relationships, employing the active listening methods, Stop, Look and Listen (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2020, p. 129). In this way I was one hundred percent focused on other people, generating that I could really evidence the opinions of others and listen attentively to all their ideas. From there I decided on a process that was similar but where I was already trying to give my opinion, now patiently listening actively and patiently listening to the ideas of others, so I managed to employ both methods at the same time. However, at the same time I also started to give my opinion after asking for the floor in a formal way and considering the opinions of others, including words like, -I understand what you mean by this, -I think this is a good idea.
Even when my opinion was different, I always tried to empathize with people of a different thought. I was able to understand a little bit more about their reality and their perspectives.The other day a friend invited me to play soccer, and although I am a big soccer fan, I had to say no because I already had several plans pending, however, I remembered that some time ago he had asked me and confirmed it, but oh surprise, I didn't remember!
This was undoubtedly due to the fact that I used to have many shortcomings when it came to listening to others, which caused me not to remember concrete and important situations for my interpersonal relationships. I had to apologize to him and since we had agreed that I was going to help him by giving him a ride, I decided to ask him for an uber so he could get to the soccer field. Again, I reflected on the importance of effective listening and that it can help to give importance to the conversations one can have with others, but not only this, but it can also help me as a strategy for my classes.
Little by little with the change in my way of communicating, I was able to open more with people and also after changing personally, I started to apologize to those I had affected in the past.
This was a clear example of a very big challenge that has been actively listening to others. Since I have always been a single-task person, when I am interrupted or talk in a trivial way with other people at first, I had a hard time storing that information that at the time didn't seem important but really was. Another difficulty I had was to apologize since apologizing can be very sensitive with others since in this specific case it may not be very difficult to apologize but there are other people who may become offended by the mistake you made or simply move away over time because of that inconvenience. I also have to recognize that I am human, and I had to learn over time that I really had less than optimal attitudes to generate relationships, so accepting my mistakes was a big step for me.Then, we had a little hiccup with my girlfriend, because I had to train, I couldn't pick up my girlfriend, so we were talking about it beforehand because we wanted to prevent a conflict, I really feel that the connection with my girlfriend has strengthened over time and we were more open to talk about our interests. Even though we had agreed beforehand that I would go through her, communicating the conflict in a positive way created a chain of positive events that led to finding a very good and healthy solution for the relationship. I listened to my girlfriend talk about the problem this would cause her, as she had something else to do next, she was also very open with me and I decided to listen to her with all her points, making a mental outline of the situation with her points and possible solutions. Finally after letting her express herself, I told her my situation as the tournament starts soon and I need to go to training. However, I could pick her up much earlier at her work and take her there so she would not have a certain mishap, she however, informed me that she could not leave earlier and in the end we found a solution where she would take an uber to a certain point and I would pick her up from there.This situation was crucial in my personal change process, since being able to listen to the other person helps you to understand them and help them as much as you can if you really use your empathy, thus achieving a solution where both are benefited or are not mostly affected in the end.
By finding a solution and giving my girlfriend time to express herself and tell me what she was looking for, I was also able to understand her and connect with her problem, understanding her situation.
As time goes by there are qualities that are implemented little by little, day by day, so I saw this process as a plant that had to be watered every day to see significant and effective changes, where the daily effort followed by empathy and understanding guided the way to achieve a goal of improvement.ResultsBy obtaining the expected results and putting into practice the strategies shown above, I was able to significantly improve my relationships with my closest circle and my social group in general. I evidenced a significant change in how open people were with me when I was listened to and they were also kind and grateful with those actions. I was able to change my communication style in absolutely all my communications and I also feel that I have been able to broaden my knowledge and experience by listening to others, understanding diverse realities that others may face and understanding issues that I had not realized before.
Throughout this project I evidenced several aspects that enriched me as a person such as the following:
• The possibility of considerable positive change through the action of practical and concrete measures.
• The generation of projects of personal change, where the objective is to improve as a person, with objectives, methodology, strategies, etc. Adding seriousness in a project of change and personal enrichment, where it is possible to achieve results.
•  The generation of an awareness towards my communication methods and the crucial effect it has with interpersonal relationships and in my life in general. "Communication Matters.
• The importance of effective listening with people, generating more trust when people are listened to and understood.
Fortunately, I did not experience any negative consequences in developing this project, I can conclude that I have left with many experiences that will help me for life and in my opinion, this is the purpose of every course in this academic process.
Recommendations
I will definitely continue to implement the strategies described above since they have generated significantly positive results throughout my life. The maintenance of these attitudes and the constant use of the methodologies described above is a priority for me because results can be seen in any environment.
As future projects I would like to work on Managing emotions in different situations (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2020, p.119) and improving my Conflict Management skills (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2020, p.224).
By effectively identifying conflict resolution strategies, I can provide future insights into the relationship between interpersonal dynamics and conflict management. Existing research and theories, including Satir's observations on family communication, may exist practical implications for adapting and enhancing conflict resolution skills based on individual predispositions and situational contexts.
In this way I could enhance my conflict management skills and gain practical approaches to resolving conflict. (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2020, p.224).Works Cited
Beebe, S.A., Beebe, S.J. & Redmond, M.V. (2020). Interpersonal Communication: Relating to Others. 9th Ed. Boston: Pearson.

• Personal Change Project Final Report

• Back
• Back to SLCC Coursework
• Back to Home
• Personal Change Project Proposal

CALCULUS I - MATH 1210

Calculus I provides an introduction to the fundamental concepts of Differential and Integral Calculus. The course focuses on understanding the principles that govern the behavior of functions and their applications in various fields.

Key Topics Covered:

• Arrow Left
• Home

Problems Plus Solutions
TextBook:
Calculus: Early Transcendentals, by James Stewart, 8th edition.
p. 169: 1, 2, 3, 7. & p. 271: 4, 5, 10, 18, 24, 25 & 29

Final Course Reflection - MATH 1210

This course has generated fundamental knowledge for fields such as engineering and science, such as the concept of the derivative as the instantaneous rate of change of a given function, which can be used in kinematics to explain the relationship of position, velocity and acceleration, using in turn other concepts of calculus such as the integral. It is also notorious the impact in engineering and also for data science can be used to optimize processes, saving prices and providing a better solution to problems.

• Back
• Back to Home

US ECONOMIC HISTORY - ECON 1740

This course goes into the historical foundations of the growth and development of the United States from the early days of the United States to the present day. It also develops an analysis of how institutional and structural changes have been part of the change in the U.S. economy.

Key Topics Covered:

• FINAL PROJECT SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENT

Text Book:
The nystrom atlas of United States
History of American Economy by Gary M. Walton; Hugh Rockoff
The U.S. Constitution: And Fascinating Facts about it

Final Course Reflection - ECON 1740

As a final reflection, I can conclude that this course is a great initiative towards the investigation of the United States from its roots to modernity, based on a context of great importance for society as it is from an economic point of view.
The class in economic history expanded my analytical and research abilities. Its structured tasks such as textbook quizzes, video analyses, era quizzes and an ePortfolio projects were meant to make students comprehend economic impacts on past events. The signature assignment was a defining moment for me because it helped me demonstrate how I have improved my critical thinking and organizational skills by being able to synthesize historical as well as economic data. Even though it was difficult balancing detailed economic analysis against broader historical context, I was able to relate what we learned in our class with other disciplines particularly political science and sociology. The course overall had high standards but it was enlivening because one could understand how economics forms historical outcomes.

• Back
• Back to Home

Project Overview

The presentation focuses on Thomas Edison National Historical Park. This park was a historically important place because it preserves the home and laboratory of Thomas Edison, one of the greatest inventors in the history of the United States. The presentation aims to provide an overview of the park, highlighting its importance historically and the effects that Thomas Edison's inventions had on various industries while impacting the nation economically through the industrialization and commercialization of his inventions.By examining his career in depth, we can observe a great entrepreneurial and scientific mentality, bringing great technological advances that helped develop the society of the time, his figure is and will be remembered as one of the most important for science, technology and industrialization.

• Back
• Back to Home

PICKLEBALL - HLAC 1125

This course goes into the historical foundations of the growth and development of the United States from the early days of the United States to the present day. It also develops an analysis of how institutional and structural changes have been part of the change in the U.S. economy.

Key Topics Covered:

Signature Assignment: Decisional Balance Worksheet

This exercise was very interesting because after realizing that I could make changes, I understood that the best method to achieve a significant change is constancy and another aspect that I found very interesting of this assignment was to find the pros and cons of having beneficial habits, this made me reason that you have to give something in exchange for having good habits, as an example I put the fact of leaving significantly fast food and processed foods, which as a benefit can have to be beneficial to health, improving my overall health, however we also found some cons as to stop enjoying these, or the need to spend more time cooking and getting the materials for cooking.

• Back
• Back to Home

ENRICHMENT EXPERIENCES

Joining the honors program gave me the opportunity to become more involved in my academic path, giving me the chance to be part of activities that have enriched me and helped me understand different perspectives, changing not only my way of thinking on certain topics, but also modifying my way of thinking in general.

The UP3RC was one of the most interesting events because I had the opportunity to see different presentations on different topics, the posters were mostly about Biology and Science, while the presentations were about humanities and social sciences, this gave me a broader perspective on both, as in the topic of my fellow honors classmates Molly Hedgepeth and Aydan Williams about the protests with focus on Utah, but I also had the opportunity to talk about scientific studies, especially one about the impact of blue light in devices on sleep cycles caught my attention, where I had a great conversation with the creators of the study due to our slightly different perspectives; Personally looking at the study I could see certain biases that had not been addressed such as the effect of brightness on the respondents which in itself was already very few, using only 5 participants cannot show recognizable patterns and can lead to misleading results.However, the talk was very enriching and really helps me to understand the processes to carry out this type of conferences. I will be presenting next semester!

The talk with Viet gave me a different perspective on the meaning of home and the reality of immigrants facing several challenges that I have personally experienced such as the loss of identity due to immigration, the change of the concept of “HOME” from being a place to something more symbolic and personal, becoming a set of experiences, relationships, communities linked with personal passion and significant preferences that shape the concept of HOME.

• Back
• Back to Home