Today, we put into practice the advice that Mr. Self gave us yesterday, to ensure that our final product was as good as can be. Amy finished designing the hang tags, and we dove deeper in the specific markets that we wanted to discuss. We added sections about the Department of Defense, as well as a rating system for the markets/products. This rating system was a 10 point scale that we used to rank products and their markets on viability, lucrativeness, and ease of entry into market. The maternity and newborn wear, as well as the general clothing technology, was ranked highest, while the beekeeping gear and plant netting was ranked lowest. These technologies were ranked the lowest due to the oversaturation of the market in those areas, as well as there not being much of a demand. After working on the presentation for Mr. Self in the morning, we took a lunch break at the Transfer Co food hall.
After returning from our lunch break, we polished up our final presentation for Mr. Self, and got to working on our presentation for CA. Mr. Self met us at 3:30, where we shared our work with him. We discussed how our research and presentation helped the company, and shortly after that, we parted ways. I thoroughly enjoyed my time working with Vector Textiles and Mr. Self, and I hope that our work will be helpful to the company in the future.
Day 3 at Vector Textiles was very similar to day 2. We arrived to HQ Raleigh, and began work on the presentation as soon as everyone got settled. We tightened up what we had worked on the previous day, as well as adding some new things. Amy finished up with the new logo designs as well as the hang tags, and we all agreed that her designs looked much better than the original. We modified our buying personas and made sure that our presentation looked perfect. Around noon, we headed out for a lunch break in downtown Raleigh.
Working on the final presentation at HQ Raleigh.
After lunch, we returned to HQ Raleigh where we met up with Mr. Self. We presented to him the draft of our presentation, and took criticism from him on what we should make better. He gave us advice, and we talked as a team about certain issues, such as what should be written on the hang tags. We went home shortly after we finished discussing and presenting, ready to implement the advice given to us by Mr. Self, which will be our project for tomorrow.
On day two of my time at Vector Textiles, we began wrapping up our work. The day started with a meeting with Mr. Self, where we discussed plans for the last few days of the Work Experience Program. We determined that we needed to make a presentation that catalogued all of our work over the past few days. After our meeting, we got right to work, detailing Vector Textiles’s different products and possible routes to market. We also displayed possible new logos and hang tags, as well as descriptions for each and every product. Included in the presentation was buying personas. After working on the presentation for a while, we took a lunch break at PDQ.
Working on the presentation.
We returned to HQ Raleigh, where we worked on finalizing the presentation until it was time to head home.
My first day at Vector Textiles began with a tour of an entomology lab at NC State. This is important, because our end goal is to work on developing bug resistant clothing. The entomology lab is led by Grayson, a Ph.D. student at NC State who’s main focus is working with insects, specifically mosquitos in this situation. While we were taking the tour around his lab, he showed us the various pieces of equipment that they use, in addition to some of the specimen that they had there. Inside of a specially designed closet, which keeps the environment moist and warm, Greyson showed us the specially designed boxes where they keep the various stages of mosquitos. The box where the adult mosquitos are kept had a cloth opening on the side, where an experimenter could stick their arm in to test the mosquitos.
One of the boxes, with the cloth piece visible.
While it may not seem useful to stick your arm into a box of mosquitos, it is used quite often in this lab. The experimenters here have a special bracket that they can attach to their arm and secure a piece of cloth into, to test the cloths resistance to mosquito bites. This ties in well with the goal of our work experience program, which is to develop bite resistant clothing.
After our tour in the morning, we had lunch with Dr. McElreath and Mr. Self, and then headed back to the office space. We worked on chemical and marketing research until it was time to go home.
My second day with the CFD taught me a lesson that is very important to the fire service – that unexpected events happen, and plans change. Due to an unfortunate incident yesterday, I rode with a fire marshal instead of attending a live burn (training fire). The fire marshal, Michael Tatum, is a veteran of the fire service, and conducts inspections of commercial buildings in the Cary town limits. Some of the types of buildings that he inspects are apartments, pools, businesses, and even the WakeMed hospital in Cary. He checks for violations such as out-of-date fire extinguishers, broken emergency lights, and blocked exits. Depending on the violation, he may write the offender a fine. Other members of the fire department will visit about 30 days later to ensure that the violations have been fixed. The first inspection that we conducted was at a pool. There was nobody there, so we left a notice on the front gate. After the first attempted inspection, Mr. Tatum drove me around his district to show me all of the land he is responsible for. We also drove by the remnants of a high-profile house fire, that destroyed a historic 110 year old farm house, near the border of Wake and Chatham counties.
The remnants of the historic James Madison Williams House.
After visiting the scene of the fire, we went to inspect more buildings. First on the list was a bank. We found no major violations in the bank, although they were storing decorations too close to their breaker box, which can be a fire hazard. After the bank, we inspected a small shop, where we found an expired fire extinguisher as well as multiple broken emergency lights, in addition to objects stored near the breaker box. The shop owner agreed to fix the violations without incident. Our final inspection was at a restaurant, near the shop and the bank. Inside the restaurant, we found that there had been multiple locks attached to the exits, which was a violation of the fire code. The emergency lights in the restaurant also did not function. Similar to the owner before, the manager at the restaurant agreed to rectify the violations without further incident. Finally, we went to a hardware store to check on their sprinkler system, which had been broken and set off a few days earlier. Mr. Tatum determined that the sprinkler system had been fixed, after examining the riser room.
After riding with the fire marshal for a while, I got to experience more of the code enforcement side of the fire department. I spent some time with Mr. Boone, who is the plans examiner for the CFD. He is responsible for reviewing all construction plans for the town, and ensuring that they will meet fire code. He described his job to me as we drove back from lunch, and was kind enough to take me on a tour of the Cary Public Works Operations Center, a hub for all sorts of activities that keep the town running. The large Operations Center is tucked away on James Jackson road, where many people won’t even notice it. Once we returned back to the Fire Administration Building, the incredibly busy Mr. Boone introduced me to his computer software that he uses to review plans, and showed me his process with some plans that he had to review. He detailed certain types of violations, how they impact construction, and how he detects them using his software. Today, I was able to learn all about the fire code and inspection processes, as well as dealing with unexpected events within the fire service.
As I walked through the doors of the Fire Administration Building this morning, I wondered what my Work Experience Program would consist of. But shortly after meeting Captain Scott Benninghoff, an experienced and knowledgeable member of the fire department, I knew that my Work Experience Program would be anything but boring.
Department vehicles parked next to the Fire Administration Building in downtown Cary.
After showing me around the Fire Administration Building, the headquarters for the Cary Fire Department, we got down to business. On the agenda was fire extinguisher training at the John Deere facility on Evans Road. First, we presented a class that discussed different types of fire extinguishers, how to use them, and facts about fires. After we completed the in-class portion, we took the employees from John Deere outside for the hands-on training. We brought a burn pan with us, which is essentially a large pan filled with water that has a propane tank hooked up to it. The propane bubbles up through the water, where we light it on fire with a flare. This creates a controlled flame that is great for practicing. After getting the burn pan set up, each of the employees took turns using the extinguishers and practicing the skills we taught them in class, such as the acronym PASS (Pull, Aim, Squeeze, Sweep). They also used the buddy system, which is a must when tackling fires – you should never go at them alone.
The burn pan, surrounded by some dry chemical that had been expelled from the fire extinguishers.
After the fire extinguisher training, Capt. Benninghoff and I headed to Cary Fire Station 1, the station next to Cary Academy, to take a lunch break. As we finished up our lunches, a call came over the radio for a house fire. We immediately hopped into his department SUV and quickly drove to the scene. On the way to the suspected fire, I operated the SUV’s sirens and lights, keeping Capt. Benninghoff’s hands free, and alerting other drivers to our presence as we drove through red lights and intersections. Although the call turned out to be nothing major, it was still exhilarating to respond to a call “code 3” (using lights and sirens). I thoroughly enjoyed operating the lights and sirens as well.
Capt. Benninghoff’s vehicle at the scene of the possible house fire.
We returned to Station 1, staffed by 1 engine company and 1 ladder company, where I responded to calls for the rest of the day. Our first call was to a vehicle fire near a building, but half way to the scene, we got cancelled as another unit had already beaten us there. After this first call, I assisted with chores around the station, which included rolling hoses and checking SCBA (Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus) equipment. Our second call of the day was to an infant trapped in a locked car. This is an urgent emergency any time of the year, but it is especially urgent during the hot summer and spring months. Unlike the first call, we were the first unit on scene. We parked the engine and got the necessary equipment to perform the rescue. Within minutes of arriving on scene, we were able to unlock the vehicle using specialized tools, and rescued the infant without any injury. The Cary firefighters are so skilled, that there was no damage caused to the vehicle as well. Once we arrived back to the station, we barely had a minute to sit down before our third call of the day came through. The call was for an unconscious person, and just as we arrived on the scene, dispatch informed us that we were cancelled. But just to confirm with the caller that everything was alright, we knocked on the door of the residence. We were able to convince the patient to seek further medical attention after taking blood pressure readings, and we requested a Cary Area EMS unit to come evaluate them. We left shortly after EMS 53 arrived on scene.
The third call to the unconscious person would be the last call of the afternoon. We returned to Station 1, where I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening watching training videos, talking, and eating (Firefighters cook great food) with the crews of the engine and ladder companies. I finished my first day with the CFD after about 13 hours, even though the firefighters had about 11 more hours to go in their shift.
