Writing: Heather
Photography: Maddie and Emily
Sundays, as the only days without anything explicitly scheduled, are the days where participants can choose to do with the day as they see fit. However, this Sunday was overtaken with the competitive nature of several participants here on Campus. At 1:00 pm, there was a watch party for the Soccer Euro finals in Foster Hall. This is a huge competition between all of the national teams in Europe. The game today was between Spain and England. While SSP Participant Maddie commented “the game was pretty tame”, other SSP participant Ian proclaimed that, “things got pretty crazy in the last 3 minutes of the game, with Spain taking the lead and winning the game after a long tied score.”
The team of England had a rally of support from many of the kids here on campus. In fact, SSP participant Jinu stated that he felt infuriated by the other participants cheering for Spain. But more interestingly, Maddie felt compelled to cheer for England to support fellow SSP participant, Charlie, who is a local to London. She stated, “I probably wouldn’t have cheered for them if he wasn’t there.”
Charlie was absolutely devastated by the loss for his home country, explaining his emotions toward the subject as gutted. However, he also stated that he had the support of his friends, Jinu and Max, to get him through this deeply troubling time.
An Anonymous participant stated that the friendly rivalry between the three programs here at NMSU became even more heated in light of the game. Many of the kids of Astro 2 and Genomics cheered for Spain, while Astro 1 was left to defend their status as England supporters.
While this is a huge event for some, many of the participants are not inclined to sport activities, so you can find them working on problem sets in the computer lab. With Astronomy 3 due the next day, and an Orbit Determination code due the day after, the lab was a bustle of light bulb worthy ideas and barely concealed panic. Many of the participants did not have the chance to work the day before, on Saturday, because it was College and Career day. All day, there were speeches from different colleges and other well renowned scientists, sharing their experiences with all three programs. That marked the mid-point in the program, meaning SSP NMSU has officially moved into its second half.
From here, participants will learn more, work more, and finally start to move towards their final project of the program. As for Astro 1, that means starting to create their final codes for orbit determination, which is clear in the shift from paper problem sets to coding ones.
However, towards the end of the day, many of the participants were able to finish their Astronomy 3 Problem set, meaning they did not have to worry about rushing to complete it tomorrow, when there would be two lectures, a research meeting, and a dorm meeting. With the hard work done for the day, participants moved to the classroom, where movie night was taking place. Along with snacks and drinks, participants enjoyed the movie Contact.
Participant Avantika noted that the stars of the show were the popsicles and ice cream given out. When asked if she enjoyed the live action or cartoon movies better, Other participant Emily stated that she thinks there is a time and a place for each, and she was glad tonight’s choice was a live action. She also stated she thought this movie was a worse version of interstellar. Other participant, Kevin, wholeheartedly agreed with Emily.
I must admit, while these events were recounted with the air of a spectator, I was not at the soccer event, nor the movie. Instead, I opted to finish Astronomy, Coding, and this writing piece in order to get ahead for the week. Staying on a good sleep schedule here is no joke. And though I can’t say I’m a role model in that department, getting ahead on assignments will give me the chance to do so.
My name is Heather Schwartz, and I am a rising senior from Seneca Valley Senior High School in Harmony, Pennsylvania. I love astronomy, coding, listening to music, and hanging out with friends, especially the ones I have made here at SSP. I am so grateful for the chance to learn from the professors and have this educational experience. It has truly been life changing!
