So I am just going to write. Because SSP was not what I expected, and because words can rarely capture all that they are expected to. Eric, this is called stream of consciousness, a defining technique of the Modernist movement. I like it because it lets me ramble.

Anyways. This morning, I woke up with the dim realization that this was our last full day of SSP. I then proceeded to sleep through my alarm (as usual) before somehow sensing that I should reawaken (as usual), and sort of gently falling sideways out of my very high bed to stumble to the bathroom (as usual). I had expected to wake up fully feeling the gravity of this Last Full Day, but even now I am surprised by how … normal … the day feels. Mayhaps evidence that we have really developed some sort of lived-in routine and rhythm to our days here at SSP.

Before CHAS, Della, Sehyun, Eric, and I went on our first last Leaps Coffee run. I tried chia seed pudding for the first time, and we just talked. All I could think about was how wonderfully normal and safe it felt, like we had been and could continue doing these coffee runs for weeks, maybe years. As someone who deeply treasures this feeling of long-term stability and these solid but understated friendships, that means a lot. In terms of actual events happening today, we actually have a lot of down time to finish some last surveys, wrap up report revisions and data records, and pack. For now though, everyone has been pretty mellow, likely all experiencing their own thoughts and feelings regarding today and reflecting on their own individual SSP experience. For me, this constant awareness that I am just one of 36 people, each of us with our own stories, experiences, perspectives, and ways of processing the world, has been the biggest takeaway and gift from SSP. It is what I will miss most, and it is also what I will remember most when I think back on this summer.

I will also remember parking garage shenanigans, late night talking, late night ramen (thank you Alina, Xuan, and Brian) and the impromptu Open House photoshoot. I will remember romanticizing report writing and studying in au bon pain, then walking with Shelby through the horticulture garden as we passionately agreed on how mid Starbucks strawberry acai refreshers are (sorry Sehyun <3). Armory lectures, MOEing MOEments , late lab nights (spotlight on Assignment 2 and Dr. Wu’s organic chemistry lecture), and the best dinner conversations with Dr. Das. A heart-to-heart with Dr. Hall, jamming to the La La Land soundtrack with Jamilla at 10 PM in CHAS, teasing the Fearsome Four, “SOOOO TOUGH,” “THAT’S DIRRRRTY,” “THAT’S CRAAYYYZY” … dozing off on bus rides, Von’s, boba runs, Turkey Run hiking, that afternoon meal at Chinese BBQ … and of course the talent show, where I fulfilled my dual dreams of performing “You Belong With Me” and poetry in front of an actual audience (thank you, Nathan, for your ~beautiful~ poem, and for writing and performing with me).

There are countless other moments I cannot remember yet, and just listing the ones above has made me realize how impossible it is to capture everything that is SSP. Yet it was Dr. Hall’s final lecture during the Evening Program, then my last glimpses of MOE when the inhibitor design competition winners were announced, that finally drove me to tears. I guess I hadn’t realized until then how much I would miss sitting through one of Dr. Hall’s lectures and how much I would miss this specific SSP project and all it has taught us.

After the Evening Program concluded, you can guess where we went next … the parking garage. The déjà vu I felt as I climbed the stairs to the top almost made me tear up again; the Open House night parking garage photoshoot really does feel like both a long time ago and not that long ago. I wish I could be more poetic about this last parking garage trip, but honestly, all I felt as I stood there, snacking on strawberries and taking pictures and trying to commit this place and these people to my flimsy human memory, was an out-of-body surrealness—a prelude to Departure Day, as it turns out. But we aren’t quite there yet. Because SSP could not end before cricket with Dr. Das and our very last night together! Even though we could not pull an all-nighter, I am still grateful that we got to spend time together just walking around campus in the light rain, chatting and trying to soak in more and more “last” sights—of CHAS, the Armory, PMU, the Guest Lecture building, au bon pain, the fountain … Yes, it did feel sadly anticlimactic, but in hindsight, these smaller, seemingly duller moments—where we can all simply exist together and enjoy a shared experience—are the ones I will miss the most.

***

I was only supposed to cover Tuesday, but I am finishing this post on Wednesday (Departure Day), and it feels like a continuation of the Last Full Day. I’ve cried more today than I thought was humanly possible. I really will miss all of you so much. I wish I could say more but this tangled mess of emotion I feel will take me at least 39 more days to process. So I finish this blog now at 10:31 PM, in a different time zone and back in my room …

In “Goodbye to All That,” Joan Didion writes, “It is easy to see the beginning of things, and harder to see the ends.” For different people, SSP was the beginning of some things and the ending of others. We all began SSP with expectations and hopes about what it would be like and what we would get out of it. We are all likely ending it in a less defined or clear-cut way, because the long-term impact of SSP and the people we’ve met here will continue to play out in the coming weeks, months, and years. For me, SSP felt like the beginning of me finally gaining concrete insight into the lives and perspectives of people beyond my sleepy suburb bubble, and finally being able to pinpoint why I love science. I know for others, SSP has led to culture shock and immediate impacts on college plans and career aspirations. They said that SSP never ends, it just expands. I’m not sure because the pain in my chest right now feels a lot like an “ending” signal, but I do plan to stay in touch with everyone I’ve met here. To SSP 2022 in Biochemistry at Purdue University … thank you. The memories we’ve made, pictures we’ve taken, tears we’ve cried, dumb things we’ve done, smart things we’ve done, and relationships we’ve formed are all real, even though right now it all feels like one big dream. I’m going to stop rambling now, and finally end this blog post with, of course … some Taylor Swift:

Hold on, to the memories, they will hold on to you.

Hold on, to the memories they will hold on to you … 

And I will hold on to you.

—“New Year’s Day”

– Aniyah

The post Hold On to the Memories… They Will Hold On to You first appeared on SSP International.

This morning we all spent our time nervously waiting for the faculty members to review reports. Let’s just say there were positive comments and not so good comments. Some groups got a lot of comments but I am very thankful our group didn’t have much to change. Where I would love to say it’s due to the great lab group I have. Here I would love to include a quote of Xuan where she’s got tired of revising her report.

“William is not here, I don’t have my punching bag” -Xuan (joke) 

Fun Memories: 

Julia Z ate little too many cough drops (maybe overdose)

Michelle forgetting her lanyard two days in a row. 

Julia Z accidently removed Cory from her spam account. 

Xuan and I had a little nail salon and were able to get many customers (Julia Z, Dimitra, Eric, Brian, and Michelle). Our business didn’t do that well as many people did not trust us. But I would love to say my hair salon business is going pretty well. With Brian being the most successful consumer. 

I also got some plants at the farmers market. Here’s their growing process!

Xuan attempted to eat Antiseptic Spray. (not really) 

Since today we wrap our final report I would like to have a little spot dedicated to my lab mates. 

Cory – The lifesaver to our group. Always saving Kevin and me from struggling. He’s also very good at playing piano and he trusted me to do highlights on his hair (didn’t really work but it’s okay). 

Kevin – Who always wants to call me Alaina when my name is Alina and question me why it can’t be Alaina. So next time you see Kevin make sure to call him Calvin. Also if you didn’t know Kevin is in charge of running our instagram page. Make sure to follow @sspbiochempur22. 

My blog is kinda short so I chased people down for quotes. 

“6 weeks of pretending protein proficiency” – Xuan, Sehyun 

“SSP is great” – Brian 

“Alina is from Missouri?” – Phillip (he figured it out two days before the program’s end that we only live an hour from each other) 

“Some people already know this, but i never ordered unsweet tea for any of the boxed lunches, but i felt like trying one so i took one from the cooler. if you didn’t get the tea you ordered once, that’s probably because i took it >:D” -A confession from an unknown person 

“Ahh” – Calvin (Kevin)

“reject biochem, embrace geoguessr” – Julia M

“I would not actually hurt my lab group” – Xuan 

“I love Michelle” – Alina (got forced to put this)

“Nathan it’s work time.” – Dimitra 

“Everything will be fine ~ that’s what I always tell myself when our group goes through chaotic but fun challenges” – Victoria

Credits 

I would like to thank Xuan, Julia Z, and Dimitra. for sending me a bunch of pictures for my blog. I would also like to thank people who provided quotes for my blog. 

Hi my name is Alina (not Alaina). A rising senior from Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia, MO. In my free time I enjoy reading books and watching TV shows. I would also like to say that I also love eating throughout the day so I bought a bunch of random stuff. Like Michelle would say “Alina you’re really gonna live here for a long time”. 

The post Coming to an End first appeared on SSP International.

Reports pose a constant threat to the brain capacities of subjects of the Summer Science Program. The groans of MOE failure, constant keyboard typing, desperate scribble marks on the whiteboards resembling the format “goofy ahh ___”, and desires to explore the outside world in spite of unfinished reports are present throughout the entire subject area. However, failure to obtain a sufficient amount of sleep as well as a desire to socialize with other members restrict the participants’ abilities to continue to write their reports in a sane manner. This study explores the brain processes of various subjects in their most intense day of writing in the entire program.

Introduction

The Summer Science Program is a scientific program designed to give research opportunities for high school students who push themselves to learn and experience what true research is like. In the case of participants who are in Biochemistry, they then write reports of their experiments at the end of the program, learning how to write scientific reports in addition to earning wet lab experience for a total of around 5 weeks. It is well known that the average number of hours of sleep these participants get on average is not high compared to the average number of hours of sleep, but these reports pose a significant threat to that of the participants near the end of the program. Sleep is necessary for the daily bodily function of the participants. However, it is estimated that the average participant has a negative correlation in terms of hours of sleep and hours of report writing. Thus, an increase in hours of report writing meant a decrease in sleep, which led to some detrimental effects in the participants’ sanity. I studied this phenomenon due to the necessity of having to write a blog for the Summer Science Program on the day of July 24th, 2022, and will detail the following results. The goal of this project is to detail the average participants’ daily activity and function, and describe the effect that reports have on the participants of the Summer Science Program.

Results

All participants were given the same dietary fulfillments of the day, which was Chinese food (Fig. 1). This was done in order to prevent the further descent into insanity caused by their reported daily dose of Wiley dining hall food and weekly doses of sandwiches from the Purdue Food Company, while still maintaining that every participant had the same type of food given. This resulted in an interesting change of pace for the participants, despite some of them getting up late in order to compensate for the late night that had occurred the day prior. 

Many participants continued working on their reports for the remainder of the day, which resulted in increased stress levels and desire to socialize with other participants at their working sites. Despite socializing increasing the time required for writing reports and consequently, decreasing the amount of potential sleep for the participants, they continue to attempt to socialize despite knowing the consequences of their actions (Fig. 2).

In addition to socializing, other aspects of entertainment were seen, which were referred to as “mental health breaks” by the participants in order to cope with their decision to increase entertainment as a replacement for hours of sleep. This included horrific games of unnecessarily stressful Tetris, as well as Other members decided to instead go out of their working environment to “get a breath of fresh air” in order to “clear their minds”. This included going on what the participants referred to as “Target runs” and “Boba runs”. Although these activities shown by the participants did increase report writing time, the average amount of stress present did significantly decrease (Fig. 3).

Although most of the day showed the expected pattern of attempts in decreasing levels of stress, there were times when that was not the case. For example, a participant was seen dropping their boba cup in their working space, causing an extreme amount of stress increase in a short period of time (Fig. 4). As shown, there was an intense conundrum and all the surrounding participants found it amusing, but the participants responsible were seen fleeing the scene. They soon returned to clean up their mess, and the floor is now spotless clean. Other examples of insanity are seen, ranging from random selfies to unfaithful signs written by the participants.

It is safe to assume that these participants are not in their right mind, and need sleep as a treatment. We are hoping to get this treatment out in 2 days.

Discussion

However, despite all that is going on at the moment, the participants have nothing but to say that SSP was one of the most amazing experiences so far in their lives (at least the one writing this does). I have learned so much from just 6 weeks, and despite all the struggles of writing the report and working in the lab, there is no doubt that SSP has changed my life both as a person and as a scientist. I don’t know what will happen to me on the last day, but there will definitely be tears in some form when I leave the life I have created at Purdue University. I truly believe that this experience will prove to be helpful in terms of future research and pursuing scientific studies in any further education this participant might take. Coming this far, I believe that the person on the first Sunday, walking into Honors College is so different from the person, on this Sunday, working on their blog instead of on writing their lab report . I will miss you guys all, and though it’s not over yet, thanks so much, especially to all the faculty and my lab group (Ya and Rut)! <3 

Experimental procedures 

Photos:

Taken using a camera on a phone – additional contributors: Daniel, Maya, and Natalie

Ok I can’t think of anything else to put here, I got tired and have to write my actual report

References

Hi guys, my name is Joseph and I’m a rising senior at Troy High School in Fullerton, California. Some of my hobbies include playing the cello and playing video games such as Tetris and Valorant. I also listen to a lot of music (mostly jazz, classical, and kpop) and being a part of the front ensemble in my marching band. Oh, and I also like science (I almost forgot about that one lol).

The post Evidence shows that “tomfoolery” decreases stress in participants who are writing lab reports first appeared on SSP International.

Unlike usual, we had Indian food for lunch!! (No more sandwiches!) It seems that people enjoyed the food, and some of us decided to have Indian food for dinner. Although it looked unappetizing, it tasted really good. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s Chinese food at lunch! After lunch, we went to Gabby’s TA lecture. She talked about situations when lying is a good idea. She said that  when you want to hide the unsavory details of life, win the approval of others, or spare the feelings of your loved ones, lying is a good idea. I was listening so carefully and then she told us that what she just said was a lie :(((((( But overall her lecture was very interesting. After the TA lecture, most people went to CHAS to work on their final reports. 

We had talent shows today! We started with a super amazing string’s orchestra performance by Alexis, Diego, Grace, and Joseph. Then, we had a piano show by Cory; magic show by Konnor; K-drama by Seyhun; another piano show by Ritvik (extremely amazing, basically it showed the result of his years of constant practice); ballet performance by Payton; poetry recitation by Nathan and Aniyah; HIV protease inhibitor design by Eric; singing performance by Colin; Tetris visual feast by Jamilla. After that, we had a large group of people doing karaoke together. Our four dear TAs also performed a song by Lady Gaga (I like Colin’s body twisting). We had another karaoke group singing a Chinese Song. Finally, our talent show ended with Dimitra’s guitar solo.

Quote of the day: 

1. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha (roaring). — Colin (during Gabby’s lecture)
2. Hahahahahahahahahaha (roaring). — Colin (during Seyhun’s talent show)

Hi, my name is Zibin (William). I am a rising senior from Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science. I love chemistry, especially organic chemistry. I was doing organic synthesis in my Junior year. I like to play League of Legends, and I am super good at Yasuo (my friends call me YasuoKing).

The post All the Good is Fading Away first appeared on SSP International.

Instead of acknowledging the sadness bound to come with the end of the program, I’ll be celebrating the people and connections I’ve met along the way with 5 words for the 35 amazing people I’ve met. 

Danny: Tactical falling, league, math whiz

Konnor with a k: Just a hobby, no kizzy fr

Mich: Parking garage, scrunchie supplier, inside scoop

Shell: Running, trackstar, hummus, ice chips

Phil: ramen dealer, almost 6 foot

Alex: pure leaf, sweet stuff, garage researcher

Shmoe: Joecabulary, Cam laughs. Soooo. Tough.

Gavin: hat, starbies, gevin, face

Aniyah: Poetry, over 80 spotify followers

Vanessa: Skin care guru, presentation powerhouse

Diego: Ur mom, QOD, croissants, polyglot

Cory: middle-part, (not) couples counselor

Alina: Ultra prepared, hair stylist,-dye expert

Kevin: group picture taker, simp, ig famous

Grace: Mesh backpack, dessert connoisseur, alpha

Cam: Laugh, THE runner, hungry, towering

Isabelle: Where you go is not who you’ll be

Kyra: yaasssss, gorgeous, lol, curly-girl method

Sehyun: pathetic protein, strawberry açaí, rainbow

Sai: Orange chicken, sponsored by polo

Victoria: Bookworm, writer, linguist, bucket hat

Will: Stool sleeper, Aatrox, Yassuo, calcium

Xuan: Discord queen, frog hat, gacha

Maya: Late night talking, rpt, farmhouse frat

Jo: Jo-jo, lost the protein, Simmie’s mom

Rit: Rit-rut, scoot-scoot, Milk, 2-inches taller, Early-sleeper

Julia M: Yuvan debater, pipette queen, protIEn

Julia Z: Stickers, spilt drinks in armory

Yuvan: Hermit, political philosopher, no kappa

Della: Artiste, life-saving notes, real one

Nathan: Journaling, natty ice, it’s bedtime

Dimitra: greek dancing, volleyball, classical guitar

Payton: Excels at excel, mini backpack 

Ricky: Dr. Wu, PhD in Ochem, MOE whisperer

Brian: B-rian, RSI?, curling iron, apple girlie

Hey, I’m Natalie and I’m a rising senior at El Toro High School. When I’m not crying in my room to Taylor Swift songs, I’m usually filing my nails and getting my signature Starbies drink with 17 pumps of syrup. I also enjoy annoying the people around me, literally every single person including one very special TA, with my nonexistent love life and boy problems.

The post 5 for 35 first appeared on SSP International.

As usual, I never made it to breakfast. And yes, I arrived at the armory classroom again just on time. Today’s lecture was much more chill than the previous ones, it was about the final paper publication process. However, it also reminded me that the ssp program was so close to the end. We had finished all the labs and assignments…and it was time to review and organize all of our hard work over the summer. With the ending of the discussion on the paper publishing competitions (super interesting), I realized that this was the last time we would be in the armory again. No more stealing seats from Brian and Sehyun, no more diet-coke spilling mess, and no more lectures from Dr. Hall and Dr. Das. (I was sad at the moment until I saw Dr.Hall’s smiley face when he realized there were no lectures anymore⇩)

During the rest of the morning, everyone immediately dived into the inhibitor design competition. I was scared of the name at first. But when I started on it, this task turned out to be super flexible and enjoyable. Getting more and more skilled in using MOE played an essential role in this final task. I was so glad that I was not one of the people who hated MOE otherwise, I would hate this assignment so much. Big shout out to my groupmate Yuvan, who always warned us of the worst in advance so that every result we got was actually better than we expected. And another shoutout to my groupmate Julia, who was constantly being optimistic about everything we did. My group, like all other groups, tried so hard to twist around and add random stuff into the structure but didn’t progress a lot. I guess this is also what is precious about ssp—the waiting time full of struggle before success. To the -10 affinity score that we got today, I would respond with a quote from Yuvan: “We trust.”

The day ended with a fantastic tour of the Biomedical Engineering Department at Purdue. This was the first time that I actually got to see every college classroom, wet lab, and maker lab and got to know what type of research was going on in this place. We got to visit places where so many different possible great ideas may come to live and impact our society; I believed not only me but all my ssp peers, had a better understanding of college and biomedical engineering/biochemistry fields, and started to think deeper about our own interests in this field. I was so grateful for joining ssp and meeting with this big family. Time flew, and it was almost time to say goodbye. But ssp never ends, and I can’t wait to see where everybody ends up with. 

大家好, hiii, my name is Jianing (Julia), a rising senior from the Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland. This is also my fifth year studying in the US. I enjoy all kinds of sports, such as volleyball, surfing, and swimming. Music also plays a crucial part in my life. I have been a member of the choir for almost 11 years. 

The post Bye Armory :( first appeared on SSP International.

Amid these difficult questions, today’s field trip offered a reprieve for PUR-B.

The day started bright and early. The 7:20 am bus time transformed the usual party coach bus into a sleeper train. As rows upon rows of greenhouses and a glass-steel complex that rivaled Argonne appeared over the tree line, we got our first glimpse of Corteva’s global headquarters. Naturally, I was impressed. Expectations were high, and we were excited to tour the industrial labs, explore the hulking greenhouses, and encounter the sophisticated machines, similar to the ones at Inari except larger and even more expensive. While the experience was slightly underwhelming in the sense that the tour was mostly a lap through Corteva’s hallways, with the occasional smartboard mini-game strategically placed along the route, the presentations and tour were substantive and offered a macro-view of the pesticide development process, which was honestly pretty interesting. 

Afterward, we boarded the bus and drove to the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, which also happens to be the largest children’s museum in the world. I was initially fazed by the streams of running children (who kind of reminded me of the wriggling hydrogen atoms during energy minimization in MOE), the cacophony of crying infants, and the general chaos all around; however, I soon came to appreciate this unusual experience, from almost overloading an elevator’s carrying capacity to watching talented SSP-artists draw portraits of Dr. Das. To be honest, I can’t put describe museum trip into a short blog post. Here’s a one-sentence summary instead: SSPers go feral and try taking group pictures in cramped and crowded spaces. 

This was a fun final field trip.

Hello! I’m Gavin, and I’m a rising senior at Woodbury High School in Minnesota. In my spare time, I enjoy astrophotography, trying new foods, and hiking.

The post We Learned How Dinosaurs Got So BIG! first appeared on SSP International.