Senior Projects

I will be working with Mr. Rochat at McCarthy, Leonard & Kaemmerer, L.C. in different areas of law and will be getting to experience different kinds of work that happens in the law practice. I would like to learn how the different parts of a law firm function and experience that for myself, with the end goal of being certain of which kind of law I would like to work with in the future. Hopefully, I get to experience the medical field as well, a career that I’ve wanted to go into before deciding on law. 

The goal of this project is to explore different areas of business and management to figure out what I want to major in and possibly a job that I will enjoy for the rest of my life. Each is a different type of management which will give me some ideas to compare and contrast different options for major.

For the first tow weeks I will be in school. Then I will shadow three people: Lisa, Urban Buds, and Jeremy Duren. I will be in the school first half of the day as well as running track at 3:40.

• Lisa is a Senior Center Coordinator. She oversees daily operations, meals, transportation, and planning at the Macklind International Senior Center and interacts with the participants who attend each day. I would help her around with her daily tasks and requests as well as help other elderly people at the center.

• Urban Buds are farmer-florists who provide flowers to businesses and for all occasions. My job would range from sowing and planting to weeding, mulching, harvesting, and processing flowers.

• Jeremy Duren is a Media Minister. He is in charge of the media department which includes overlooking and taking care of online audio and video; Recording audio and video of regular church services and special events as well as editing recordings of services and other special preservation.

Looking forward to meet all of the people and get to know them and their job better 🙂 !!!!

My senior project includes shadowing the VP of Business Development for life to gain a deep understanding of strategic operations and decision-making. By observing the VP role, I aim to understand industry dynamics, market trends, and corporate strategy. Through this experience, I seek to enhance My understanding of business development principles, improving analytical skills and cultivating professional relationships.(8 hours per week, every Monday and Wednesday.)

For the rest of the 22 hours per week, I plan to take some finance, accounting courses at St.Charles community college, and perform virtual investment on my own.

For the first six weeks, I will be working on a project with a mentor as an intern with the company Mr.Phillips works with (Omni Federal). I will be working on one of their ODIN applications that creates maps locating battle damage in war torn areas. For the last one and half weeks, I will either be working with Mrs. Larson on property management or working with Mr. Sudden on air traffic control.

For my senior projects, I will be shadowing two attorneys who specialize in different areas of law. Mr. Miller focuses on corporate law, assisting businesses, providing counsel on financial matters, and overseeing marketing deals. I’ll be shadowing him in his office, gaining insights into his daily tasks and operations in his department. For the last four weeks, I’ll be working with Mrs. Kirk who specializes in juvenile law, advocating for children in troubled environments or involved in legal issues. She collaborates with social workers to assess the safety of juveniles’ homes and devise strategies for them. My role will involve observing her advocacy efforts and courtroom preparation techniques.

During my senior project, I am going to experience different industries that I am interested in like real estate, business ownership, architecture, and air traffic control. I wanted to gain exposure to as many different industries as possible in the time that I have. Weeks 1/2 involve exploring Spain’s culture and architecture, including visits to Granada and Toledo. Weeks 3, 4, 5, and 6 I will be doing real estate analysis and business mentorship with professionals like Mr. Moscicke, Mr. Weintz, and Mr./Mrs. Salem-pon. In Week 7, I will have the unique opportunity to learn about air traffic control, with a backup plan involving property management with Mrs. Larson. Week 8 I will be doing business mentorship with Mr. Weintz again.

I will be working in real estate with US Properties. While they can give me work for eight weeks this time is flexible, so if either of the two organizations that have not yet responded have openings I may be able to work there too towards the end. The two organizations I am waiting to hear back from are the Missouri Historical Society (specifically the soldier’s memorial branch) and the APA, which is an animal shelter. I hope to gain experience in a work environment. While I do not plan to go into real estate as a career, I feel that the experience that this opportunity will provide will extend beyond the scope of real estate. The historical society would give me valuable experience working in an environment similar to a museum. I plan to work at the Chicago art museum during my freshman year of college. With the APA, I hope to give back to my community in a meaningful way. The end of my schedule is pretty flexible, as US Properties is able to give me work, but is also keeping things open in case anything else comes up. I will create a slide show detailing my experience. This slide show will include pictures from my time working with US Properties and summaries of what I did week to week. I will also give advice for anyone interested in working in a similar environment and more general advice on what to do and what not to do when working on a senior project.

You probably think that I am really productive and organized since I am posting this on Thursday night, when it’s due Monday, and while I wish this was the case, it is unfortunately not. I am posting this tonight because if I don’t I may forget it on my MASSIVE to-do list. I am very excited for my senior project and excited to not be spending eight hours a day at school for the first time in seventeen years!

Anyways, I plan to shadow and volunteer with several companies that include: The Missouri Historical Society and History Museum, The St. Louis Art Museum (SLAM), Shakespeare St. Louis, May’s Place Vintage, Agape Help House in Pacific, Refresh Resale, and Larry Hughes Basketball Academy (LHBA). At the Missouri History Museum I will primarily be working with kids, touring school groups, interacting with guests in the exhibits, checking people in, and greeting. If I get to work at the Historical Society, I will also help guests do archival and research work, which the nerd in me (What, Ella no way your such a popular jock type!) is incredibly excited about! SLAM is tentative since they haven’t followed up to my follow up email, but if it does workout I will be greeting people and giving tours. There is also a possibility that I will get to work with Dr. Maggie Crossland, who has curated her own exhibit on global art at SLAM, but she is also teaching classes at WashU so this may not pan out. I will be spending two weeks with Shakespeare St. Louis working with Hannah who helped our middle school produce their version of Macbeth. I am super excited for this one because I will be getting to work with a school group and give them feedback on their production and I am great at being a harsh critic (just kidding, I will be constructive not mean). I got all three of these contacts from Mrs. Bryan and they are really great because they are areas I may want to pursue after college (if Hollywood doesn’t work out). The thrift stores and vintage store will have me help them organize clothes, greet customers, ring customers up, and answer phones. There is also a possibility that I will get to go with Katie May, owner of May’s Place, on one of her vintage sourcing trips, which I am really stoked about! I have gone to Agape since I was a little kid and my whole family personally know all the ladies who work there. I found out about May’s Place from Instagram and thought they sounded super cool. And we have volunteered in the past at Refresh and had really good experiences. Finally, at LHBA I will be working with kids and teams, helping with drills, training sessions, and practices, set up and clean up, answering phones, and greeting customers. I got this contact from former employee and former assistant basketball coach at TFS Chelsea Freymuth, she worked there for years and absolutely loved it and I have also attended training sessions and camps there and had a blast.

My goals for the project are to learn about professional and academic areas that I may pursue after college like history, art history, english, political science, theater and film studies. I am really passionate about these areas and also want to show people how fun these academic subjects can be. I chose the thrift stores and vintage stores because I love thrifting, vintage, and fashion. I also think it would be cool to own my own vintage store, sell vintage, or make style bundles for people as a side hustle or a full time career, but it definitely takes a lot more work than people think and I am excited to see the behind the scenes aspects of it. Finally, at LHBA I want to learn about not only the dynamic and physical side of coaching and training, but also the business side of it. I also just think it sounds really fun to possibly have a career where you are basically payed to play and teach basketball to kids all day. I am super excited about my project and think it will be an overall MOST EXCELLENT and a totally NON BOGUS experience!

I accidentaly made this one way too small. oops! This is where the external conflict starts to show.

This week in Kansas City, I am shadowing CSI partner and location manager, Phil Potter and General Manager, Josh Bennett. They are both really cool guys that have been fun to hang out with. With Phil, I have watched as he delegates work throughout the different departments as well as oversees the operations throughout the company. I have also been able to travel to different job sites and observed a site survey for an upcoming installation. The Kansas City location for CSI is run a bit differently from the other branches and has the freedom to experiment and try different methods to solving the same problems.

With Josh, I have watched his daily tasks and searched for parts around the warehouse to send to the manufacturer under warranty. Below are a few pictures I took from the job sites.