Why Scientific Society?

You all must have known that last semester, a science convention was initiated among our department. What impressions emerged within your mind when you heard of it? Another tedious academic dialogue when you’re tormented more than enough by your academic daily routine? A gathering of intimidating seniors who looked permanently glum? An insipid congregation of nerds who all speak some kind of intelligible genius tongue?

If that’s the case, you are making an extremely egregious assumption.

As one of the first members participating in the weekly meetups of MDID Scientific Society, I was astonished by what I gained from those discussions that I thought was too elusive for me. During my first participations, I was reticent in expressing my opinions, like any helpless 7th grader alone with other higher graders. I was inexperienced in conducting punctilious research, insufficient in scrutinizing sources, and deplorable in seizing sophisticated information. It shouldn’t be too difficult to imagine me stammering whenever I had to share my findings, not to mention engrossing in the investigatory discussions.

You see, I’m not exactly the paradigmatic type of a “scientific” person. Science has been one of my secondary-favorite subjects and although I’m not necessarily bad at it, I don’t excel in it either. There was a time when I contemplated why I even participated in the first place and toyed with the idea of quitting. My responsibilities after being elected a class cadre, as well as my gradually arduous studies, only further instigated me to give up. Eventually, I permitted myself to shift my attention to my overwhelming duties, but something felt missing. I didn’t quite realize it at the moment, but now I do: I have always been too ambitious and expectant of myself to be a quitter.

As I deliberately learned to contribute to the meetups, I recognized how much I’ve grown because of the Scientific Society—not just on scientific knowledge, but also things that I could use everywhere else. It augmented my courage to speak up in a setting in which I’m timorous, culminated in my craving pursuit of more learning opportunities, and endowed my perception of correlations between our daily lives and seemingly impractical academics. It turned out that these scientific discussions can be casual, enlightening, and somewhat mesmerizing, and it’s not that terrifying anymore as it may seem in the beginning (really, I promise). Ever since then, I have devoted myself to not only the weekly meetups but also part of its internal affairs, and you would never hear me say that I’m not grateful for my ultimate choice.

Of course, we could do nothing about others’ prejudices on “scientific” people, but why not spare yourself of all these misconceptions? Now more than ever, our team of exceptional executives aspires to bring unprecedented scientific experiences to all MDID students. To enhance the engagement of participants and to extol the notion that science ought to be enjoyable, we endeavor to propose a series of events coordinating with other student-managed bodies of MDID, such as the Student Council and the News Center. These exciting events include G7-9 Meetups, Experiment Workshops, Scholar’s Bowl, Scientific Debate, and more! Here’s the thing: if I must recommend extracurricular activities I genuinely appreciate, the scientific society, along with its upcoming associations, would always be on my list.

The point is, you don’t have to be good at science in order to like it.