Answering my Main Inquiry Question Essay

A little while ago, my class was assigned to make an essay answering our main inquiry questions. It was easier than expected because all we had to do was put all of our research into essay form. I thought the hardest part was to revise and edit because it was hard to choose if I should change it or not. I think that one of the easiest parts of the essay was the body paragraphs because all we had to do was go into detail about our research. I am proud of how I answered the question. Here is my essay:

When you think of the Secret Service, you think of presidential protection, but there is so much more to the secret service. What you don’t think of is cyber security and the tough process you have to go through to become an agent. This lead me to researching the secret service and soon turned into “How has presidential protection changed over the years?” I will be talking about the secret service is, what happened after the William Mckinnley assasination, Selection process, the application process, specialized training, the agent’s personal life,and the impact of the advancement of technology on the president and their team.

 

The secret service has 2 goals. The first one established in 1865 was to suppress US currency counterfeiting. The second goal, established in 1901, was to protect the president. To this day, both of these goals remain. Some of the changes were, Protection of first family, vice president and spouse of vice president, protection of electees, and protection of foreign leaders.They also try to block cyberattacks, identity fraud, and other types of fraud. 

 

After the William Mickinnley assasination, the secret service started to protect the president. They had 2 agents, who were with the president daily. At the time, this was good protection but would later need more because of the frequent assasinatiopn attempts. Soon later, congress and the government started funding for the secret service. They would use these funds to provide more agents and protection. This is very important because if the president was assassinated, this could lead to a collapse of the economy. In 1953, something historic happened. The first secret service school was created. This would be a big step in ensuring safety. In 1963, a tragedy occurred. JFK was assassinated. This would be a big turning point in protection because they needed to ensure the safety of the president. Laws were created, federal crimes put in place, more agents hired. People were furious and they wanted to make a change. Soon, they started to protect Elected officials, first family’s, Vice Presidents, and foreign leaders when visiting the US along with their own detail .

 

The application process begins with a job opportunity. Then phase one rolls into play. Phase one includes a SAEE written examination, physical ability’s test, interview with 2 agents, panel review and conditional job offers. This process is important because it shows if they are able to occupy the job. Also, it is important for the staff to learn about the possible agent because they don’t want spy’s. Then, they start phase two. Phase two includes a security interview/credit checks, a polygraph examination, a medical and a physiological examination and a background check. Did you know background checks can take up to 6-9 months depending on that person’s background? Similar to phase one, phase two plays a big role in the decision of the agent. Phase two shows if they are able to exceed the job and also be able to handle the pressure. As this may seem simple, there are some limits. For example, you need to be a US citizen, valid driver’s license, hearing cant exceed 25 decibels, at least be 21 and no older than 37, need to carry and have experience using a firearm, and many more. This shows that applying for the secret service can be very hard. 

 

The selection process is complicated. First, they review your answers to both phase one and two. They take all of the agents that are in the top percentile with the best answers and then interview them again. Everyone else is no longer able to become an agent. Some people show up to the interview and are confident, while others don’t show up and are nervous. To be a secret service agent you don’t have to just be a big person that’s strong, you have to be mentally strong equally as much as physically. Some of the people that decide the agents are officers, former agents, current agents, and the president views their applications and makes the final decision. Usually if the president can’t do it, a leading officer will take charge. Similar to a law being made, if the president says no, the agent has another chance to make it still.

Training plays a big role in becoming a secret service agent. Even if you complete phase one and two, and  are selected for training, you can still be kicked out of the training because you couldn’t complete the tasks assigned. For training,You must spend eleven weeks at FLETC (Federal Law Enforcement Training Center) . At FLETC, you will learn some of the basics and build up stamina, endurance, and strength. Some people fail this step because of the challenging things they face even though they seem simple. Everyday, you would run for miles, do tons of exercises, and wake up very early in the morning. FLETC is followed by a seventeen week specialized training program. Here, you learn how to do extreme outdoor activities. For example, skiing, scuba diving, horseback riding, etc. This is very important because if the president wants to do anything “extreme” they have to be prepared. Also, agents receive this training because they can’t have experts do this with the president because they might try to do something. They also run simulations. These simulations can include, a assasination attempt, a medical emergency, and many more. These can be more stressful than an actual attack because you will be judged by your response unlike when a real thing happens you would have to just protect the president. You also learn three very important things. Soundoff, cover, evacuate. Soundoff means you realize what’s going on. Cover is to protect the president. Don’t worry about what is happening to the attacker, other people will take care of that. Then Evacuate, do everything you can to get the president to safety. Whether it’s hiding in a bathroom or sitting in the basement of a police department. You always have to do everything you can to ensure the safety of the president. As my interviewee (Tom Greenaway) said, “ some days you would eat the bear and the bear would eat you.” 

 

The new generation of technology has impacted the president and their team in many ways. For example, With modern equipment like drones and jamming devices, they will be able to prevent attacks and scan areas. With modern planes, they will be able to have a stealthy air force. These new inventions are very important because they take care of the little things, which can result in a big impact. New technologies don’t only help the president though, they can help their team, the military, and even congress and the supreme court. This is hard though, the secret service has to disable things on the device that can be “hacked.” This challenges both the secret service and the president because the secret service wants to fulfill the president’s wishes, but they don’t want to put the president in danger. In some recent years, they have made advancements to make this decision easier. For example, more landlines have been put in, they have removed the cameras and locators from ipads, inserted secured cables, and taken out software. Even though enhancements have been made, you still aren’t allowed to bring it into any secure room. For example, the briefing room, you can’t bring it into the briefing room to hear any secure information. 

 

In conclusion, the secret service has many parts to its evolution. From having 2 agents to 3200, from having no technology to having advanced devices. All in all, the job of an agent has drastically evolved over the years and will continue to change in the future.

 

Capstone Interview

The interview is a big part of the capstone project. It is almost like the core of the project.  It provides a lot of information and it also teaches the interviewer about the topic. The interview also can dispose of extra information and ideas for the presentation. Doing the interview was exciting and also very helpful. I was able to ask questions but also learn more.

The process of figuring out who I was going to interview was difficult because it was hard to find someone who knew my topic and who could actually dispose of the information. My topic was the secret service. At first, I had to search for some things and talk to my parents. I found a museum, but they were very busy. A few days later, my dad remembered that he did know someone who lead the secret service at one point. John Snow. I contacted him and he quickly responded with his detail leader ( Tom Greenaway) and all of the information to contact him. We had scheduled the interview for the 18th. We had 5 days to come up with questions. I started with some background questions and then I put in parts that related to my subquestions. I finished writing my questions and then I reviewed them with my teachers. I made some revisions and then I contacted the agent to discuss the details and also we sent the questions so he could prepare. Since he was very busy, we had him answer some questions over email and I would ask the rest and some additional questions (both mine and my dad’s) on the phone. It was easy to write the questions because there was so much practice involved. One thing that was hard was finding people to contact for the interview.

Conducting the interview was hard but it became easier with my dad. My dad helped me since it is harder for me to understand what Tom was saying so he broke it down for me in an easier way for me to understand.  At the start of the interview, I started by talking a little bit about how he was doing and etc. Then, my dad talked to Tom and then I went into my questions. Since I didn’t have that many questions, I and my dad thought of a few interesting ones that could add to my project. My interview exceeded expectations because not only did I get extra information, I was able to now know how I could do my script and the order of my presentation. Some of the new things I learned were: The Secret Service Runs simulations to learn how they can improve but it actually feels harder to do because you will be judged on your response unlike in real-time when you have to just save the protectee. Another thing I learned is that when walking near the military, they make sure they have no ammo or bayonets so nothing happens to the president. One more thing is that when countries come to the United States of America, they have to know how much ammo, serial numbers, and the guns and if the countries say something else it could result in something chaotic such as them being forced out of the country or something else.

All in all, both preparing for the interview and conducting the interview took a lot of effort and steps to complete. Special thanks to my dad, John Snow, and of course my interviewee Tom Greenaway.

 

Capstone Main Inquiry and Sub-Questions

Capstone is a project where you decide on a topic, make a question out of it,  research it, and present your answer in front of an audience. The whole 5th grade throughout the district was assigned to make the presentation. Capstone became a 5th grade project in 2014 and has now became a school tradition. Capstone is very exciting because there are so many ways to go with the project

the process of coming up with a topic was very important to the rest of the project. Some of the documents that the class filled out such as the Curriculum wheel organizer helped because it gave us some research questions that we could use later on but also a topic for our project. There were many topics to choose from and I wanted to find something that i have an interest in and wanted to learn more about. I wanted my topic to be something that i am interested in but also something that I did not know much about. I chose Secret Service because I know i will be able to present it in a good way but also i will learn a lot about it. Also, coming up with the topic can be complicated because you would need to think about where you could go with the topic. This means that you would need a perspective on what part of the topic you would be doing. For example, If my topic were to be sports, would you do techniques or ways to play, etc

Coming up with the main inquiry question was challenging, For example, we had to make a level 4 question. A level 4 question is a question that has a purpose and is open ended. For example, How have Aquariums evolved their exhibits and how have they impacted the dolphins? This is a level 4 question because it is not open ended, has a purpose and includes key words such as evolved and impacted. These key words are important because they make the answer longer and make the answer include more information. My question is: How has the protection of the president evolved over the years. At first, it was hard to come up with a question because it couldn’t be too broad but it couldn’t be too small so it would only take a week to research it. Some of the challenges in making the main inquiry question were being too broad but being too weak of a question and also making it a level 4 question.

The process of creating sub-questions was easy because you could use the main inquiry question to help create the sub-questions. For example, my main inquiry question was how has the protection of the president evolved over the years? Then i was able to say as one : During the first few years of presidential protection, what protocols were in place. I used this question because it shows what it was like during the first few years of protection and it is a good starter sub-question because the questions are in a chronological order. Another question I used was: how does the protection of the president differ from in office to out of office. I used this question because it shows the differences from protection but also the changes they made to protect the former president out of office.

All in all, so far during capstone, there have been many ups and downs but I think researching will be a good process

Immigration Interview

My class, 5-C was assigned to interview an immigrant and tell their story through a video. First, we had to find someone to interview. I chose Kate, a family friend. The project required two reflections, an interview, and a video about the interview.

Preparing for the interview took a lot of steps. For example, we had to make a list of 20 questions and then narrow them down. Some of my questions were what is your daily life like and what opportunities were presented when you came here. I considered questions that were open-ended and that provided an answer that is very detailed and informative. When coming up with my questions I thought I should try and add something to each question that would make each response better. For example, How? Or please explain. When adding either of these words it makes the interviewee have to explain. Some o resources that were helpful were my sister because she did this project so I can ask questions. Also, another helpful part of this project was feedback. I got a lot of helpful feedback from my friends on ways to reword the questions, make them sound better, and make them in a presentable order where they would make sense and connect. Also, reading about the young immigrants and doing the Ellis island Scholastic interactive tour gave me a point to of look about the questions and also some background on immigration.

Conducting my interview was very exciting. I was excited to learn Kate’s story and also get to learn about what it was like. I conducted my interview over the phone and I also recorded the audio so I would be able to go back into the interview and write down anything I missed. It was important to record it because it is very hard to type as fast as someone talking and to also be accurate. My interview went over expectations because my answers gave me a lot of information and they also gave me what I needed as well as extra information which was very useful. I learned a lot of things about conducting an interview. For example, interviewers have to be very good listeners to catch all of the details. Also, they have to be very precise when they are writing down so they don’t misinform. One of the most interesting things I learned about Kate was that she came here more recently. This was interesting to me because most of the immigration stories I have heard have been a long time ago. Talking to Kate twice was very helpful because I would be able to access more information. I liked my questions because I was able to get a lot of information but also to learn a lot about someone’s story and the challenges and many other things they faced during their immigration.

All in all, doing the Immigration interview project was both very fun and informative.

Rube Goldberg Reflection #2

The final part of our Rube Goldberg was hard because there was a lot of testing and building involved. The building was hard because you needed more than 8 steps or transfers of energy and at least 3 simple machines. Also, a lot of revising was involved because some of the buildings didn’t work. Testing was hard because it took a lot of time to set it back up once it didn’t work and also to try and find the right angle to film the video at. Making the final video was pretty easy because all we had to do was talk about the process and machine then show fails and the one time it worked.

I came up with ideas for my Rube Goldberg Machine by first looking for things I could use in my house. Marble run, Magnet tiles, Jenga blocks, etc. I did this so I could get an idea of what I can use and how to incorporate each thing. And then I came up with my task. At first, I thought maybe I can incorporate one of the cool features in my house like my Golf Simulator but then later I concluded it would be too hard. So then I thought of simpler ideas like putting a ball in a cup, knocking something over, ringing a bell, flipping a switch, etc. But I decided to go with ringing a bell as my task because I felt like I could incorporate a lot of things doing this task. Some of the changes I made to my machine were getting rid of the sharpies I put in and then I replaced them with dominoes. I made this change because I thought Dominoes were more likely to be able to continue the machine and knock over the next thing better than the sharpies could. Something that was challenging was the building. It took a lot of editing to try and make it work and it also took a lot of stability to keep it up. I used Gears for stability because you could stick a flat board on them so there is a flat area. Something that was easier than I thought was the filming. It took me less than five tries for my machine to work. I thought it would take like thirty. I think it was easier because all you had to do to get a good run was set it upright.

My final machine and my sketch differ because my machine I added stables so it wouldn’t fall at the end while on my sketch there aren’t stables at the end. For my final machine sometimes I had to try and make something that would work. For example, I had to build a platform so my pendulum would stand and knock over the dominoes. Another change I made was adding another inclined plane at the end. Before I had a drop where the car just fell but then I later realized the car would have a better chance of knocking over the Jenga blocks if it was moving faster. This was an important change because know the car goes way faster and generates more momentum for the machine to continue running.

Making my video was a little challenging. We had to include some fails, a successful run, talking about the process, etc. putting some fails in it was a challenge for me because my Rube Goldberg didn’t take so many tries. This had a big impact because my video would now be shorter and I would not be able to include as much of the filming. My mom helped me with the filming and this was very important because I was able to have her help me when I was confused. Making my video wasn’t too hard. Besides having a little film, I thought it turned out well. Narrating played a big role in my video. I had an overview of my machine where I walked through it and talked about what happens. I also talked about the process of building it and what steps I took. And then I also talked a little in the end to give a little wrap-up about this project. Some of the unique features I put in my video were a slo-mo video of my successful run. And an overview of my machine. I decided to put both of these things in because I thought it was a look from a different perspective.

All in all, I enjoyed doing all of the steps of the Rube Goldberg.

Here is my video

Rube Goldberg Reflection #1

A Rube Goldberg machine is a machine that makes something easier. We (5C) were tasked with making one. For example, You could do a machine that flips a light switch so you don’t have to flip it yourself. There are many things you can build a Rube Goldberg to do.

The researching part of the project was pretty fun. We had to find things we could incorporate into our Rube Goldberg. Some of the websites that were useful were youtube and google. Youtube because I could find how to build simple machines and other things to incorporate into our machines. Google was useful because I could search up good ideas and ways to structure my Rube Goldberg so it wouldn’t fall.

One challenge was editing. it was hard because whenever one part didn’t work you would have to go back to your sketch and your plan and find what was wrong. this was hard because the problem isn’t always found in the sketch. If you couldn’t find the error you would have to try to either remake or fix the part or put in something that would work instead of the part that isn’t working. When my gears weren’t working decided to build a pendulum instead but still incorporate the gears as stability. Fortunately, there was only one main challenge but unluckily, it was a very big challenge. Testing my project was fun and also hard. Whenever it didn’t work consistently, you would have to go back into your design. Some challenges there were from filming was getting a good angle and also getting every part of the Rube Goldberg.  Designing my Rube Goldberg project was very fun and it was like trial and error because we had to think logically and have our build be able to work. Designing was hard because there were many sketches that you had to build part of to see if it would work or not. For some of the simple machines, I included the lever, inclined plane, wheel, and screw. Most of these were easier to incorporate than the others because there are more opportunities to use an inclined plane than a lever. This made it hard because you had to really think about how to incorporate each thing. Most of the materials worked well but some didn’t like the wedge. I decided to use things I could find around my house and to see if they would work. I tested each step one at a time so I could easily fix the problems.

All in all, doing the Rube Goldberg machine was both fun and challenging.  When we continue the project, I think it will be even more fun than before.

 

Feature Article Reflection

A little bit ago my teacher Mrs. Cooper assigned my class to write a feature article. I was very excited because I like to write about nonfiction. I decided to go with Hawaii as my topic here’s why I choose it: I have a tradition with my family where every year we go to Hawaii. I have gone there recently and I thought to myself I can tell someone about Hawaii. I also thought I have the knowledge to tell someone about it.  Another reason why I decided Kona was because I felt that it was going to be different from someone else’s topic. I wanted mine to stand out. Deciding the message that I wanted to convey to the reader was a little bit harder. I didn’t want to just say Kona is a unique place. I decided to go with Kona, Hawaii is a truly special and once-in-a-lifetime experience. I thought that I would be able to fit a lot of information under this topic and I was right. My categories were: food, culture, wildlife, the landscape, and activities.

My favorite part of doing a feature article was probably writing about the topic. I really enjoy giving information to people about topics I am Knowledgeable in. It was also a little challenging because you had to fit all of the writing under the categories. but once we simplified our categories it was easier. I also enjoyed doing the layout. Even though it wasn’t a big part of the writing process, I liked finding images that would fit into the text. It was not that hard but i think it was an important step in making the feature article. Something that was challenging was probably trying to even out the text and photos in my layout. One technique I used was adding examples to the text to give the reader a sense of what’s going on. For example, It’s like a festival in your mouth.

I am really proud of how I elaborated in the story trying to give the reader a good sense of closure. my teacher gave my class some strategies to end it. Like summarizing the main idea which I did or telling the reader how to learn more. I think this was a very important part because if you did not have a great sense of closure the reader is going to probably be confused. Writing a feature article compared to a personal narrative because I had to use some of the same techniques. For example,  both needed a conclusion and an intro, and they both needed elaboration. A bunch of time and work was needed to be put into both stories. Overall, I really enjoyed writing a feature article.

Reading Timeline Reflection

When we started to make our timelines, I knew I wanted to be creative. I decided to do a hybrid. (both images and coloring) I wanted to do books that I can reflect on and that impacted me a lot in many different ways. At the start, I knew this was going to be a fun project. The steps I took were getting information, printing the covers, and then making the timeline. The part that I disliked the most was probably writing the information inside of my books. I had trouble finding what I should write and how I should properly say it inside my reflection. The part I liked the most was picking out the books. I liked that part because there have been many books that have impacted me over the years and I got to choose some of them that are my favorites. Looking back, I realized that in the books that impacted me the most there was always a challenge. This showed me to never give up and always rise to the challenge. The book that stands out to me the most is refugee. It showed to look at things in a different way and you should never give up despite the challenge. For example, In the book One person had to escape Nazi Germany and Another person had to get to America from Cuba and the other story is someone is in a place that is having a civil war! These are all true events that happened. I recommend this book and all of the other books on my reading timeline to any type of reader.

Choosing a Topic for my Feature Article

Our class is starting a new feature article writing unit where we will be writing an article.

 I already know some stuff about feature writing like that there are diagrams and that you have to choose a topic. A feature article is an article where you write about a topic and you have categories on that topic. Informational writing can be hard at some points if you are having trouble putting facts into an article.

I came up with three topics which were, Kona, baseball, and football. I decided to go with Kona because it is a topic where I really know a lot about. Fun fact, my dad has gone there for around 40 years straight.

I think Kona will be the best topic for my feature article because it is a topic I can write a lot about and I know the island really well.

I am planing to include in my feature article the wildlife, restaurants, the landscape, activities and where it is. I also hoping to include some diagrams like the island, activities, and some of the wildlife on the island.

Personal Narrative Reflection

In the personal narrative unit, I decided to write a story about a camping trip I went on. It was called Camping Catastrophe. I came up with this idea when I was over reading the text and thought there is a lot in the story. I should come up with a name that represents it, so that’s when I decided to call it that.  I decided to write about this because I did a lot of things and I thought it would be a good story to tell. 

The process of writing this was challenging. There were ups and downs. I planned my Story out by using a strategy Mrs. Cooper showed us. It was writing scenes so we could break down the story and write it easier. When we were drafting, It was difficult to break the story into parts because there was going to be a lot of writing in the story. I decided to take some of the writing off so then it became more manageable. When I started to edit my final draft, it wasn’t too hard. I decided to break down my run off sentences and check my spelling. The hardest part of revising was probably the checklist. It was made up of going back into the text and editing and checking off what you did. 

I think my strengths in the story were probably the dialogue and the action I put in. For example, 

“We are going zip lining later today!”

“Yay” I replied, trembling with fear.

One of my areas I could improve on is probably my elaboration.

 

Doing the ending was hard. We had to end on a realization. I struggled a little bit because I couldn’t come up with anything. Eventually, I came up with something and finished off my story. 

Overall, I had a really fun time writing this story and doing this unit. even though there were some ups and downs. I would like to thank Mrs. Cooper and my classmates for feedback and suggestions.