Between my sophomore and junior year of high school (Summer 1998), I
participated in the Summer Science Program in Ojai, California.
The program consists of a six-week curriculum in which students learn
the tools needed in order to determine the orbit of an asteroid based
on observations with a telescope. It is extremely intense, with
lectures six hours each day and late nights at the observatory.
At the end of the six weeks, students walk away with a great sense of
accomplishment and a new set of skills, as well as a lot of new friends.
During the summer of 2006, I returned to SSP, this time as a Teaching
Assistant. Back in 2003, SSP opened a second campus in Socorro,
New Mexico, which is where I worked and lived for seven weeks. The
students were pretty hilarious. They liked to spend their time testing
each others knowledge of riddles and logic puzzles and playing Texas
hold-em. Several of them frquently woke up at the crack of dawn in
order to go play DDR in the gym. I guess they need their exercise in
order to stay well-balanced.
When
the program ended, it was really sad to see everyone return home, but
it was also wonderful to see how much they had grown. Although the
experience is meant to be academic in nature, most of the students end
up walking away with a much greater sense of social awakening and
interactions with other highly motivated students. It is such a
worthwhile experience that I am returning as a TA again in the summer
of 2007!
The goofy class of 2006!
My
time at SSP as a student was definitely memorable. In fact, it was
probably the most significant experience of my high school life, even
above going to Germany. I definitely learned a lot academically, but
it was definitely a huge social awakening as well.
Now, as a
TA, I find myself on the other side of the table, not really knowing
how I fit in to the whole picture. I find myself on somewhat middle
ground between our senior faculty and the students...
