Inspired by the channel on the discord, I shall begin my blog by discussing the question ‘What is SSP?’ SSP is not what I imagined it to be. I envisioned meeting a group of surreally smart people who wouldn’t even need to grind to finish tasks at the speed of light. Of course, all my SSPers are intellectually talented, but we are much more than just that.
SSP is the place where people think gingerbread man runs on a hamster wheel [A] (yes, I made an appendix); where we say “[dye-fraction]” instead of the correct “diffraction”; where coffee = hot chocolate; where participants steal ownership of research files; where we learn that the word 凹凸不平 means uneven; where the electricity in Pakistan can go Poof! whenever it likes; where we have the privilege to witness virtual zoom weddings [B]; where zoom allows us to view nostrils at the best angle [C]; where we mess with our TAs [D]; where we write an entire paragraph for codenames to successfully pick six words in a row…and the list goes on.
In terms of more serious work, we practice speed run figure making, speed run procedure writing, and attempt to watch two lectures a day + finish two parts of the research project + watch lab demo videos by TAs who compete against each other + prepare for guest speakers while trying to handle Kyle’s QODs ;))) which are often quite time-consuming.
And, I may or may not have taken QOD 21 too seriously to actually stalk people on LinkedIn (Jk) do proper calculations.
“What is the average age of all SSP participants and faculty at your campus? If you are a Purdue participant, this refers to 36 participants, 4 TAs, and 3 senior faculty.”
= (36*17 + 24.5*3 + 26 + 50 + 47 + 40)/(36 + 4 + 3)
= 19.7326 (4d.p.)
Which is only 1.48% off the correct answer: 20.0233.
SSP is about to come to an end, but and time has flown by. I’ve grown so much as a person, a scientist, and a thriving 🌱 or 🥕. I feel so stupid to have even contemplated the option of not coming. Even though it messed up my circadian rhythm, made me feel incompetent, took time away from writing college essays and finishing my long-overdue extended essay:
SSP >>>>>>> sleeping at 1AM
SSP >>>>>>> having to struggle with LabX pipetting 🤧
SSP >>>>>>>>> everything other than SSP
As an MBTI personality test certified introvert, I think I’ve talked way too much during this program. Perhaps not during class sessions because I’m too much of a 🐣 but definitely during campus block. Thank you for providing me with this big extended family; this is the best summer I could ever ask for.
Appendixes:
[A]
[B]
[C]
[D]
