One Step Closer with Help From AT&T

Recently, my IQuest class went on a field trip to AT&T's job shadow day at their San Ramon Offices. After a short introduction speech on what to expect out of the day, the students were split up into small groups and placed with one of the generous employee's who gave up their time to teach us a little about their business. I got placed in a group with 2 other Cal High students and we were with Al Martinez, an IT technician. He began our tour by taking us to the 4th floor and explained how large the company was.

After giving a brief history of his time at AT&T he showed us to his office and explained how he got to where he was today. We also got to ask him any questions that came to mind. I asked if he had always wanted to be a part of AT&T, if he was hired right after college, and if he had wanted to pursue engineering his whole life. His surprised me when he said he had never really thought about joining this company and he got picked out at a smaller company right out of college. Also, when he got hired by AT&T he was trained to do something his major hardly contributed to.

We also got to go see a brand name and trademark seminar and a Telepresence conference. In these seminars we got to learn the importance of making a name for your brand and we even touched on some legal infringement issues. Afterwards we got to play a game where we had to guess the companies by their icon or logo. At the Telepresence conference we got to see how the company can conference call, with video, other workers in different buildings, states, or even counties! The technology was astounding and I thought it was a great chance to see how far we've come from letters to video calls!

I thought this field trip was a great help for any IQuest student because it gave us a glimpse at what working life could be like. It fits perfectly with what IQuest has to offer and my mentor, Al Martinez, taught helped us realize we may do one job, and end up in a different career AND turn out to still be successful! Although I thought the day was a great experience, I would have liked to see how our mentors do their current job, even if it is a little difficult. It was nice to see how the company flowed but we really didn't get the opportunity to learn how they manage to do their jobs. Either way I would go on that field trip again if I had the chance.

One Step Closer with Some Guidance.

In IQuest we were asked to pick a California High School staff member as our mentor outside of our internship. My first choice was my choir teacher Ms. Mottaz (Mow-tah), or just Mottaz as the students call her, because she has always been a bit of a mentor while I've been at Cal High. I have been in Mottaz's choir classes all four years in high school because it is such a rewarding class; We work hard then we travel to sing and explore cities like New York, Boston, and Washington D.C. We would never get to experience any of these wonderful moments if it weren't for all her dedication and hard work toward her choir programs.

In November I met with Mottaz and we talked all about IQuest and what I was planning on doing for the rest of my senior year. I explained to her what I was doing and how I was meeting with Mr. Shaw, another one of her student's father, and she commended me for going into such a hard field. We talked about how even a small foot in the door, such as the one I currently have, is a great opportunity to become a part of such powerful company.

We then talked about college and where I was applying to. At that point I was almost done with applications and now I am completely finished and can confirm that I applied to all of the colleges I told her I was planning on applying to. Because many of her past students come back and talk about their experiences at college, she gave me very helpful advice on what to look out for when making a final decision on where to spend the next four years of my life.

Next meeting I hope to talk more about the project that I am currently working on. Also, I hope that I can talk to her about some college responses that I will have received by then!

Unfortunately, I can't find a picture of just the two of us from past choir trips even though they are somewhere out there. I'll keep my eye out.

One Step Closer by Creating a Bucket List.

I've put together my own little bucket list. This is just a shortened version because I know a have more than  just a few various lifelong goals. Also, as I go through life I will be adding and crossing off things from this list but for now, I'm excited to just begin achieving these. Here it goes:

See number 11

1. Stand at a point where I can look up and only see the sky or stars (No cell towers or trees just sky)
2. Get admitted to college
3. Get at least a Bachelor's Degree
4. Be happily married, possibly with children
5. Play a huge game of dodgeball
6. Spend a weekend in New York and see at least 4 Broadway shows
7. Skydive, but actually jump out of the plane
8. Take Sign Language again
9. Live in Australia for 2 weeks
10. See the Pyramids in Egypt
11. Scuba dive near a sunken ship
12. Lose weight, Stay healthy
13. Go Bungee Jumping
14. Get Giants season tickets
15. Be in a successful flash mob
16. Take dance lessons
17. Dive into a pool
18. Learn how to do a backflip
19. Work as an engineer
20. Get over my fear and donate blood
21. Do a 365 day photo project (Take the same picture of yourself everyday for a year to see the change)
22. Take Violin lessons



See number 14

23. Learn how to Photoshop

One Step Closer by Reaffirming my Beliefs

As I started my internship I started to get nervous because I began thinking that it was too complicated and difficult for me. As I read the book I began to think that it was just too far over my head but that all changed once I actually went Chevron Headquarters. Mr. Shaw, Lubricant Specialist at Chevron and my mentor, talked to me about oils and the process and we even went over a few slide shows from the toolkit I received the day before. Once he started to explain some of the topics I began to understand more and more and it didn't seem as hard as I had made it out to be before! After the meeting I felt reassured that this is what I really want to do with my life.

So far this internship has taught me many things that would be a little too difficult to explain over a blog but i'll do my best. I have learned about all the career types at Chevron, how crude oil is extracted and refined, and even what Chevron is doing globally with oil and other resources! The book I am reading is explaining lubricants even further on a college level that I am doing my best to comprehend. I'm glad I actually have a mentor to help me explain this book because it's still a little to complex for my current education!

I try to stay relatively regret free and nothing comes to mind when I think of regrets but I do remember thinking that I was going to regret dropping AP Psychology at the beginning of the year. My counselor had accidentally put me in Psych instead of IQuest and I wanted to get a job or internship so I asked to switch. At first I thought I would be bummed out because everyone that took Psych says its incredible but I think I am so much happier in IQuest than if i were in Psych. There is no way that Psych students are as excited as I am to do the work they are doing. Unlike other students I'm excited to go to class and my internship because this is the work I love to do!

One Step Close by Attempting to Understand the Fundamentals.

Recently in IQuest we have been asked to get a book about, or related to, our internship. My book, as suggested by my mentor, is Lubrication Fundamentals by J. George Wills. Let me tell you from the start, this book is NOT easy. I know the name already sounds difficult but the text is even more confusing. For an Engineer this book is obviously just the basics but for a Ambitious High School student, it's written in a different language! Even though it is difficult I'm not letting it discourage me from pursuing my goals.

I was serious when I said it was difficult. This is "A simplified flow diagram for a commercial dewaxing unit"

Get ready to step into my world:

Chapter one of this book is to familiarize or refresh the educated reader's memory on lubricating oils and crude oils in general. It gives a background on Petroleum; where and how it occurs. I was also informed how the petroleum was quite annoying but people found that they could sell it for "medicinal purposes". Later the author explains when greases and lubricants were first used and how the brine well drilling that opened up lots of petroleum to the world in the 1850's first began.

The second chapter informs you about lubricating oils and the petroleum industry, which was the largest in the world as early as 1976! Then Wills explains what crude oil is, where it is found and what is put into production. You may not have known that crude oils are found in a variety of types from light to black oils and asphalts. Also one of the key factors in crude oil selection is based off of the crude's pour point and how light it is! (Although very light crudes wouldn't be used for lube because only a small portion of it has a high enough boiling point.) I'll spare you the rest of the chapter because it took me 3 times to sortof understand the chapter and I have the actual text right in front of me.

Even though this book is very difficult to understand I know I will benefit from reading it. The author clearly has been studying and working with petroleum for a long time and I'm sure reading his book, even if I don't completely understand it, will put me ahead of the competition while I'm in college. Who else has the opportunity to read an advanced book (not a textbook) about engineering before college to get them ready? I doubt other students went out on their own and found books as challenging as this one and decided they would read it to prepare them for college. You can look at this 2 ways. One with a positive outlook saying it is beneficial; challenging yet rewarding. The other saying it is too hard and you should just pretend to read it. 

I will always choose the former.

Wish me luck!

One Step Closer Toward Complete Optimism

I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else. ~Winston Churchill


I would by lying if I said I was completely optimistic but I know that I have been trying to see the better parts of life. Throughout high school I've been trying to become much more optimistic because no one will ever want to be around you if you are sad and depressing all the time. Just like Churchill said, nothing good really comes out of being anything but optimistic. If you always see the sad parts of life others will try to avoid you and you will start to become more depressed. It all starts with YOU. You need to take the first step towards being positive and you need to attempt to be happier. Once you've begun the pursuit of happiness, your friends, family, and even strangers will gladly help you out because they see that you are actually giving an effort. Pessimists usually are lazy and don't put any effort into anything they are doing. Obviously, that is an awful work ethic because customers won't want to work with you, and employers know they won't get anything out of you! This quote really hits home because it reaffirms my belief that I should, and need to be, more optimistic.
Necessity

Lemonade-Chris Rice
This song just makes me so happy every time I hear it. 

One Step Closer Toward Making Ethical Decisions

Every day we make hundreds, if not thousands of decisions. Most simple like what to wear, what to eat, but others can be much more critical then we think. These critical decisions are made based off of your morals and your character. Even though we don't realize how much it matters, character really does count and it will make a difference in anyone's life. People around the world need to have character to make more ethical decisions and the people at Character Counts! are making a difference by teaching the 6 pillars of character to students at a young age.

Ever since 5th grade we've learned that people with good character are TRRFCC (Trustworthy, Responsible, Respectful, Fair, Caring, and they show Citizenship). During our classes we would study and learn the significance of each pillar but one pillar always stood out in my mind: Responsiblity. According to the dictionary responsibility means "reliability or dependability" also "The state of being [accountable]". To me being Responsible is being organized by doing what you are supposed to be doing and thinking before you act. Also, I believe you are Responsible when you hold yourself accountable for anything you do, whether it was good or bad.

I would claim that Responsibility is the most important trait in the workplace, and in life. Without it you have people not doing what they are suppose to and you can't rely on anyone to get anything done. People need to have it so when mistakes are made we don't play the blame game and point fingers. It is so important to be responsible because you set an example for people in the workforce, and for children or people who look up to you. Ever step you do will be analyzed when working and you don't want to look back thinking you shouldn't have done something.

To show responsibility you can do things as easy as following through on plans you made with your friends or doing your share of your class project. At times it may be harder to show responsibility because you don't want to be held accountable for your mistakes but I'm sure that after a little lecture, you'll be respected for holding yourself accountable. It is so necessary for you to show this responsibility because your boss and coworkers will be giving you tasks and inspecting you  if you don't do what you say you are going to do or you blame someone else for your errors, you will lose your job instantly!

I know that I am a responsible person but there are times when I don't show it as much as I could. From now on I plan to make it known that I am very responsible, and I will hopefully set an example for others to follow. I plan on following through on everything I say I will, and I will be organized so I won't have to say "maybe" to anyone. I have learned that being responsible is a key to success and I am now making the choice to make more ethical decisions by showing responsibility.

One Step Closer to Accomplishing a Goal.

In IQuest we have spent the past week working on creating and achieving goals, and I have never felt so good about knowing what I want. Setting these A, B, and C level goals make me excited but nervous to see what the future has in store for me because I know I need to work hard to achieve them. We have learned that Goals are dreams that have a deadline and that anyone can make and achieve their goals if they are S.M.A.R.T. SMART goals are goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.  After finally being convinced that anyone, including myself, could make, and achieve their goals, I decided to set 3 main goals, 1 year, 5 year, and 10 year goals.

My 1 year goal is simple and being in IQuest is already the first step to making it happen; by the end of the year have a job, or internship that will give me knowledge and experience that will help me with my career in the future. Another 1 year goal I have, which I know will come true is to graduate in June 2012!

My 5 year goal is to have finished, or still be in, college and have much more knowledge on engineering. The icing on top of the cake would to also have a job, or internship, with an engineering business.

Finally, my ten year goal is to have a career in engineering, be happily married and hopefully start moving up the ladder at the job. From then on it’s all about trying to get to a position at work where I am happy to go to work every day and I love what I'm doing.

These goals are all S.M.A.R.T. because they follow the guidelines and I am so thrilled to finally know what I want in my life. Though it may be tough to achieve these goals because we all know how hard college, and finding a job is, I will persevere and let nothing get in my way as I am determined to succeed. I have finally laid down a path for my life and I am committed to staying on it until my goals are reached.

One Step Closer to an Internship!

Hello! My name is Wesley Enos and I started this blog to keep record of the new internship I'm going to have over the next year. My high school, California High School, is offering a brand new class that lets seniors find internships and leave during 6th period to go work and pursue jobs of their interest. As school just started a few weeks ago most of us are still looking for internships but soon we will all be on our own working and tasting what our lives will be like in the near future.
I think I may have found an internship that suits my interests perfectly; interning for an engineer at Chevron Headquarters! I love math and science so I know that engineering is something I would love doing in the future. If all goes according to plan my internship will start in about two weeks and I will get to begin gaining knowledge and experience that will lead me to my career! Unfortunately, Chevron is hesitant to let high school students intern but my mentor, the man that said I would be able to get an internship there and hopefully shadow him, said he should be able to get it to come through. Senior year is going to be so exciting if this internship really does come through.
Additionally, I look forward to working hard my senior year. Everyone claims that senior year is a breeze but I chose to challenge myself by taking 2 A.P. classes and classes that I must work hard in to pass. Even if I'm not at Chevron I'm still very excited to work and learn skills that I can use for my career. Though most people hate the thought of working, I have never been so excited to work and learn skills because the knowledge I will gain is on subjects that I want to know more about. Subjects that I am interested in and not forced into learning. I think about how much I am going to learn everyday and I don't think anyone has ever been so anxious.
Hopefully the internship works out, but for now I'll just cross my fingers.