One More Week

This week in ISM, I had a mentor visit at UT Southwestern, finalized my presentation slides for FPN, and gave another mock speech. During my mentor visit, my mentor and I gathered all the parts of my Final Product, and I was able to finally take both my prosthetic legs home. We discussed some details for Final Presentation Night, so that my mentor would have a better idea of what to expect during this event. My mentor also gave me some feedback about my presentation, which helped me plan out the timings of various slides and verify some of the information I wasn't sure about. Then, I learned about the two methods used to pull a plastic socket: drape and blister. By using the drape method, a seam is formed at the back of the prosthetic socket, while the blister method is fully seamless. This difference occurs as the result of using two different pieces of plastic, because the drape method uses a rectangular plastic sheet, while the blister method uses a thicker, circular plastic sheet with a small protruding plastic piece in the center. Therefore, this circular sheet creates a large bubble shape when heated in the oven, allowing you to fully cover the plaster model without leaving a seam in the end. Also this week, we had a dress rehearsal for FPN at school, so I was able to practice my auditorium statement and run through my speech in my actual classroom. As I practiced my speech, a fellow ISM classmate offered suggestions for improvement, so I feel more prepared about my content and movement. This upcoming week, I'll finish last-minute preparation for FPN and continue practicing my speech, so that I'm completely ready for Friday!