Friday, July 19th, 2024.
The end of SSP always felt like something far off in the future. We had all gotten used to the idea that
we had a long way to go. This often happens with big, highly anticipated moments. They seldom feel real
before they actually begin happening.
Today was a major glimpse into the prospect of SSP ending. The basis for the research project, the
collection of data in the lab, ended today. Whatever numbers we got in our IC50 and continuous assays
would mark how far we got with the project. The day had both a frantic and celebratory air. We raced to
get our experiments set up, and we worked incessantly until the cutoff in the late afternoon.
Then it was all over. I remember vividly pouring out the stock of reaction buffer—which we’d been using
on a daily basis throughout the program—into the sink. It felt wrong. Something told me that that was a
ridiculous thing to do. We’d need it tomorrow…or wait, no. That was it. There was no turning back—or,
rather, continuing.
We packed up our belongings, put away lab equipment, and cleaned the lab. Then we left, for good,
heading over to Lindley Hall for our last “TA talk” of the program. The TA talks are meant (at least I’ve
been told) to be an opportunity for the TAs to act as professors of sorts, presenting their undergraduate
research. I’ve also been told (through the grapevine?) that this year’s TA talks were the least serious in
SSP history. Our TAs are a funny quartet, and we laughed for the hour straight.
The rest of the day was par for the course, though the spectre of the research paper due Sunday night
loomed overhead.
