Metro State Blog TACII: Chantay

Baby Steps To Good Health

2009-04-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

Wednesday April 29, 2009 we went to Monroe Elementary and Knapp Elementary for the Walking Wednesday Events. It was so much fun! I learned that the kids love to be active, as well as help out. I had kids volunteering to help put up decorations and running around all over the place. The competitiveness between the kids was a beautiful thing too! They were trying to compete against eachother by seeing who could run around the field the most times. The class with the most participants received the wonderful baby shoes trophy with my wonderful slogan, "Baby Steps To Good Health". So what I learned about the kids walking away from this project was, if you provide them the opportunity to be active, they definitely will. Kids like to run around, so as long as we don't hold them back and allow them to be "kids", that is exactly what they will do. Now all we have to do is make sure they leave the candy alone and pick up an apple!

Monroe & Knapp

2009-04-28T22:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, April 27, 2009 I went to Monroe and Knapp Elementary Schools with Felipe. Visiting with the administration in the schools in order to get flyers printed was a good thing. It allowed me to see how cooperative the schools are in helping out. Once we got done speaking with the schools we walked the neighborhoods to deliver flyers. This was a great experience because it enabled me to see how receptive the parents in these neighborhoods are, regardless of the communication barrier. They were glad to see that we were encouraging their kids to walk to school. Tomorrow will definitely be an adventure playing with the kids after they walk to school. I can't wait to see the turnout from the flyers that were sent home. And you know me, of course I'll have pics to share tomorrow!

Live WEll Colorado Challenge

2009-04-10T17:27:00.000-07:00

Today April 10, 2009 the Apprentice Challengers received our 4th and final project. This project was given to us by Live WEll Colorado, partnered by Live WEll Westwood, The Colorado Health Foundation, and Kaiser Permanente. The ultimate goal of this project is to prevent obesity. By the year 2017 2/3 of adults will be overweight or obese so we must start young. Our focus will be on the children in the zip code of 80219, which is the Westwood area. By preventing obesity health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, strokes, depression and breast and colon cancer could be prevented. It is now the teams opportunity to advertise the benefits of good health, promote awareness, and educate young children, as well as their parents. Let's end this EPIDEMIC and get started team!

All Most to the Finish Line

2009-04-03T13:36:00.001-07:00

Today, April 3, 2009, the apprentice challengers presented our strategic marketing plan to the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority. Since I was up until 2:30am finalizing things for today, I was definitely tired. However, 9:00am hit and for this team lead the adrenaline started flowing! I think the biggest challenge in this project was thoroughly researching the demographics in order to determine how to efficiently market to a specific area. Through this project I definitely learned ACCOUNTABILITY! It is easy to think you are spending a certain amount of money when in fact you are spending twice as much, believe me I do it myself. Everyone needs to take responsibility for their actions, not feel embarrassed or ashamed, as well as step up to the plate in terms of correcting issues, such as budget. It must communicated to everyone that it is never too late to seek help in preventing foreclosure and that no one person is alone in a foreclosure struggle. I learned that we must take control of the situation when dealing with foreclosure because your lender does not owe you anything and "YOU are the Key to YOUR Success." Everyone did a great job. To all of my team if you are reading this, FANTASTIC JOB and I can't wait for the next one!

Foreclosure Fair

2009-03-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

On March 13, 2009 the team went to the foreclosure fair in the city of Arvada. There was not a big turnout, but a few people came. As far as the team goes, we basked in the amount of information that we were able to obtain! This fair was definitely worth the team going to. We gained contacts that we would not have been able to obtain. We met after the fair and got our big idea for this challenge to take shape. Speaking of taking shape, I better get going to this meeting for tonight so we can get even further!

End of Project 2

2009-03-12T19:10:00.001-07:00

Today the three ladies made the finishing touches on the E-Waste Eco-Rally project. Tomorrow is presentation day! It was definitely a harder project than I thought. I learned that making your vision that you may have of something come true, is definitley hard. Tomorrow we will be able to exhibit just how hard it was and what we did to overcome the obstacles that were thrown in our path. Better start getting ready because 8:00am or 6:00am that I have to be up at, comes way too quick!

CHFA

2009-03-08T12:02:00.000-07:00

On Friday March 6, 2009 we got our 3rd project presented to us. The Colordao Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) has given us a challenge to reach out to the city of Parker Colorado. Zip codes 80134 and 80138 represent a high number of households that recently received a notice of foreclosure filings, also known as Notice of Election and Demand (NED), but also have a low call rate to the Foreclosure Hotline. It is now our duty to create a Request for Proposal (RFP) in an effective and efficient manner that demonstrates our ability to reach borrowers in the city of Parker who may want assistance with contacting and negotiating with their lender. It's time to get started. Let's save some homes!

E-Waste Eco-Rally

2009-03-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

Saturday March 7, 2009 at 6:00am the rush was on! The E-Waste Eco-Rally sponsored by Comcast was a big hit! The event was not supposed to start until 7:00am and we had cars lining up at 6:15am. I was hustling and bustling trying to get our entertainment and education aspect of the rally together for the early birds. It was rough at first, but I finally got my vision to work. There were so many people who wanted to be environmentally friendly by recycling their electronics that we had to start turning people away at about 10:00 am. But not to worry, Waste Management is allowing people to come by their site on 48th and Colorado this Monday-Friday to drop off more electronics, which is also free of charge!

Project II

2009-02-26T17:24:00.000-08:00

The Triple Threat is still working on the E-Waste Eco-Rally project. We will be in charge of education, entertainment and the social media aspect of recycling electronics for the better of the environment. I must say that it had a slow start, but it is starting to come together. Which I guess it should be at this point since we only have a week left...OMG! I guess I better get off here and get ready to conference. We gotta iron out the rest of the details for 2morrow so we can take care of business and get this ball really rollin'! The Triple Threat can't wait to see you at Southwest Plaza on March 7, 2009 @ 7:00am so you can recycle your electronics that no longer work or that you don't want!

Bday!

2009-02-26T16:42:00.000-08:00

February 19, 2009 was my 28th birthday. I went to a club downtown and of course I had to have some of my favorite people kick it with me! I had a blast! It took me all of Friday to get over my "Blast"! You know, you go past your limit and say that you will never get that drunk again...and then the next birthday gets here!!! Woo Whoo just can't wait for the 29th :( !

Go Green!

2009-02-15T17:32:00.000-08:00

On Friday February 13, 2009 I got to meet my sponsors for the next challenge. Comcast is sponsoring an e-waste eco-rally, as well as Waste Management and LG. I learned more information about what wastes that are distributed into the earth than I ever knew, like mercury and lead from trashing t.v.'s and other electronics. Instead of throwing away t.v.'s and other electronics into our landfills, we must properly recycle them and keep our water and earth clean. Now me, Rachael and Jeannine also known as, The Triple Threat, get to rally up some volunteers and create accounts on Facebook and Twitter to advertise the launch of the recycle rally on March 7, 2009. For those of you reading this you know you want to visit our sites, just visit www.twitter.com/E_Cycle and www.facebook.com/apprenticechicas (Don't you want our waters to look like this?! :) )

2009-02-09T20:21:00.001-08:00

Monday, February 9, 2009

1 Down 3 To Go
The first project is now complete! I had a really good time coming up with ideas to help increase the donations of food and helping to implement plans and food drives to help make the Metro State Food Bank an even better organization. Working as one big group was definitely a learning experience! Working as one team allowed me to analyze everyone's strengths and weaknesses instead of just a few people that would have been on my separate team. We definitely had our difficult times, but I always tried to stay focus and keep in mind that we are " One Team One Mission"!
Posted by chantay at 8:06 PM 0 comments
Labels: One Team One Mission
Friday, January 30, 2009

"D" Day
Today is January 30, 2009 which translates into "D" Day for project #1. I am so excited, but nervous all at the same time. Anyone else ever had that feeling? :( This food bank experience has been quite an unexpected experience, but a good one. This project has taught me that even though something may seem small or simple that is not always the case. Food bank's have a lot more to accomplish on a day to day basis, not to mention hourly basis, if they want to truely succeed and grow to be a large organization. I learned from the lovely Olive at The Food Bank of the Rockies that things like keeping a record of how much product comes into the food bank and actually how much leaves the food bank is essential. This doesn't just mean food though, it also means that the amount that is thrown away including trash has to be accounted for in order for the #'s to come out correctly, if not your costs will always be off. These types of tasks take a lot of man power and time. I see why they need volunteers now! They can't do it all themselves! I sure wouldn't want to, it's a lot of work!!! Despite all the running around and lifting heavy items (I sure did get my workout on!) it was a fun experience and I met a lot of really great people. Thank you to everyone involved in this project for allowing me to have this opportunity.
Posted by chantay at 4:52 AM 0 comments
Labels: Nervous
Saturday, January 17, 2009

Apprentice Challenge Kickoff
Yesterday, January 16, 2009 was the 2nd annual Apprentice Challenge @Metro. State kickoff event! The apprentice team got to meet and greet with the sponsors of the apprentice challenge, as well as get to know some alumni and directors. Not to mention we got to share this occassion with our mentors. I didn't actually realize exactly how many individuals put their time and investments into the challenge. It really made me feel special! I greatly appreciated all of the time and effort all the participants put into making this a wonderful night for me, as well as all of the other team members. Thank you to all!
Posted by chantay at 2:34 PM 0 comments
Labels: Time To Challenge

Food Bank of the Rockies
On January 15, 2009 I volunteered at the Food Bank of the Rockies. This experience was a lot different than what I expected. I thought it was going to be a lot of standing around and waiting for people to come by and get a plate of food. On the contrary, we were very busy and when I say we I mean WE! Everyone had something to do at all times. The volunteers got their instructions and then we were on a mission! This food bank was not focused on individual people, but on agencies who order in bulk. Due to this factor, I got to extend my help in a big warehouse. They had everything from cereal to macaroni, from water to gatorade, and refrigerated and freezered items. The kind of work that I had to do with pallets and dolleys made me have a whole new apprecation for the work that is done on an everyday basis by the employees.
Posted by chantay at 1:57 PM 0 comments
Labels: Go Food Drive GO
Thursday, December 25, 2008

YES!!!
You know this experience with the apprentice is giving me my first chance at blogging and I'm liking it already! I am SO excited because today is the day that I leave for Miami where I will be getting on a cruise to the Bahamas!!! Of course I waited until the last minute to pack so now I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I guess it is a good thing that I waited until the last minute though because as excited as I have been I would have been a wreck trying to prepare too early. This means I should probably get off of the computer and finish my packing process, huh? For those of you reading this, don't worry I'll have pictures later :)TTFN!P.S. MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!
Posted by chantay at 6:57 AM 0 comments
Labels: Excited
Monday, December 15, 2008

Channel 4
A lot more goes into t.v. than meets the eye! On Friday December 12, 2008 I went to Channel 4 News downtown and it was such an awsome experience. I got to take a tour and meet some of the master minds behind the scenes. Multi-tasking is definitely what keeps the news HAPPENING! The "Heartbeat" listens to a multitude of channels on packsets and determines what needs to be acted on. The heartbeat then sends information to the "Brain" and then we get to see what's happening all around Colorado. At least that's the simplified version!
Posted by chantay at 5:55 PM 0 comments
Labels: Lights Camera Action

My Bio

2008-12-10T09:03:00.000-08:00

First and last name:

Chantay Banks

Hometown:

Denver, CO

Major(s):

Criminal Justice

Favorite class:

Crime Scene Investigation

Background:

I was born and raised in Denver and Aurora. I graduated from Gateway High School and attended Metropolitan State College of Denver for 1 year. I took a break from college and then returned in 2006. After obtaining a career as a Correctional Officer, I decided to change my major from biology to criminal justice. I have now been promoted to Sergeant. I have grown to love criminal justice, and have always loved science and mysteries, so I decided to combine those passions into one field, which is a crime scene investigation. I will be graduating next year with a major in criminal justice and a minor in criminalistics. My future endeavor is to apply my degree and experience to becoming a special agent on the Evidence Response Team with the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

Favorite quote:

“If you fall, get back up”. –Unknown

Why I am excited about being part of “The Apprentice Challenge @ Metro State”:

I am excited about being a part of the “Apprentice Challenge @ Metro State” because it will allow me to show my versatility and hardworking nature. It will also allow me to network with a variety of people and learn how to be a more efficient communicator. This challenge will enable me to learn how people with different outlooks other than mine solve issues.

Why I should win "The Apprentice Challenge @ Metro State":

I should win the “Apprentice Challenge @ Metro State” because I have what it takes to be a leader. Leadership is not what most people think it is. Most people think that leadership is always about being the head of the group, always having the best ideas and having the ability to persuade people into what you believe in. This is true; however, there is more to it than that. Leadership is also about the ability to sit back and let other people around you speak their ideas and learn from them as well. Leaders need to be able to listen to what they have taught and to make sure that their ideas and teachings have been well listened to and learned. I have the ability to teach, listen, watch, and learn, which are all qualities of a winner.