Junior Camper Highlights

From the moment she joined the program, Iligai has been an incredible person to work with and has consistently made every session engaging and meaningful. She is always asking thoughtful questions to deepen her understanding and reinforce her learning. Her enthusiasm for discovering new concepts and willingness to learn is truly extremely valuable and inspirational.

Sami brings such a positive attitude to the program and is truly a radiant light to everyone around her. She is never afraid to try new things, explore new ideas, and embrace every opportunity to learn. Her strong values and passion for the things she cares about make her a really inspiring person who not only continues to grow herself but also has so much to teach and share with others.

Cherry stands out for asking the most thoughtful and deep questions that spark discussions and encourage others to think more deeply. She is confident sharing her ideas, creating an environment where everyone feels more engaged. Her encouragement and support for the other students, as well as everyone around her, make her a really compassionate and strong leader. 

Sesina (or Sisi) has been such a joy to get to know, mentor, and encourage. She's so open to talking to new people and making sure that they feel comfortable. She's really sweet to the people around her and also brings so much bliss to camp that makes us really live in the moment. It's such a joy to see how she's been able to network with people in the topics that she's interested in, like Maya from the Koch Institute of Cancer Research, and learn about new interests like neuroscience.

At the start of camp, Sabina was rather quiet and only spoke to a handful of people. Although she had questions, she was nervous to ask them. As the camp went on, she gained confidence in speaking up and asking questions to the people around her and networking with the people she got to meet. She's been super kind to all the teaching fellows and always puts on a brave face in situations where others are scared.

Throughout the X-STEAM program, Nathan was always able to use his widespread knowledge to dig deeper into workshops and tours. He never fails to raise his hand for a question and is always enthusiastic to meet new people. He ended up creating an amazing research question about cancer research, which allowed him to shine further with many thoughtful ideas as to how cancer could be further mitigated.

Kris has been an amazing contributor to the group throughout the X-STEAM program, offering numerous questions and ideas that make everyone around him think for a moment. He was able to use his skills to learn more about his primary interest, that being psychology, using his thoughtfulness to create an elaborate research question.

Adil has been continuously showing his passion throughout the program through his thoughtful questions and meaningful group work. During all of the JTS workshops and group activities, he always provided his team with many solid ideas and had visible curiosity whenever he was exploring the many companies that we visited. His research in nuclear engineering was impressive and showed the many skills he picked up throughout the camp.