One of my favorite parts of SSP

While we’re at the lab or lecture we all seem like normal teenagers trying our best to get things done, with plenty of hiccups along the way that make us seem appropriately competent for our age. Plenty of us struggle to stay awake in morning lectures, many make silly mistakes in lab that ruin entire trials, but we get by and manage to get what we need. This makes it surprisingly easy to lose perspective on the level of the things that we do here and just how special the participants here are. All of us are here because we have a surprising skill level for our age in some way, and just about anyone you meet here will have done some really impressive things already, from earning thousands in music scholarships, to already having done cancer research, to working in hospitals as a part time job. It was awesome one day during lecture to realize that everyone in that room, as normal as they looked all just taking notes or listening, was a truly impressive person, that they each represent some of the best of an entire community, the cream of the crop, and that they’re all here and I get to just hang out and work with them for weeks straight.I love that SSP affords me the opportunity to meet with such awesome people every day. It is so enriching to see them all just be their silly little selves and work right alongside them, it is truly one of my favorite parts of being here. None of the lab work, lectures or assignments would be the same if they were with different people, so I’m extremely grateful for them. That’s all my gushing about my classmates for the day, I hope this was a fun read!