Pictures above show me relocating the flower bouquets to the cars for delivery.
For my first job shadow, I chose to ask the local florist if I could assist on Valentine’s Day. I chose to shadow this job because I’ve always loved flowers and thought it would be interesting to learn more about them.
Flowers can be bold, pretty, smell good, and many other flattering things, but believe me there are blood, sweat, and tears put into your valentines. Flowers are commonly used for apologies, holidays, romance, prom, and even funerals. There are numerous occasions you may need or require plants.
You wouldn’t think being a florist would be hard, but it can be. To be a florist, you need to have creativity, you may have to work quickly and have patience. Having creativity helps with coming up with new ideas for your next design. You’ll want many designs for people to choose from and should often switch up their options. Sometimes you need to be quick on the job. During my job shadow, I had to deliver tons of flowers. This required me to be quick. Sometimes you have to make things that need to be exact and precise, and you may need to take your time putting it together. When arriving to my job shadow, I immediately jumped right into work.
First Lucinda Wood showed me how to make a corsage. Corsages take time and can be tricky. When making a corsage you have to tape the end of the small stem that's left from being cut and connect it to a band or a bracelet. Then you can start adding more flowers, ribbons, jewels etc. The next thing I learned was to put together a bouquet. Putting together a bouquet can be fun because you get to use your imagination to put together a beautiful combination using color, smell, size, and etc. After helping with a few bouquets, my next task was to help deliver everyone's goodies. I started organizing flowers from inside the cooling room to the boxes we stocked in the back seat. We delivered all over town and even slightly on the outskirts of town. The best part about delivering everyone flowers was seeing their reactions when receiving their gifts. Delivering flowers wrapped up my day as a florist. I was really happy with my job shadow choice and had an amazing time working with them. This would definitely be a good backup career for me.
Hairdresser
In the pictures above I got to mix special chemicals in order to create a sliver hair dye, I cut wax strips, and organized and logged all of the tanning time cards.
After my second job shadow I feel positive that becoming a hairdresser is what I want to do with my life. I got to meet and laugh with all kinds of new people. I really enjoyed this job shadow because it was almost everything I thought it would be.
As soon as I arrived to Auburn Salons I was put to work. The owner had me fill out the last week of tanning cards and after this I had to organize them in alphabetical order for their filing cabinet. After filling out all of those cards she had me watch as she gave mens cuts, then came lunch break. After lunch I got to mix silver hair dye for one of her clients, I watched as her hair went from blonde to silver. I also got to watch another stylist give a lady a perm. Towards the end of the day I had the responsibility of cutting out a bunch of wax strips.
Career Report
For some time now, I have been thinking a lot about what I plan to do with my life after high school. I plan on entering the cosmetology program, earning my license and becoming a hairstylist. My oldest sister owns her own salon in California. My sister’s love for her job has inspired me and moved me to pursue the same profession. Career Cruising lists verbal ability as one of my strongest strengths. I feel that this is a very good skill to have concerning this job. It is important to be able to communicate with your clients. My bubbly and energetic personality will be good for this job, and I think that I will find it to suit me well. After researching many cosmetology schools, I realized I would be spending nearly $6,000 for an eight month program and $10,000 for a two- year program for college. Another option I have is finding a formal apprentice program. In order to reach these expectations, I would need my high school diploma or GED. I looked at a couple of choices here in Kansas and found that most academies and beauty schools offer these programs. I plan on enrolling and finishing beauty school around the Wichita area. This career choice can be expensive, therefore I plan on applying for as many scholarships and grants as possible. The average hairstylist’s annual salary usually starts out at around $26,460 not including tips. Cosmetologists start out making $12.72 per hour here in Kansas. The average annual salary of a cosmetologist in Kansas is only $21,690, California $41,518, New York $34,620, and $35,000 in Ohio. My goal has always been to move closer to the ocean. I strive to be able to continue my career in Orange County, California.
Reflective Essay
Life is Beautiful Almost all my life I have been facing challenges, large and small. Who knew you could be so happy, but so broken down at the same time. I think the biggest challenge I ever faced was the night my parental unit received a call from an unknown number. Sarena left me surrounded by friends at the party they were throwing for the adults to go answer the phone. When she came back out and asked me to come inside with her, I had never in the world thought this would be about my father. That night my dad was found deceased in his own home. When she had me sit down and told me, I had no reaction, I didn’t cry at first, instead I just sat there on the corner of her bed. Blank faced and with holding so many questions, I sat there and watched my thirty-eight year old cousin cry with sorrow until finally my other family and friends reached out to hug me. That was when the first tear ran down my cheek. I’ll remember this moment for the rest of my life. My dad was a amazing guy but wasn’t quite an amazing father. He never took me on as his responsibility. I remember getting blood work done constantly at a young age just so the courts could prove he’s my dad. Although he called me throughout this time and wrote me letters signing “Dad,” he never wanted to claim me legally. He hurt me in many mental ways, and I thought I would never forgive him, until this day.
This was my biggest challenge in life because I always wanted what other kids had, and I always had hope that things would turn around. He either lived hours away, wasn't reaching out to anyone in the family, or going down a bad path. Path after path that is. One half of my family made him sound like the worst guy in the world, and the other half made him sound like nothing less than a champion. The decision of how I felt about him and his death was tearing me apart, stressing me to the max and did nothing but make me wonder more and more everyday. This man who wasn’t even halfway there my whole life suddenly became not such a bad guy after all because although there were bad memories, there were good ones too. I had to decide to pick either the good memories or the bad to remember him by. My family pushed me to pick the good memories, but I went a different route. I decided for myself to remember all of his personalities - the good, the bad, and the best. My dad was a brave man, honorable in fact. Many people respected him on many different levels. Sure, he was obviously not a family guy, but as an individual, he was remarkable. He had many jobs and occupations, but my favorite was how he trained daily for his boxing career. I still have newspaper articles with his name in it “trash talking,” his components. My dad took a lot of pride in boxing and had made sure it would play a huge part in his life everyday.
At the end of the day, Donald Frank Prock Jr. is and always will be my idol. His mental and physical strength is admirable, and I hope to inherit those traits in order to make me more successful after high school. Those are skills I need to continue in my life. Overall the biggest challenge wasn’t my dad passing, but was me growing and learning to understand and learning how to love him even when he put me through absolute hell. Rest in peace dad, the Prock name will live on.