Day 17

Today was the final day of Senior Project. The past three weeks went by a lot quicker than I had expected them to. I spent today day editing photos. I also spent a lot of the day writing my self-evaluation. I still have a little more work to do to set up my presentation for tomorrow, but it is almost complete.

Day 16

I spent Monday editing some photos. I still have more photos to edit for Dan and for my presentation. Going into the final day of Senior Project I have two hours left. Tomorrow I may try to get off campus. If I don't get off campus I'm just going to spend more time editing.

Week 3 Reflection

Week three was a pretty good week in terms of work. Though it didn’t go quite as I had planned, I still was able to get a lot done. I got a lot of my editing done towards the beginning of the week. I had a lot of pictures Franconia Notch that needed editing. I was hoping to get the chance to go to Pinkham Notch as well, but I never got the chance to do that. I was able to get off campus though towards the end of the week. Both Thursday and Friday I went to Mount Sunapee. On Thursday I took some photos of the mountain. I also got pictures of the lodges at the base of the mountain as well as the chairlifts. I also went on a little hunt for a house that Dan had told me he wanted a photo of. I wasn’t able to find it on Thursday though, so I went back on Friday. I had no luck on Friday either though. I took more photos Friday, and then did more editing. Boys Varsity Tennis also had out final match on Wednesday against Brewster. We won, completing our undefeated championship season. Then, on Saturday we headed to New Hampton for a friendly Lakes Region Tournament. We didn’t have full availability of all of our top players though so we were not so successful there. Luckily, it was an independent tournament, so it did not effect our season.

Day 15

I headed back to Sunapee to try to take more photos today. I continued my search for the house Dan requested photos of. Unfortunately, I had no luck. I also continued my editing today. I am beginning to put together a slideshow of my photos. I am also hoping to get the chance to get off campus at least one final time on either Monday or Tuesday.

Day 14

I finally got to leave campus again today. I didn't have enough time to go to Pinkham Notch though. Instead, I went to Mount Sunapee. Dan asked me to take some photos of the signs there, as well as the mountain. Along with the signs, I also took pictures of the mountain. I photographed the lodges, some of the trails, and one of the chairlifts. There was also a house Dan wanted me to photograph, but I wasn't able to find it so I am going to go look for it again tomorrow.

Day 13

I continued my editing today, and my pictures are looking good. I am hoping to head to Pinkham Notch tomorrow. It'll be a good chance to add to my collection of photos and also go to a place where I haven't been before. Today we had our final match of the season against Brewster. I played doubles, and as usual, I wasn't able to pull off the win. The rest of the team played well though, and we finished our season undefeated.

Day 12

Although today didn't go quite as I had planned, it was still pretty productive. I was planning on getting of campus to go to Pinkham Notch, but I didn't end up doing that. I was in the car on my way, but I realized that I didn't have enough time. By the time I got to Pinkham Notch I would have had to come back. Instead, I came back to campus and continued editing my photos from Franconia Notch. I am planning on continuing my editing tomorrow, and I also have my final tennis match tomorrow. On Thursday my plan is to get off campus earlier so I can make sure I have time to go to Pinkham Notch.

Day 11

I spent most of the day today editing photos. I have a lot of photos from my trip to Franconia Notch that need editing. I plan on getting off campus more in the next couple days. My next destination will most likely be Pinkham Notch. I am planning on going there tomorrow. I am also going to talk to Dan to find out where else he would like me to go to take photos.

Week 2 Reflection

This week went by a lot quicker than last week. It was also a lot more eventful. It started off with continuing my research for Dan. He also gave me some new songs to find the lyrics to. Towards the end of the week I finally got to head off campus to take some photos. It was also a big week for Boys Varsity Tennis.

On Thursday I got the chance to find my way off campus. I first went to Franconia Notch and spent some time hiking there and taking a lot of photos. Franconia Notch is a really nice area. The notch itself is a super cool sight, and there is also a cool stream with lots of little water falls that were a lot of fun to take photos of. Dan also had me go to Cannon Mountain to take photos of the signs and the mountain. After Cannon I went to the New England Ski Museum, but it was closed so I just took some photos of the surrounding area.

Boys Varsity Tennis had some big wins this week. On Monday we played Cardigan. Cardigan is usually a pretty strong team. This year they luckily were not as strong. We were able to beat them without much of a struggle. Our match against New Hampton however, was not so easy. It was an extremely tight match. After all of the singles matches were completed the match was tied at 3-3. In order to win we needed to win two of our three doubles matches. Pierre and Lucas pulled out a pretty quick win, but Matt Slick and I were not so lucky. It all came down to Luke’s and Ale’s match. At the beginning it didn't look like the outcome was going to be in our favor, but somehow, after lots of struggling, Luke and Ale were able to rally and pull out the win, putting us in first place in the Lakes Region.

Day 10

I spent a good portion of day 10 on a plane. I headed to Wisconsin for my sisters graduation. I was still able to spend some time editing my photos from day 9 though. I did most of my editing on the plane, but also got a little free time to work a little more in the hotel. I still have plenty more editing to do though.

Day 9

On day 9 I got the chance to leave campus. I first travelled to Franconia Notch. I spent a good amount of time taking photos in and around the notch. Dan also asked me to go to Cannon Mountain and take some photos there. After that I went to the New England Ski Museum. Unfortunately, it was closed. I did take some photos of its surroundings though. It was nice to finally get off campus for the day.

Day 8

Today was a great day to be a Hornet. The Boys Varsity Tennis team travelled to New Hampton for a huge match. Before the match New Hampton was the only other undefeated team in the Lakes Region. After the match it was a different story. It was a nail biter. It came down to Ale's and Luke's doubles match, and in the beginning it didn't seem like they could pull it off. Somehow the came back though. It was the most stressful, but also the most exciting moment of my Proctor tennis career.

Day 7

Today wasn't too different from the past couple days. I spent more time doing research. I am hoping to get off campus in the next couple days. We had a big practice today for tennis to prepare for our match tomorrow. Tomorrow's match is possibly our biggest match of the season. We're playing New Hampton. They are the only other undefeated team, and if we beat them we will be in pretty good standings for the rest of the season. We are currently tied for first with them, but with a win we will be the only undefeated team, making us the top team in the Lakes Region.

Day 6

Today was a pretty relaxing day. I woke up leisurely and continued my research. Dan updated the list of song lyrics he wanted me to find. Boys Varsity Tennis also travelled to Cardigan today for a big match. I did not play as well as I had hoped and had an unsuccessful match. Luckily, the rest of our team played better than I did and we pulled off a win, keeping us undefeated. I plan on meeting with Dan later on in the week to give a little variety to the work that I am doing.

Week 1 Review

The first week of senior project is over and while it was fun, it was much more difficult than I expected it to be. I was excited to be done with classes and have a lot of free time. However, I did not take into account the fact that all my free time was going to be a test of how good I really am at managing my time. The first day was a good example of this. I met with Dan for thirty minutes on Monday, but other than that I had not really planned any set times to work on my project. I really just did work whenever I felt like it. I quickly figured out that this was not a good way of going about things though. Though I got the necessary amount of work done for that day, I found myself feeling a little bit rushed late Monday night. After that I decided to set certain periods of time aside in order to complete my work. Tuesday was a much more organized day. I set aside two periods of time of a little over an hour each so I could complete my necessary work. I used that time to learn a little bit about the history of action sports, specifically the X Games. The X Games have been a key factor in the growth of action sports. It broadcasts the worlds top action sports athletes showing off their skills and pushing themselves in competitions. Dan also gave me a long list of songs which he wanted me to find the lyrics to. This was not as easy of a task as it might seem, because some of the songs have covers by other artists, and I also had to make sure the lyrics were completely correct and from a reliable source. Wednesday consisted of more research for Dan, and was organized in a pretty similar way. He asked me to find a little bit about the growth of extreme skiing and snowboarding during the 1980s and how the youth of that time supported the growth of the two activities. Some of the biggest causes for the growth was the quickly advancing technology on skis and snowboards as well as media. Thursday and Friday were more of the same. Thursday I did some research about the Warren Miller and Tri Star video agreement as well as the first bombing of the World Trade Center. Thursday was also a big day for the Boys Varsity Tennis team. We travelled to KUA and won, giving them their only loss so far this season. Friday consisted of more research, specifically about the video store industry, and MTV and CNN behind the Iron Curtain. In total this week I accumulated 13 hours of work on my project.

Day 5

Today wasn't too different from the past couple days. I did more research for Dan about the video store industry. I learned about MTV and CNN behind the Iron Curtain. I also searched for more song lyrics for him to use to open each chapter of his book. Other than that I didn't do much else today. We were given the day off from tennis practice after our big win over KUA yesterday. That win put us in the #1 spot in the Lakes Region.

Day 4

Today was pretty similar to the past couple days. I continued my research for Dan. I learned a little bit about the first bombing of the World Trade Center, as well as the Warren Miller and Tri Star Video agreement. Warren Miller was a filmmaker who focused mainly on extreme skiing and snowboarding. His films were a big part of Dan's career. Dan skied in twelve of Warren Miller's films. These films were a big part of his career.

Day 3

Today was pretty similar to the past couple days. I continued my research for Dan. I learned a little bit about the growth of snowboarding and extreme skiing during the 1980s. Specifically, I learned a little about the trends in youth culture that supported the growth. I also did some research on the history of the video store industry. I learned about its peak and when chain retailers such as Blockbuster took over. It's interesting to gain new understanding about these things and understand how they helped shape Dan's career.

Day 2

Today was a pretty productive day. I did more research for Dan and found some interesting stuff. I learned a little bit about the history of the X Games. The first summer X Games took place in Newport, Rhode Island. The first winter X Games was held in Stowe, Vermont. These two events both began in 1995. Dan also had me find the lyrics from a bunch of songs. He wants to use lyrics from some of the songs to open each chapter of his book. I plan on continuing my research in the next couple days.

Day 1

Today was an informative first day. I first met with my mentor, Dan Egan. We went over our schedule for the next few weeks and talked about some of the things that I am going to help him with for his book. He gave me some topics to research for him this week, including the history of the video industry and extreme and action sports as well as other things that shaped his career.. After our meeting I began doing some of the research. I learned a bit about the Yugoslavian civil war from my research. That was what my first day consisted of.