My Nonprofit Reviews

‘...late to bed, late to rise, makes an SSP-er wise...’ This past summer I had the opportunity to attend The Summer Science Program along with another 35 students, who turned out to be some of the best friends I have ever had. The program’s research project was the determination of an asteroid orbit, and my original goal was to establish a stronger background in mathematics and physics. I attended many lectures and worked long hours at the observatory. My greatest challenge was to ‘translate’ all that I had learned and seen into a computer program, since I had no past programming experience. However, SSP’s ultimate purpose was not to make its students fall in love with science – that was a given. I soon realized that it was the selection of people that made my experience there intellectually engaging. Our conversations ranged from mathematics to rock-climbing, from science to philosophy, and from astronomy to the history of art. Not one day in that course of six weeks went by without being productive and without a great feeling of accomplishment. I have never before worked at such a fast pace for such an extended period of time and felt that happy. It was the social environment, the cooperation, and the resources that made this possible for me.

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