Journal 3

My final presentation came together with ease. The initial exported quicktime video omitted some parts of my presentation to the class. After some tweaking the quicktime video is now complete. It is posted to my blog, and can be seen below. My blog seems very cluttered to me. I will be cleaning that up today as much as I can, the layouts are restricting as compared to other sites I have been a part of.

After my presentation, my instructor told me about grants that are available through the school to research my topic further. How amazing would that be if I could help reorganize the soccer community of Milwaukee to make it available to all children within the public schools, not just to those who have parents who can afford the time and money. Not where I thought I would make my mark, but industrial engineering affect all businesses including sport departments. Outside of my education, I have hands on LEAN experience with my job, and have been in sports my whole life.

Through this class I have now been offered an opportunity to advance my education and career. I would have not thought this possible from a GER.

Final Project Multimedia and Artist's Statement

My semester at Escuela Vieau lead to an opening of avenues I would have thought of. I started off hesitant to even enroll in the class since in required 15 hours of community service. Where was I going to fit that into my schedule. I did it anyway, and I was happy to find the people at the Boys and Girls Club at Escuela Vieau more than accommodating to my schedule. I was able to come in every Tuesday for five weeks for three hours each time. Also included in the hours was the three hours of research that I put into my final project.
I didn’t start taking pictures until I got an idea of what my role at Escuela Vieau was. The original photos were just general layouts of the school. When I found the idea to focus on soccer, my last day of volunteering was spent in the gym capturing what they used to practice soccer in the gym. After putting my proposed topic together with my instructor, I started my research with the head of the Boys and Girls Club at the Escuela Vieau: Yesenia Montenegro. She gave me some information on the soccer programs at the school, but that the Boys and Girls Club did not actually handle the programs. She put me in touch with the main couch: Armando Dominguez. He was the one that gave me the most information on my topic. After a few emails with him and short phone call, I went on with my research. I hopped on the internet to look at school buses, private soccer leagues, and Milwaukee parks that have soccer fields.
My major played a role in my final project. I have been involved with LEAN processes for 5 years, and my education has given me about two years of process improvement tools. The soccer program seemed to me to be a place for a LEAN project. I grabbed a few found footage of some LEAN websites as well as the soccer leagues that Escuela Vieau is participating in.
I found the big cultural difference between the Escuela Vieau culture and the rest of the Milwaukee public schools creates less opportunity for the Escuela Vieau students to participate in their preferred sport: soccer. As the popularity in soccer grows in the U.S., there may be a public school program that will allow the students more opportunity rather than the thirty miles to travel to the private soccer club that their parents have to pay to be apart of. I learned from this information that I gathered and presented to my class, that I am able to apply for a grant to further research the opportunity for a public school soccer program in Milwaukee.

Found Footage of Latino/Latina Community in Milwaukee

I found an article related to the Milwaukee Latino/Latina community on the 2010 census. It is in regards to the questions and fears that the Latino/Latina community has to filling out the census. Interestingly enough their top concern is not deportation. Most say they don’t understand why it needs to be filled out, and others fear that the actual count of people in their residence would be found out by their landlord. Immigration is third or fourth on their list of concerns over filling out the census. This article was centered around easing the fear of the Latino/Latina community in Milwaukee, that the census information is confidential, and in no way will anyone me deported from the country or evicted from their building by being honest on the census. The census is there to give an accurate reading of the amount of people living in each community and their ethnicity, so funds can be given out fairly.

This makes me wonder about Escuela Vieau, and how this will effect the kids at the school. The census could have a huge impact on the amount of money the school is given if the student’s parents are not honest on their census form or do not fill it out at all. I appreciated this article for making the issue public.

Journal 2

The time at Escuela Vieau came to an end. I enjoyed my time with the kids and staff. The pictures have been taken, and I am narrowing down a topic for my project. The staff has offered to help in whatever way possible. I am narrowing my project topic to soccer. Talking to my instructor she has asked the our presentations show our time at Escuela Vieau. I have spent some time tutoring the kids, leading science projects, and helping out in the gym. I like the idea of presenting on soccer since that seems to be what all the kids enjoy. I have started to collect data on the kids that participate in soccer at the school. Simply by asking each one of them and documenting their names, so I don't ask them twice. I am going to split it between girls and boys, because thus far there has been a tremendous difference in gender participation.

Multimedia Essay Bitzan Film 150

This essay came together from the enthusiasm of the students over a common interest. The first day I volunteered was the day after a big soccer game the boys had played. It was all they could talk about. I became more inquisitive on the amount of kids playing soccer in this group. It turned out that 11 out of 12 of the boys were in a soccer league outside of school. This gave me the idea to do some research on the Escuela Vieau students’ participation in soccer. After 10 hours of volunteering, I documented the amount of kids with whom I work and the amount that play soccer. I then separated the groups into girls and boys, since there seemed to be a significant disparity between them. The girls ratio of playing soccer was 1:3, and the boys was 7:8.

The part that I was most interested in was where the kids play and was it through the school. The kids told me that they play through a private league, because the school does not offer a soccer program due to lack of funds and space. I played a few games of soccer with the kids as part of my volunteering, and I was amazed at the excitement these young students displayed over the sport. They preferred it over the others that were offered such as basketball or dodgeball. The pictures fell into place, using the gym’s murals, the small playground to represent lack of space, and the Ricky Martin song that all the kids liked to play as a way to pump them up during the games we played.

The neighborhood of Escuela Vieau is predominantly Latino, but most students and faculty speak both Spanish and English. In Latino cultures, soccer is often a favorite sport.

The camera as an investigatory device without using faces for my essay proved to be challenging. Using some creativity, I was able to gather some images to explain my story without using people, or too many words. The inanimate parts of Escuela Vieau tell enough of a story on their own.

Journal Post 1

I have been a part of Escuela Vieau’s after school program for two weeks. I have been involved with one-on-one tutoring of first and third grade boys and girls. I also helped with the science portion of the program with first and third graders. I have had involvement with staff and students who have all been helpful as I find my way around this new environment. Maria, one of the after-school coordinators asked a little boy that I was to be tutoring to take me to the teacher’s lounge, so we would have a place to focus on his homework. I was impressed by their amount of trust in him, and he did not let them down. A very respectful boy of only 9, who had a hard time reading in English. After we were done, he told me about soccer, and his passion for the sport.

When we were done and I went on to help Ms. Herr, the science teacher, I found out how prevalent the love for soccer in that class was. Almost all of the boys told e about soccer, and the big game they had that weekend. We made homemade play-doh for our science project. Most of the boys made their play-doh into a soccer ball. This gave me an idea for my multimedia essay. Since soccer is not popular in the U.S as a whole, this community which is made up of mostly hispanic culture has this stand out quality which would be interesting to learn more about.