Final Exam
For the past eighteen weeks, I have been researching a plethora of different topics, including forensic history, historical battles, and different branches in the United States government. Throughout the course of this research, I have found many things that I enjoy doing and some things that I did not.
One of my favorite things to do during this research was make the timelines. For whatever reason, I have always loved making them. It’s nice to have a map of the beginning of a certain event and an end, everything leading into something else. It’s like having a cause and effect diagram right in front of you, only it’s much easier and more fun to make. The forensic history timeline was my favorite due to the fact that it wasn’t just focusing on one specific area. I enjoy the freedom that I had to look at basically anything I wanted. For instance, the date of the first polygraph test, the first recorded autopsy, and many important Supreme Court cases (Miranda v. Arizona, Frye v. United States) were all included but there were also many other events included. These other occurrences include Marilyn Monroe’s murder/death, the JFK assassination, the supposed moon landing, and the 9/11 attacks, things that I found interesting.
Going along with the previous paragraph, the conspiracy theories were also incredibly enjoyable to research. Up until last year, I was just like everyone else and ignored the conspiracy theories, just thinking that it was something people were making up. However, if you actually take the time to look into the theories, they become more and more real. For example, before a few months ago, there was no doubt in my mind that the moon landing happened. Why would we fake it? Now, however, there is no doubt in my mind that it didn’t happen. The 9/11 attacks I simply brushed off as terrorist attacks. And while it could still be the Al Qaeda group who attacked the United States, it seems like a lesser probability. The arguments people make as to why an event either didn’t happen or it happened differently than was expected actually make more sense than the universally accepted version. And it’s not like people are just making stories up based on nothing. All of the theories I have looked at so far have some sort of proof and/or truth behind them (aside from the theory about the Bush family and the British royal family being aliens).
The current events are something that I have mixed feelings about doing. I thought it was so much fun to read the current events but doing the summary/impact/opinion took quite a while. On the other hand, I see why it was necessary to do so because, had I not, I probably would not have read through the events as carefully and would not have gotten much information out of them. Doing the summary part wasn’t bad but the impact and opinion were less than fun.
Honestly, there is not much that I would change about this assignment. It was basically made to fit what I wanted to study so I can’t really complain. The one thing though that I was absolutely dreading doing was the interview with a recruiter, which, luckily, I didn’t end up having to do. I don’t like talking to people and interviewing him would be really weird and uncomfortable for me. Not only that but I would have had a mental breakdown while doing that, I would have had no idea where to start writing the questions. In addition, the career tracks/salaries are another thing that I was dreading doing, because I had no idea where to even start. Luckily, I ended up finding a website that had all of the information I needed on it because otherwise it would have taken up the majority of my time. And not to mention just how many career tracks you can go into with a criminal justice/forensic science degree. I didn’t expect to have that many options and it was eye opening and also a little intimidating.
Aside from that, the only other thing I would change, but not completely eliminate, was the World War I map. Finding the alliances was obviously easy but the trench lines and troop movement were not. Like, at all. Of course there’s not a map anywhere that have either of those on there so I had to do my best from reading and guessing. However, I can see why it was helpful to find all of those, as it does give you a much better understanding of the war.
As opposed to listing a ton of things that I have learned, I have decided to discuss the more important part of this independent study. The class has given me a slight glimpse into the college life, at what I will have to do when leaving high school in a few short months, when college starts. Never did I think this would be easy, and I was right. It took a lot of time and a lot of work, both inside and outside of school but it was doable. I learned that it's all about time management. I worked every day in class and, depending on how exciting the thing I was working on was, sometimes at home. I didn't slack off and put everything off until the last minute (thank goodness because I would have died trying to get everything one), and was actually done a week before the end of semester, a perfect time to get the final done.
Report on Career
The career that "spoke" to me while researching was the Crime Scene Investigator. For whatever reason, dead bodies are facinating to me (that's not to say that I'm going to go kill a bunch of people just to look at their dead bodies, for course), and I didn't realize that until looking into this career. A breif description of a CSI agent is such: Crime Scene Investigator is responsible for evaluating evidence at the scene of a crime. They secure, package, and label physical evidence for evaluation and analysis. Typical cases a CSI may investigate include, but are not limited to, homicides, sexual assaults, home invasions, armed robbery, and crimes against property. Requirements for CSIs include a four year degree and a minimum of 720 hours of training in crime scene processing, including 80 hours of latent fingerprint processing training and 40 hours each in the areas of photography, death investigations, and interpretation of blood splatter. In addition, certification by the Certification by the International Association for Identification (IAI) and Crime Scene Certification Board is required within 18 months as a forensic examiner. The average yearly salary ranges from $51,000 to $63,000. So while it will take a lot of training, schooling, commitment, and time, it will be worth it all in the end. This career was especially eye opening to me because it is something not many people do. Dead bodies are usually two words that make people run away screaming, but I think it would be the best thing ever to get to learn about them. Determining the time of death, the cause of death, finding years old bodies and returning them to families who have been searching ever since... And of couse, there would be some down sides to the job, like the fact that you have to see people murdered and families torn apart on a daily basis, but someone has to do it. Because of this job, I have decided on a major in forensic science and a minor in criminal justice in school.
For the past eighteen weeks, I have been researching a plethora of different topics, including forensic history, historical battles, and different branches in the United States government. Throughout the course of this research, I have found many things that I enjoy doing and some things that I did not.
One of my favorite things to do during this research was make the timelines. For whatever reason, I have always loved making them. It’s nice to have a map of the beginning of a certain event and an end, everything leading into something else. It’s like having a cause and effect diagram right in front of you, only it’s much easier and more fun to make. The forensic history timeline was my favorite due to the fact that it wasn’t just focusing on one specific area. I enjoy the freedom that I had to look at basically anything I wanted. For instance, the date of the first polygraph test, the first recorded autopsy, and many important Supreme Court cases (Miranda v. Arizona, Frye v. United States) were all included but there were also many other events included. These other occurrences include Marilyn Monroe’s murder/death, the JFK assassination, the supposed moon landing, and the 9/11 attacks, things that I found interesting.
Going along with the previous paragraph, the conspiracy theories were also incredibly enjoyable to research. Up until last year, I was just like everyone else and ignored the conspiracy theories, just thinking that it was something people were making up. However, if you actually take the time to look into the theories, they become more and more real. For example, before a few months ago, there was no doubt in my mind that the moon landing happened. Why would we fake it? Now, however, there is no doubt in my mind that it didn’t happen. The 9/11 attacks I simply brushed off as terrorist attacks. And while it could still be the Al Qaeda group who attacked the United States, it seems like a lesser probability. The arguments people make as to why an event either didn’t happen or it happened differently than was expected actually make more sense than the universally accepted version. And it’s not like people are just making stories up based on nothing. All of the theories I have looked at so far have some sort of proof and/or truth behind them (aside from the theory about the Bush family and the British royal family being aliens).
The current events are something that I have mixed feelings about doing. I thought it was so much fun to read the current events but doing the summary/impact/opinion took quite a while. On the other hand, I see why it was necessary to do so because, had I not, I probably would not have read through the events as carefully and would not have gotten much information out of them. Doing the summary part wasn’t bad but the impact and opinion were less than fun.
Honestly, there is not much that I would change about this assignment. It was basically made to fit what I wanted to study so I can’t really complain. The one thing though that I was absolutely dreading doing was the interview with a recruiter, which, luckily, I didn’t end up having to do. I don’t like talking to people and interviewing him would be really weird and uncomfortable for me. Not only that but I would have had a mental breakdown while doing that, I would have had no idea where to start writing the questions. In addition, the career tracks/salaries are another thing that I was dreading doing, because I had no idea where to even start. Luckily, I ended up finding a website that had all of the information I needed on it because otherwise it would have taken up the majority of my time. And not to mention just how many career tracks you can go into with a criminal justice/forensic science degree. I didn’t expect to have that many options and it was eye opening and also a little intimidating.
Aside from that, the only other thing I would change, but not completely eliminate, was the World War I map. Finding the alliances was obviously easy but the trench lines and troop movement were not. Like, at all. Of course there’s not a map anywhere that have either of those on there so I had to do my best from reading and guessing. However, I can see why it was helpful to find all of those, as it does give you a much better understanding of the war.
As opposed to listing a ton of things that I have learned, I have decided to discuss the more important part of this independent study. The class has given me a slight glimpse into the college life, at what I will have to do when leaving high school in a few short months, when college starts. Never did I think this would be easy, and I was right. It took a lot of time and a lot of work, both inside and outside of school but it was doable. I learned that it's all about time management. I worked every day in class and, depending on how exciting the thing I was working on was, sometimes at home. I didn't slack off and put everything off until the last minute (thank goodness because I would have died trying to get everything one), and was actually done a week before the end of semester, a perfect time to get the final done.
Report on Career
The career that "spoke" to me while researching was the Crime Scene Investigator. For whatever reason, dead bodies are facinating to me (that's not to say that I'm going to go kill a bunch of people just to look at their dead bodies, for course), and I didn't realize that until looking into this career. A breif description of a CSI agent is such: Crime Scene Investigator is responsible for evaluating evidence at the scene of a crime. They secure, package, and label physical evidence for evaluation and analysis. Typical cases a CSI may investigate include, but are not limited to, homicides, sexual assaults, home invasions, armed robbery, and crimes against property. Requirements for CSIs include a four year degree and a minimum of 720 hours of training in crime scene processing, including 80 hours of latent fingerprint processing training and 40 hours each in the areas of photography, death investigations, and interpretation of blood splatter. In addition, certification by the Certification by the International Association for Identification (IAI) and Crime Scene Certification Board is required within 18 months as a forensic examiner. The average yearly salary ranges from $51,000 to $63,000. So while it will take a lot of training, schooling, commitment, and time, it will be worth it all in the end. This career was especially eye opening to me because it is something not many people do. Dead bodies are usually two words that make people run away screaming, but I think it would be the best thing ever to get to learn about them. Determining the time of death, the cause of death, finding years old bodies and returning them to families who have been searching ever since... And of couse, there would be some down sides to the job, like the fact that you have to see people murdered and families torn apart on a daily basis, but someone has to do it. Because of this job, I have decided on a major in forensic science and a minor in criminal justice in school.