By: Morgan JQ
What Am I Doing Here
Before I start commentating, I need to explain what (or who) inspired my title. As I scrolled through past blog posts looking for inspiration, I came across a post whose wise words summed up my experience at SSP thus far: “From the carry to getting carried.” I have never been in a group of people as motivated and as caring and as helpful before in my life, and I am so happy to have found people who are just as excited about physics as I am.
But sadly, being excited does not make you a genius. I swear, these people probably tested into Mensa at age 2. I think I subconsciously thought that I was really smart before: from the moment I saw the “Congratulations” letter on my gmail, I really thought I was some super cool amazing genius person. But, alas, imposter syndrome hath struck. Here I am, feeling utterly useless. However, I hope that by the end of this I can stop getting carried and start carrying once more. 😀
Astrophysics
I have always been interested in Astronomy and space objects, even at a young age. For my 4th or 5th birthday, I got a telescope and I was so excited. But here’s the thing. I live in Brooklyn, NY, one of the most light-polluted cities in the world. So you could imagine my disappointment when I looked through the eyepiece to see a gray, cloudy sky. For some reason, I looked through that telescope every day and every night to see if I would find just one star. But as time went on, I lost more and more hope until I finally gave up on my space dream. That was until the 9th grade. By the way, somewhere in this section will be a picture of ~small~ me so watch out for that.

I remember it so vividly. We were on the field at my school at around 9pm for a stargazing night that my history teacher had set up. It was winter, so the ticks weren’t around yet and we could lie on the grass in peace. Lying on the cold grass looking up at the star-filled sky, I knew that I wanted to explore space. From there, I took all the physics and math classes I could take. And now I’m here! Looking for asteroids with some out-of-this-world peeps. That was a great pun.
Right Ascension Though…
Can I just say: I have been watching countless Youtube videos just trying to figure out HOW TO DRAW A BOWL DIAGRAM. Dr. Hannawald and Dr. Fallscheer are great, but I am struggling TO THE MAX. It is so weird to constantly change my perspective to celestial coordinates and all that jazz. Time is such a personalized thing to us on Earth and we don’t even realize it. We’re all in this bubble, where we live our lives and do our silly little tasks (check the meme). I am in a super existentialist mood right now, so if I come off a bit nihilistic, I apologize. Small side story: when I told my friend that I was doing this program,

she said “You’re basically learning the secrets to the world!” And, as one does when they do not want to brag about themselves, I laughed and said “sure.” But now that I think about it, there is so much perspective on the universe and space that we just ignore and I actually get to learn it here. So I guess I am kind of learning the secrets to the universe. Mic drop 0.0
And With That Said…
Here are some music recommendations from my summer playlist. Enjoy 🙂
- Good Grief – Don Diablo Remix – Bastille
- The Sweet Escape – Gwen Stefani (queen)
- Heads Will Roll – The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- Ocean Drive – Duke Dumont
About Me
Hi! My name is Morgan and I am from Brooklyn, NY. I go to a small boarding school named Ross School, located on the East end of Long Island. When I am not studying, I enjoy learning ASL, listening to music, watching anime (when I can find time), and hanging out with my wonderful friends. I should also add that my favorite color is green, I am a cat person, and that my favorite restaurants are Sag Pizza (if you are ever in Sag Harbor, check it out) and Fogo de Chão, which has the most amazing Brazilian food EVER.