SSP CUB 2024 Blog

Pushing limits, embracing growth: My experience at SSP

Today, I woke up at approximately 7:30 AM, and took a quick shower.
After that, I went to the C4C (Center 4 Community) to grab my
breakfast. I grabbed some pizza, a salad, and a cup of coffee.

Dr D. explained Integral Calculus today, and in the process of doing
so, he made a statement that I pretty much think I would never forget.
“If you’re not struggling, then you’re not learning. If you take a course
that is easy to you, then you’re not learning because perhaps you
already knew the materials all along the way. (Dr. D, 6/19/2024 ). And
I think this statement just came in at around the right time because I
was struggling with the extremely fast pace at which stuff are
explained, as I was exposed to topics that are totally new to me. It
definitely made me feel so much better about myself, and I don’t think
I will forget this statement for the rest of my life because I believe it will
hold true for many of the situations that I face in my life.

We also went for a hike today which was pretty exciting because this
is our first field trip. The views were just nothing short of amazing.

We had so much fun today and it literally came at the perfect time to
kind of relieve the pressure from learning a lot of things.

Ok, so in this next section, I’ll get into the nitty gritties of my personal
experience in SSP so far. (This part is for the prospective applicants or
anyone who already got admitted and is binge-reading blogs because
they’re so excited for the program [literally me 10 days ago]).

Back at school, I was used to being the top academically. I was used
to being the one who explains difficult ideas to others, not the
opposite. I was used to being the one who aces all tests and never
suffers to understand any concept. I was used to being the only one
who self-studied 4 APs in one year. Pretty basically, what I’m trying to
say is that I was used to having that sense of extreme confidence, or
overconfidence, I would like to call it. I got to that point where I
believed there was no more room for improvement, and I simply can’t
improve anymore because almost everyone around me was.

However, I came here , and in the course of 4 days, this sense of
academic superiority has disappeared. I’m now surrounded by some
extremely motivated colleagues, each with their own strengths. With
everyone being ever so special I pretty much felt that I’m average, and
what I considered to be something no one’s ever done, is ,in fact,
quite attainable.

Another thing that highly influenced my experience at SSP so far was
the social aspect. I would say I’m quite on the introverted side of the
spectrum. I never start conversations other than explaining stuff to
others in school, and I’m usually only hanging out with my very close
friends. Here in SSP, some of the key aspects are effective
communication and collaboration (put a hundred red lines under the
latter). So I realized that living in my bubble won’t just work anymore,
both academically and non-academically. And while you might get
what I mean by academically, you might not get the non-academic
side to it. So basically, you’re supposed to have your breakfast, lunch
and dinner with your SSP colleagues. In all of those three, you’re
supposed to have conversations with other people with you at the
table (otherwise it’d be awkward), especially the dinners. And
honestly, I was never the kind of person to kind of walk out there and
have three meals a day with new people and kind of have
conversations with them, and obviously I felt this was not going in my
favor. Literally, just being talked to would make me a little nervous
because I’m just not used to being in a totally new environment and
talk with new people. I was just not good at it. By now, I’d say I have
grown quite a bit from the social aspect (obviously there is much much
more room for improvement). Now I am able to have conversations
with quite some people without feeling weird about it. I believe that in
just the course of days, SSP forced my growth from the Social
perspective. It’s not all rote learning after all, there is a lot of emphasis
on the social aspect as well.

Ok, so I’m putting in so many details into this blog, because in 30, 40,
or even 50 years, I’ll be able to look back at what I’ve written here and
just feel proud of what I was and what I’ve become.

All in all, up to now, SSP was not only a summer science program, but
also a summer social program, a summer maturation program, and a
summer application (applying science you learn!) program.

Looking forward to the next couple of weeks, although I’m kind of sad
that a whole week has already passed. I guess, however, that all good
things have come to an end and I’ll probably have to accept that
sooner or later. I’ll just try to enjoy these moments as they last, and
hopefully find out what the stars are holding for us in the next couple
of weeks ❦

About me:

Hey guys, my name is Hazem and I go to Dar Jana International School in Jeddah, Saudi
Arabia. I love playing soccer, bowling, and ping-pong with my friends. Honestly, SSP is kind of
building a new me, I feel like I might not recognize my new self because of the magnitude of
improvement across the social, academic, and personality aspects. And as always I’ll keep on
aiming for the stars and only the stars ❦