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Delia Acedo

Senior Defense

11, March 2018

Problem Solving

My first ever IDP was based on teen pregnancy, and how it affects our community. This

IDP was assigned during the second semester of my freshman year which fell on the 2016 spring

semester. The project required my group and I to work collaboratively with our assigned groups

and answer what and how teen pregnancy affects our community. In addition to the research that

had to be made, my group and I were also responsible for communicating our topic into a

pamphlet that will allow our community to have more information about teen pregnancy. This

IDP demonstrated that I am able to solve problems because of many reasons. An issue in the

project was that I did not know how teenage pregnancy affected my community or how it could

possibly affect me. After doing my research, I found that teen pregnancy can cause poverty rates

to increase in the city of Huntington Park. Research shows that in the city of Huntington Park

people are affected more by poverty than anything else as 2 out of every 3 teen moms will live in

poverty.

The title of this second IDP is, “ Lead Toxicity in the Community.” This IDP was

assigned throughout the whole 2017- 2018 school year, where I was a junior year. This year

long, research experiment did not ask for the usual research and presentation. The Lead Toxicity

IDP required my group and me to take samples of soil from our own homes to test them for lead.

After gathering our data, we used the scientific method to determine whether or not the levels of

lead in our community affected the growth of the plant or not. Once all our information was
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complete, we had to find an action plan to share our findings with our community and raise

awareness in regards the living conditions we are in. Being that this IDP was a lot different from

those of the ones we are used to, it was difficult to wrap our heads around. I found the idea of

testing our own community’s soil and proving the effect lead toxicity has had on our community.

After deeper investigation, I was able to comprehend and elaborate on the importance of lead the

city of Huntington Park was exposed to. The residue affects people as they are forced to live with

contaminated water, soil and air that can be the cause of illnesses like respiratory issues, brain

development and blood pressure.

During both IDPs, I have met all four student learning outcomes. The SLO I know I

worked on and have improved the most are effective collaborator and active citizen. During my

first IDP, I had to be able to interview people who have been affected by teen pregnancy. In

order to obtain quality interviews I had to ask the right questions and analyze the responses to

ensure that I condensed both interviews to properly convey the message I desired. I was also an

effective communicator as during my 2017-2018 IDP as I had to sit down with my group and

express the importance of presenting to our local city council. This leads to the third reason

showing how I was able to be an effective communicator. I had the opportunity to present to the

Huntington Park City Council with data that my group and I have gathered through our research.

Despite the presentation I was able to score a 4 on both of my IDPs which shows how much of

an effective communicator I was during both of my IDP groups. Not only was I an effective

communicator, but an active citizen as well. I showed to be an active citizen by interviewing

people who have been through teen pregnancy and share their story to our school to show some

personal anecdotes of actual people who have lived through the issues. I was also an active
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citizen by promoting free lead blood testing when doing my 2017-2018 IDP. I also proved to

have been an active citizen by presenting crucial lead contamination data to my city officials

who can then inform my neighbors. By doing this, I was able to speak of hundreds of people who

live in the city of Huntington Park and show that this is an issue that should be treated with

immense importance.

When comparing the two projects, not much has changed because I was always a

mediocre presenter. I did, however, feel myself improve my communication skills. I talk to

people around me and my group mates much better than I did then. I have also been able to

improve my leadership and communication skills. I am now able to delegate tasks much easier

and have stern conversations with people when necessary, which I was not really able to do back

then. I am also able to make wiser decisions. I have always been horrible at making decisions,

but as I continue to do more presentations, I usually know what works and what doesn’t. I still

need to improve on my dominant tendencies. I am usually the one to take charge in a group and

sometimes I have to take a step back and let others lead or determine whether an idea is good or

not because I don’t know everything and sometimes someone’s opinion may lead us to the better

grade. The skills I have learned from my IDP experiences will benefit me far more than in

school. It is because of these series of communication and experiences that have allowed me to

grow as a person and not just a student. I have also been able to create friendships while having

them work for me in regards to the project.

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Freshman IDP - Teen Pregnancy

Junior IDP - Lead Toxicity