SSP has overall been a really amazing albeit challenging experience. They genuinely make sure that no one can be bored with the content. Yesterday was a really interesting day as we got into matrices and the applications of the idea of the celestial sphere. My group also got to observe our asteroid, 1972 XA, in the observatory for the first night. I have never had an experience like this one in which everything we do supports one another so that we can actually do science. While we do have lecture for 6 hours, being on the college campus allows us to be outside and take breaks from the depth and complexity of the content we are absorbing.
This program has genuinely been an adjustment due to the constant workload and the difficulty of the problem sets. However, it really encourages collaboration in this way and the environment is not competitive at all. Everyone really genuinely works for a group understanding whether that be on problem sets or in lessons in class. Also, everyone here is so nice and it genuinely is a really beautiful community. Like I genuinely feel as though I have know these people for years because we spend so much time together. It’s really amazing seeing the depth of understanding that so many of my peers have of concepts and it continually motivates me to be better. So while this program is exceedingly difficult, it’s so beyond worth it for the fact that we are just learning to learn.
-Clayryss
