Blog 14: Independent Component 1

Content: 

LITERAL

(a) Statement saying: “I, Vincent Zepeda affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”

(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component

"Cake Boss" by Buddy Valastro really helped me with my independent component because it helped me evaluate what factor pertain to his success in making a mass amount of profit as a cake decorator in today's economy along with customer relationship. It also helped give me ideas of experiments that I could try out in my mentorship to identify what is most important in a small business. 

(c) Provide a digital spreadsheet (aka log of the 30 hours).   Post it next to your mentorship log.

( its under "Links")

(d) Explanation of what you completed.  
Throughout my independent I helped out with decorating a lot of cakes and designing quite a few on paper. I also helped with attending customers and sitting in on consultations my mentor had with her clients. I also started looking into what materials where put into making the cake and how much it cost, then i estimated how much it could be priced according to the articles I had read. I also helped arrange cakes into a great presentation layout for customers to admire.

INTERPRETIVE

Defend your work and explain how the significant parts of your component and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.

In the beginning of my Independent Component I just started doing basic stuff like Practicing piping and molding fondant. After I got my solid Essential Question I started focusing more on how the bakery that I attend, tends to their customers. I  also did some experiments by comparing our regular standard cupcake to our gourmet cupcakes, was that the cupcakes that had a theme or some type of design were priced more than the plain ones. In the end I noticed that the cupcakes that looked like there was more effort put into them (gourmet) sold more than those that had no design. I also noticed that when a small child would walk by and see them they would ask their parents and what I found was that these cupcakes were mainly aimed to a younger customer base.  I also helped design some cakes, that are displayed below and I helped decorate them a bit. At times I had to be by the register and speak with customers and focus on prices of products.