San Diego Update

As you may know, the 4-H mapping group is out in San Diego presenting their project. They wanted to share their experiences with us so here are some more of their stories...

I think our first presentation really helped our group to realize that practice really can help.  When we first arrived we weren’t really sure how to organize our presentation.  We spent most of our time during the first few days preparing and practicing.  Before we actually presented we were able to watch Mr. Ray, Sarah, Miguel, and Geovanny do their presentation on Equipo GIS, which was just another great example of how our presentation should go.  Although we were all a little nervous, I think each of us did great for our first time at the ESRI conference.  After we were done, there was a man from northern Nashville who presented on emergency shelters in his area.  Once everyone was done presenting, we spent the remaining time talking to the people who were in the audience.  All of the compliments were great encouragement for our group.  We can only get better with more practice, and I know we will be ready for our next presentation.

Vivian McCarter

The Raleigh and Fuquay GIS teams just came back from the ESRI Map Gallery. We were all presenters in the five hour event.   Throughout our presentations we met some very interesting people. One man who stuck out to me worked for ESRI, who was from Canada. Another man lived in South Carolina and his wife worked in the nutrition field, which caused him to be intrigued with our NEMS project. As we were packing up to leave, we met the former governor of Wyoming. Not only do I think this specific event was a great experience for us all, but the whole trip has been beneficial. I would like to thank Advocates for Health in Action for supporting us in our efforts and enabling us to learn valuable life skills.

Trent Williams

What a day! We awoke and began to get ready for the day’s activities. I brushed my teeth and put on my white 4-H shirt and some khaki Capri shorts and we walked to Starbucks. I actually got something that I liked, a cold Chai tea and an apple fritter. We were running a little late so Thomas knocked on the glass window to let us know that we had to get moving to go to the plenary session at the ESRI building. As soon as I walked In, I had a feeling it would be boring but when two foreign men began to talk about virtual city maps, I sat up straight and listened. It’s definitely something I would like to do in my mapping group. After a while it was time for our lunch break. We discussed where we should have lunch. Sarah, the girls chaperone offered to go to the mall but we had eaten there yesterday so it was a no go. We finally decided on Sammy’s, a nice pizza place. The walk there was kind of peaceful because the day was so nice and sunny. We ate some really good pizza. At lunch I had an unexpected wake up call, I had forgotten our gallery presentations were today! I didn’t panic though; I’m tired of getting nervous for presentations. I decided not to worry about it and we returned to the plenary session. This time unlike the first time, we sat in the back where a lady with a purple shirt kept glaring at us. I didn’t introduce myself! I was so relieved when I heard we were leaving for the gallery presentations. We were split into three groups. The first was Vivian and Trent,  second was Miguel by himself, and the third was Rashawn, Anthony and I. I loved how we got to introduce and talk to new random people. For example, I met a lady named Laeta. She was really nice and thought our presentation was cool and she gave amazing feedback. It really helped me be less shy for my presentations. Later my group walked around checking out other countries maps. Laeta actually had her own presentation but she never told us what she worked on. The countries maps were really good and big. My feet were aching but I was glad I tried my best at the gallery. Also I got to talk to my family for a while! I’m having so much fun and learning so many new things but I’m getting homesick. I really hope it goes away so I can enjoy my trip some more.

Nusly Poala Carbajal

Well to start off my day, we went to Starbucks and I ordered a lemon cake and mocha with extra whip cream. Then we went to the plenary session, “BORING”. Right before the break was the award presentations. The assistant fire chief of Texas did a really cool presentation about how to plan to put out a fire put from three miles away. After that we had a short break before we had to go back to the plenary session. We left that to go and set up for our map gallery presentation. We couldn’t get in early to set up because we didn’t have the right sticker. So we had to wait for Mrs. Ester to come and let us in with her. So we had all but three minutes to set up so before people started coming in, so we had to hurry and finish setting up. The map gallery was five hours long. A few minutes before we left we met the former governor of Wyoming. He served as governor from 1994-2003. After that we came back to the hotel and had a discussion about what we did today and now I’m writing my blog.

Anthony Williams

Today was an overall good day. It started off by walking up to Starbucks and gigging with Anthony. From there things went right in many ways. We were all happy and somewhat confident about today. In the convention center I was surprised at the way they had the scenery set up and the presentation in general. I learned a lot in the presentations about what’s to come in the future for GIS. After that it was lunch time, everyone was scrambling to get to the restaurant of their choice. Pizza was the theme of today and it was a great overall decision.  Sooner than later lunch was over and it was time to go so we all quickly packed up and took off. We rapidly ran back to the convention center to beat the big time rush. I was flabbergasted because of all of the folks that had showed up. Running up stairs to get our presentation ready was a pain because of the people, but things worked out anyway. While cleaning up I got to meet the governor of Wyoming, Jim Guringer. He was a nice guy and had some funny jokes that went great with is colorful personality. I think that today was a great day and a great learning experience.