It’s All Coming Together

By: Sri S

The Prologue

“Summer Science Program.” I’d like to say this wasn’t my fault, but it seems like I was the only victim here. SSP entered my world when I was 13, when I received word from the all-knowing upperclassmen that it was this super cool astrophysics program where you meet cool people and do cool astronomy things. I was effectively excited and prepared to maybe, hopefully, possibly go do it myself. I bided my time, patiently waiting until junior year to apply. I might’ve bided too much time, because among other applications and, well, school, I was left with a week to complete my entire application. Finals week. (This is what I get for attending a school with trimesters. Along with 3 midterms and 3 finals each year. I see no upside.) A few hours before the application is due, I tell myself I am ready to submit it. I try a few times, but I can’t bring myself to press the button. I take my laptop to my little sister, who encounters no hesitation before submitting it for me. I take a minute to collect myself and try to return to living normally in the meantime.

Oh, what was I a victim of, you ask? Well, admissions decisions were released on a fine Friday evening, as I prepared to log on to Terraria. I received a notification on my phone, took a minute to glance at it, and went back to waiting for my world to load. A minute later, my brain caught up. “Summer Science Program” was SSP! Not another college spam email. It was SSP. The email I had been waiting for since I was a mere freshman. (Yeah, this reads like it’s my fault. But I needed to tell someone.) I screamed; my mom thought I had gotten hurt, my sister thought my game data had been erased when my world loaded, and I thought this was a dream. As it turns out, I was, in fact, conscious, and thus began my wait for the commencement of SSP.

 

The In-Between

Much of the time between my acceptance and the first day of SSP was uneventful, but I did get the chance to become familiar with the people who would be doing SSP right along with me. Through Discord and Zoom meetings, we began to get to know each other, often finding out how much we have in common and clicking together perfectly. The week prior to July 20th, the first day, we were informed of the required software for the program. I downloaded Stellarium, DS9, and AstroImageJ, and found that Stellarium was easily the only one I could guess how to use. I began to familiarize myself with the night sky, and settled in for the ride.

 

July 20, 2021 to July 15, 2021 (in PST)

I entered SSP thinking I was ready for the challenge. I was accepted, so I should be able to do the program just fine, right? Well, that idea was most definitely tested. We started off running, forming our teams with a soup themed puzzle, and subsequently getting to work on our asteroid proposal. I’ll admit it was quite daunting. A system was quickly established, with a clear schedule and regular psets.

As time passed we all grew closer together. Not just us new ONL SSPers, but the TAs and faculty too. Thank you to Kim, Alan, Mason, and ZP for being the best TAs and helping us with everything we need, while making sure we have fun, and a special thank you to Ms. M, Dr. F, and Dr. H for organizing everything so well, teaching us all we need to know, and answering all of our questions. I feel that’s one of the most valuable things I’ve gained from SSP. Not only have I learned a ton about physics, astronomy, and programming and been able to apply this new knowledge, but I’ve also been able to meet all sorts of extraordinary people, and make new friends. 

 

July 16, 2021 (PST)

This morning began as many of mine do, waking up to stuff a piece of french toast in my mouth and make a cup of coffee before joining LB1. Today, we attended a guest lecture by Dr. Tracy Drain, who discussed her background and work with Juno, as well as what systems engineers do and the future of Jupiter’s exploration.

Key takeaway from today: Jupiter is gorgeous

Surprisingly enough, I can now contextualize this information, and subsequently be amazed by it.

Dr. Drain left a special impact on me, as her manner of speaking and honest life story left me with a sense that I could go on and follow in similar footsteps. 

We then moved onto the social block, where we were given the opportunity to debate various significant controversies, such as: pancakes vs waffles, cats vs dogs, and who would win in a fight between Alan and Mason. One of my favorite arguments was from Kim regarding why cats are superior: “I like cats because I can just drop them whenever.”

After half an hour of intense debating and a break, we returned for LB2 with SWRI. While it wasn’t named after me, the Southwest Research Institute introduced us to a pretty cool program: Swift, which we would be using to look into the future of our asteroids. Almost like a crystal ball for them. It takes a few hours, so my computer will be best friends with this program for the next few days.

The W is even smaller than the others. It’s so close.

Workplay block was largely work today, punctuated by both Sunny and Daisy playing Oxygen too loudly, after I revealed to them that it was an actual song. During our mandatory fun, many of us played diep.io for the first time in years, bringing back nostalgic memories of trying to get upgrades during a social studies lecture in middle school. Most of the time, I was trying to put my OD code together. The pieces are already there, what’s left to do is to put them together, and form the working code, one of the main goals of the program. The fact that I’m working on it now only reminds me of how short the program felt.

The talent show is tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to the acts. When the program began, the talent show felt like something so distant, but it seems to have rushed up to me in an instant. I chose to sing, something I’m more used to doing in front of people I don’t know than ones I do. But, I’m overjoyed to have a talented and supportive accompanist (thank you Sunny), as well as an encouraging audience. The finishing touches are being performed as I write this, reminding me once again, that there is only a week left of SSP.

 

Finale

SSP has been a wild ride. It has definitely been one of the best experiences of my life, and I adore everyone I’ve met here. The air of everyone helping each other up has been an honest wonder, and I am here for it. It’s unbelievable that the OD project is due next week and the program will be over, but I’m looking forward to submitting a finished report. Writing this post has only reminded me of the approaching end of SSP, but I’ve had so much fun and learned so many new things, I know I’ll be looking back at it fondly very soon.

About Me

Hi!! I’m Sri, a rising senior from the Bay Area (California). I love math, programming, and science, and I also play violin. In my free time, I like to do cybersecurity and skate around town. I love listening to different types of music and talking to people, so let me know if you have any recommendations <3