tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4427654609117439862024-02-19T00:08:01.401-08:00'14 ILC at PennDon Gosneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17110247579694408858noreply@blogger.comBlogger208125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-76089879346200443142014-08-03T12:03:00.000-07:002014-08-03T12:03:01.692-07:00The Final Blog<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Once in a while, you have an experience that surprises you and changes your life. The ILC is predictable in giving students that experience, year after year. Over the past few days, I've had time to reflect on my time as a part of the Ivy League Connection, and it's mind-blowing that everything I've learned and everything I've done has all come from a few wonderful people in one school district in California. For the amazing gift they've given me and scores of other WCCUSD students, I'd like to thank Charles Ramsey, Madeleine Kronenberg, and Don Gosney.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This summer started with a few emails from Don about applications and essay prompts and ended with a hug from my parents at the airport.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My Social Justice essay took too long to perfect (I could nitpick punctuation for an eternity) and the interview blew by, then the applicants were stuck in a room with our hearts in our throats while we prayed for our names to be called. You'd think that after letting me in to Women and Leadership last year, the ILC would know better, but I was extremely lucky; the ILC handed me another scholarship, this time to Penn. We sped through the dinner, the tutorial, the school board meeting, and the orientation, and after about a billion and a half emails from Don (written, proofread, and set in ALL CAPS and <span style="color: red;">bright red</span> with care), we were on a plane together, ready for it all to begin. We had a preview of what makes each college unique from all of the college visits before the class started, and once it did, we were as ready as we could be to learn. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Each day of Social Justice was a different collection of stories told by a few new people (I often found myself wondering, "Where the heck does Andy <i>find </i>these people? Where can <i>I </i>find them?") who shared pieces of their lives with us. I can't remember a single bad day, and I can't choose one best lesson, because it was the combination of all of them together that really made Andy's class so special. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's hard to say how Social Justice has changed me. I'm looking at the world through a different lens and trying to stay aware of my privilege. I hope to be a voice for the voiceless, now, on a small scale, and in the future, on a larger scale. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The ILC has given me an unforgettable experience and a set of lessons that will last a lifetime. To everyone who made this possible, thank you. </span></div>
Julia Shebekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05912840917209125214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-64433836284498715202014-08-01T22:31:00.001-07:002014-08-01T22:31:55.537-07:00And So It Ends...<div>
The first time I became cognizant of the ILC and the opportunities the organization offered was early last fall when I was herded into the ECHS theatre along with many of my peers, and Don told us about what the ILC was and what it offered us. I had been aware of the ILC's existence in my sophomore year because many of my friends were participants and upon their return, they had been doing great things for our school. I was inspired by the actions of ILC alumni and their vehement endorsements of the program, and I wanted to become involved in the program myself. </div>
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From the moment I learned about the various courses offered by the ILC, the Social Justice Research Academy was always my first choice. I agonized over my application essays and checked my email constantly to see if I'd gotten an interview or not. Then, one day at school Other Julia accosted me on the way to class with the news that I'd got an interview! (Spoiler: we both got in.) I prepared for my interview as much as I could, pestering my friends for advice and practicing my delivery with my patient, long-suffering parents. At last interview day arrived. I barely ate at all I was so nervous. When the panel announced that I was among the people they accepted, I stayed cool and composed, until the second I made it to the parking lot, where I was struck by the need to do an interpretive dance of joy. </div>
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The various pre-trip events, tutorials and School Board meetings flew by. I tried to absorb as much information as I could for fear of inciting the wrath of evil Don. Up until then, the dinner with UPenn alumni in San Francisco was the fanciest venue I had ever been to. </div>
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All at once, it came time for our journey to begin. I was so excited (and groggy) at two in the morning on June 30th, when my father woke me up and drove me to El Cerrito High School, where I met up with the rest of the cohort. The next week passed in a blur. I loved everything about the East Coast. College tours and sightseeing blended together. I had so much fun on our night time monument tour in Washington DC, geeking out in the Smithsonian, and touring Georgetown's campus. Our cohort had so much fun along the way. (I will always feel a pang of sentimentality when I think of our youthful exploits, like "Spoonhenge" and Other Julia's brilliant interpretation of the squirrels at Penn.)<br />
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The three weeks I spent at Penn were some of the most intellectually challenging and exciting times of my life. I felt so privileged to be a part of the SJRA. My teachers were amazing, the activities thought provoking, and my peers equally passionate about social justice. The experience as a whole was incomparable. The class challenged me in more ways than I expected. I didn't think I could become more of a radical, but thanks to the SJRA, I did.<br />
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I loved everything about the SJRA, from Professor Andy's golden retriever, (whose name is Emma Goldman, yes, <i>that</i> Emma Goldman,) to weekend discussions of Hegel and Zizek.<br />
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My time at Penn changed me more than I could have imagined. I knew that this would be a formative experience but I had no idea how much I would be affected by my time at Penn. When I think back on my experiences I am filled with gratitude to all the people who made this trip possible. Over the course of the last four weeks I learned many valuable new skills, but none of it would have been possible without help from people every step of the way. Now that I am home, I am determined to put the things I learned to use in my own community.<br />
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Julia Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10298589369616573785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-88903984589797590272014-08-01T02:59:00.000-07:002014-08-03T12:54:29.426-07:00Carpe Diem<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Somehow, at the end of everything, there is a way to love every moment, and there is a way to be sad about it. There's a time for tears and a time for hugs, but this time is for neither. This time is for thought. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I still remember the night of my interview. The nerve-wracking walk towards El Cerrito High School and the long wait for our turns to impress the panelists. I had previously applied to the DNA Biotechnology program at Brown University, but I was not even chosen for an interview. So I still remember the pulses of anxiety running through me and the voice in my head, telling me that it was my one last shot for this opportunity. But better yet, I remember this feeling of a burden being lifted from inside of me once I sat down at the end of the interview table and faced the panelists. Every bit of worry and anxiousness escaped, as I realized how privileged I was to be in the presence of these amazing individuals who were dedicating their time to listen in on all that I had to say. I dropped all my "preparations" and doubts, and just spoke. However as the interview prolonged, the nervousness began to build back up again, and my confidence was slipping away. It wasn't only because of my fear of not getting accepted into the ILC, but also the fear that all my efforts put in towards this program was in vain. After everyone was finished with their interviews, the moment of truth was coming near. I gathered with the others as we all waited for the panelists to finish making their decisions, and began to converse with each other without all the pressure and tension. We struck up some of the most interesting conversations about school, physics, and math, while supporting each other when a few of us brought up their own interview experience. And it was in at that moment where my respect for these individuals grew even more. We each shared a common goal, and no matter who actually reached it, I was glad that they were among our group. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The wait, which seemed like an eternity, finally came to an end. And when Don announced my name, it felt as if time froze. I was still waiting for Don to say that he made a mistake, when I realized that this was <i>real.</i> It was not a dream, but rather more of a dream come true. Not only did I feel like the luckiest person in the world, but I also felt privileged to be a part of this remarkable program. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Following the never-ending excitement over the prospect of leaving for the East Coast for the summer, was the actual application to the Penn summer program, Don's countless e-mails, and the ILC events such as dinners, orientation, and tutorials. Each event, big or small, was a stepping stone in our journey, and held great value towards our preparation for the trip. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When summer had finally arrived, my excitement for UPenn could not get any larger. I busied myself by taking a Film Analysis summer class at my school, and attempted a physics "crash course" by studying off a few physics books to prepare for Penn. But sooner than expected, our departure day for the East Coast arrived, and I found myself sitting on a plane, headed for Washington D.C., with a big fat smile on my face.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First week of being in the East Coast</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Arriving in the East Coast was like landing in a whole new world--a recurring pattern of foreign buildings, unfamiliar people, and different surroundings everywhere I looked. Although having to adapt in such a new environment may sound incredibly frightening, it actually felt more exciting. Because there I was. In a place where no one knew me and I knew no one. A place where I was truly independent and can be absolutely anyone that I wanted to be. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">From the moment that we stepped foot off of the plane, we were busy--day and night--with exploring the East Coast, fancy dinners with university alumni and representatives, and college tours. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of the most valuable experiences that I brought back from this summer trip was our first week of college tours, where we visited Georgetown, UPenn, NYU, Columbia, and Princeton. Being able to physically be on the college campus provided a much better experience than simply fantasizing about "schools that might be right for me". Questions such as </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Where should I go to college?"</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> became </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Where do I see myself in two years?"</i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"What kind of environment do I see myself thriving, growing, and learning in?" </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Would I want my college to be strictly academics?"</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Or would extracurriculars and student life be a huge factor as well?"</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After only a few days of informational sessions and college tours, my view on college choices completely changed. UC Berkeley and UCLA were the only colleges that I was interested in before the ILC. But now, I realize that I know nothing about UC Berkeley or UCLA. I know nothing about the student life. I'm not even sure whether they're good colleges for whatever I plan on majoring in. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Instead of considering schools solely based off of their reputation, I've noticed that there are far more qualities in a school that I have only just begun to look at.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Group picture on Moving Day into the dorms!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My three weeks at UPenn held the best days of my life. There was never a day when I would wake up feeling unmotivated or tired. How could I be? When I knew that there would be amazing physics lectures to look forward to each day? Being a part of the Experimental Physics Academy (also known as EPRA) granted me the experience of a lifetime. Bill, Craig, and Mary, my wonderful instructors, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">emphasized the objective to <i>learn</i> in class, rather than just remembering material to pass tests and get decent grades.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> Perhaps the greatest feeling that I have experienced out of my 3-week exposure to college life was walking into class each morning to a group of students who were passionate about what they were learning. There were no complaints nor boredom, only attentive and interested faces, as Bill, Mary, and Craig delivered their lectures. Learning physics at Penn was so much more different than my physics class at my high school. My classmates were different and the instructors in EPRA were much more well-rounded and enthusiastic. The lab material and physics curriculum was also very advanced compared to my high school's, but that only pushed me to work harder and learn more. It was no surprise when I found myself with such an expanded knowledge of physics by the end of the program, since it felt as if I learned more in a week in UPenn, than I did in a whole semester at my school! Our instructors not only taught us physics, but how to think like a physicist and a scientist, as well. "Never accept the answer; formulate more questions." This new method of viewing things impacted me in a larger span than just in a physics class. It also provided me a better outlook on life by encouraging me to become more open-minded and radical.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Physics Academy > Your Academy</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amazing friends at Penn</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of the most influential milestones before our departure was the fancy Penn dinner in San Francisco. It was the first time that I was able to speak with alums from UPenn, and I found myself learning so much more about the college experience, major differences between UCs and Ivy League Universities, and most importantly, about UPenn. Tom, one of the alums that I talked to at the dinner, shared quite a lot of information and provided plenty of insight about the school. However, one particular part of our conversation stuck with me the most while I was at Penn. I had asked him what he liked most about the university, and without a second thought, he said: the people. My three weeks at UPenn made me understand exactly what he meant. The students in the program were so diverse and unique in every way. I found the most fascinating and intriguing people that I have ever met, who I quickly bonded and created a tight friendship with. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Being at Penn was never "all work and no play", since the program always had numerous activities available for us. I was able to get a full "taste" of the East Coast, on our trip to New York! Believe it or not, this trip was very meaningful to me, since it actually helped me narrow down where I would like to go for college. Although being in New York and Times Square was fun, the environment was too hectic for me. My preferences for my college setting are urban areas, and Penn and New York both displayed urban atmospheres. However, I began to notice more of the differences between the two. Realizing that I may never fully grow accustomed to the busy surroundings of a place like New York, I was able to confirm that a setting like Penn is what I am most suited for.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Physics Lab Group!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I did not know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing to not feel any homesickness whatsoever during my stay in the East Coast. I was able to enjoy my time at UPenn without the constant longing for family, a larger shower, or a comfortable bed. On the other hand, I knew that I was bracing myself for the backlash of leaving this wonderful place I called home. I would be readjusting my lifestyle, from guaranteed exciting days of mind-blowing Physics lectures and endless amounts of fun school activities to……….a normal life. Ordinary. Boring, even. But now, after these few days of reflection and thought, I realize that I did not come back from the East Coast to the once bland life I was accustomed to. Instead, my eyes are now open to so many more possibilities. There is so much more that I have yet to learn in this world. So much more to achieve and discover. And so much to share with my classmates and peers in my community. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I knew from the very beginning that this opportunity was going to change my life, but in no way was I prepared for its full effect. I fell in love with Penn. I fell in love with the environment, the class, and the people. I fell in love with the East Coast. During the course of 3-weeks, I was able to have the experience of a lifetime. This would not have been possible without Don Gosney, Mr. Ramsey, Ms. Kronenberg, the sponsors, panelists, and everyone who helped make the Ivy League Connection possible. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, but words can not even begin to express my full gratitude. The results of your hard work has impacted the students in our community in such a great way--past, present, and future. The ILC has completely turned my life around, and even that, is an understatement. I would also like to extend my thanks to the EPRA instructors: Bill, Mary, and Craig, for being such supportive, passionate, and inspirational people. And last but not least, I would like to thank Mr. Hillyer for being the best chaperone in the world, and for your upholding optimism and encouragement throughout the trip.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I felt myself arrive back to the Bay Area as a different person. The reserved piece of me is gone, and is replaced by an extroverted and much more confident side. However, I soon realized that I did not change the person that I was--only discovered who I really am. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I remember how I had worked hard for my acceptance into the ILC program in hopes of proving to others that I am someone. Only now do I realize that the only person that I had to prove to, was myself. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf0bUjdMBevSNW468jPj-Lf0-C6B7dlL329udqH1z2QMW66VUJWlhSVFWYdQ8i6nMPjas09VPUw5HEjBgG7f3xk7NHuJl35qHs1YMKUGYd7V0Vg88qdUrhGRNYKo-MaA9XFLklG83nPF_S/s1600/DF.31.1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf0bUjdMBevSNW468jPj-Lf0-C6B7dlL329udqH1z2QMW66VUJWlhSVFWYdQ8i6nMPjas09VPUw5HEjBgG7f3xk7NHuJl35qHs1YMKUGYd7V0Vg88qdUrhGRNYKo-MaA9XFLklG83nPF_S/s1600/DF.31.1.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last group photo: marking the end of this summer journey</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This summer at Penn is an experience that I will never forget. I feel like I've been split into two. One part of me will always lie in the East Coast, while the other is here, waiting to be reunited with its other half. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Carpe Diem</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Seize the day</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Seize the moment</i></span></div>
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Donna Fanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02455189389017667615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-18659909157986778992014-07-30T16:40:00.001-07:002014-08-02T23:49:36.594-07:00From Past to Present and Beyond<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I look back and find it hard to believe how large of an impact the Ivy League Connection has had on my life. For two years now I have been a part of it, and I still find it very difficult to articulate into mere words how much my life has changed because of this program. Compared to two years ago, I now classify myself as a changed person. I feel as though I am much more outgoing and confident. Making new friendships or even something as simple as talking to a stranger is something I am more comfortable doing. I have learned that collective thinking, in addition to independent learning, is the best way to achieve a common goal or overcome any obstacle. The Ivy League Connection has opened my eyes to a world greater than that of my community and has expanded my academic horizons beyond anything I could have ever imagined possible. Two years ago, I would have never been able to imagine the change I have undergone and how much I have grown as a person to create who I am today. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Even now, I find it remarkable how fast time can pass without one truly taking note of it. It seems as though it were only yesterday when I anxiously sat in a classroom at El Cerrito High School, awaiting the final decision from the panelists on who had been accepted for the Social Justice program at the University of Pennsylvania. I remember how nervous I was as the names were slowly read out loud and the sense of relief I felt throughout my entire body as my name was read. It was a dream come true and I could not even begin to put into words the excitement that coursed through me in that moment. This was all thanks to the panelists, who had just handed me the opportunity of a life time and whom I could not even begin to express to, how grateful I was. Upon leaving the building and heading home I instantly began to imagine the adventures that were in store for me on the East Coast.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The work, however, in no way halted there. Being selected by the panelists was only the beginning of a long line of other required events that came with being a part of the ILC. The months that led up to our departure date tested my dedication and my determination in being a part of the program. Among the first of the events was the School Board meeting, which introduced me to the numerous people I would be representing while I would be on the East Coast. Being a part of the ILC meant that I was now an official ambassador for everyone in my school district; a big responsibility which I was determined to accomplish to the best off my abilities. Next on that list was the dinner in San Francisco, which gave me a deeper taste of what I could expect while at UPenn by allowing me to meet alumni and current students. Everyone there was eager to pass on their experiences going from high school to college, and how they had been greatly impacted by the UPenn lifestyle. Last on that list was the orientation session, the final event separating me from the departure date. It was where all ILCers for the 2014 season gathered together and were given final briefings over what we were about to see on the East Coast and what was going to be expected of us while over there. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Every event that I partook in only elevated my excitement for the summer and made me long for the months separating us to turn into days. However, as the saying goes, "be careful what you wish for", as quickly those months became into weeks, then into days, then into hours. Before I was fully able to be aware, I was standing in front of El Cerrito High School, bright and early at around 3:30 AM, waiting for the shuttle that would take us to the airport. I remember that day distinctly as it was the day when I realized all the work I had put in over the months prior, had paid off, and now I was about to collect my reward in the form of an unbelievable opportunity to spend the summer on the East Coast.</span> </span></div>
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<strong><u>College Tours</u></strong><br>
<strong><u></u></strong><br>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">During our first week while on the East Coast, our time was primarily dedicated to college tours. Among the schools we visited were Georgetown University, Columbia University, NYU, Princeton and of course UPenn. Being a rising senior, these tours were an invaluable opportunity to do a bit of research on the schools I would most likely desire to apply to. Before departing, I told myself that I wanted to establish a list of schools that I wanted to apply to when my time came in the coming months. Being able to visit these schools, rather than reading about the through a computer screen gave me that exact opportunity. I was able to fully immerse myself in the environment of each school, and I often found myself attempting to pretend to be an undergraduate student merely heading from class to class. This was another plus of visiting these schools first hand. It gave me the opportunity to see if each school fit who I was and whether or not I could imagine myself attending. In addition to just the tours, we sat through informational sessions for each of these schools (except Princeton because it was closed due to the holiday weekend). This provided me with a lot more information about the logistics of each of the schools, and gave me a sense as to what kind of student each one was looking for. It allowed me to reflect upon myself and see whether or not I was a match for their criteria. In truth, after the first week, I had felt stumped, because each school appeared amazing to me.</span> <br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg84PwUkgR7YuR5OeyDRqGWVGGXMPkRAdA0UMMZXvIM-PghKgL4Mt-yg1PcyUYZZpxsYAhvtDNGRdI-Fw03UZ0XHLP4DXladTrx5Kyt2RENWGBoepLTXSLNO6PjNY-OYkhDEIHcJmjFzoOR/s1600/IMG_4639.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg84PwUkgR7YuR5OeyDRqGWVGGXMPkRAdA0UMMZXvIM-PghKgL4Mt-yg1PcyUYZZpxsYAhvtDNGRdI-Fw03UZ0XHLP4DXladTrx5Kyt2RENWGBoepLTXSLNO6PjNY-OYkhDEIHcJmjFzoOR/s1600/IMG_4639.JPG" height="640" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Various <span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">pictures</span> from our various college tours!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5JyqOhNqMUmBv7-ey3N9MJOyhTkIDkHWuK22X5H2hPPSTXVUI6UGFC9vOqDMtieRk-TFLX0da2D4GpLXxmxKT0I3TUYDCGzDw_XCs8xdtO38q9X4_6-qiLmALu1z67DgEg9VgnqAOM3ii/s1600/IMG_4640.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5JyqOhNqMUmBv7-ey3N9MJOyhTkIDkHWuK22X5H2hPPSTXVUI6UGFC9vOqDMtieRk-TFLX0da2D4GpLXxmxKT0I3TUYDCGzDw_XCs8xdtO38q9X4_6-qiLmALu1z67DgEg9VgnqAOM3ii/s1600/IMG_4640.JPG" height="640" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More pictures from our college tours!</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong><u><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Social Justice Research Academy</span></u></strong></div>
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<strong><u></u></strong> </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsydurlDEUIOKIUHFPzfEL5F_y8VAapkftEeJaz6JtpZ25iYwTF_ZissFwYDhA_SduhUUZPfZUy60rhoQVAjZevY_azoxL0DC4JJGJB7Vwlpywa8cD1cUmOrX_OGk2CzWZ9bcDnKOL1PA/s1600/BM.25.3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsydurlDEUIOKIUHFPzfEL5F_y8VAapkftEeJaz6JtpZ25iYwTF_ZissFwYDhA_SduhUUZPfZUy60rhoQVAjZevY_azoxL0DC4JJGJB7Vwlpywa8cD1cUmOrX_OGk2CzWZ9bcDnKOL1PA/s1600/BM.25.3.JPG" height="320" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A few inspirational figures from SJRA</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The official name of the program I attended was the Social Justice Research Academy. However many of the students began calling it SJRA for short. I can not even place into words what this course did for me. Out of every class I have taken in my academic career, this one by far was the most impacting and revolutionary for me. Never before have I taken a class that has caused me to not only change my perspective on the world I live in, but also change my outlook on who I am. The primary reason for this was my professor, Andrew Lamas, although he urged all the students to call him Andy from day 1. On our first day of class, he began by explaining that everyone in the class was a teacher and that over the course of the three weeks, we would teach and learn from each other. His goal was always to transcend the traditional framework for teaching, which usually customarily involved a teacher spewing vast amounts of information at students hoping they retain bits and pieces of it. In order to accomplish this goal, he made the class more interactive. Among his methods for this goal were bringing in numerous guest speakers, field trips that would allow us to assess in more depth what we were learning about, and a host of group discussions where we could all express our ideas and opinions freely. I felt very comfortable in this style of teaching as it allowed me a lot more liberty to express what I believed without fear of being laughed at or shut down by the teacher. Moreover, it allowed me a new way of learning material, as opposed to the traditional method of a teacher giving instructions. I learned from my peers, I learned from the books we read and the movies we watched, and I also learned from the environments where we would take field trips. One of the most important aspects of the class that truly enhanced my experience there were the other individuals who through the course of the three weeks I went from calling my classmates to my SJRA family. As everyone came from different backgrounds, each offered a wide array of ideas and perspectives that greatly made me question my own perspectives. However, the characteristic I most greatly enjoyed was that everyone was very accepting of contradictory ideas. New ideas were always welcomed and ideas that were different from our own were respected at all times. Another key point about SJRA were the optional events that occurred in the evenings. While I tried to attend as many as I possibly could, I was unable to attend all of them. However, focusing on the ones I did attend, they were all life changing. Each one made me think of the world in a different way, and I learned that everything must be viewed through multiple perspectives. For example, one evening the issue of American aid to underdeveloped countries was brought up, which sparked the debate concerning the definition of "underdeveloped" and whose perspective it belonged to. Throughout the class we covered a variety of topics similar to that, which instigated a wide array of debates concerning the issue. What astounded me the most is that in the end, there was never a right or wrong answer as we are sometimes led to believe. Among the most prominent of these debates was capitalism, mass media, and politics. Each debate was consistently led by students which inspired others to join in until the whole class was involved in the discussions. Overall, I contribute the change I have undergone this past summer to my experiences in SJRA. Not only has it taught me a lot about myself but it has inspired me to "be the change I wish to see in the world".</span> <br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglHXSOZoleDdu6QJBaychTdKssM-1jw8NQQwLcutZgCcUgVzlcVy3ufCdB5kl62kpTj8MlCKUKLePtO6ytcIhgXYUgtz5IMlz7s9J3FBIyFr7Un0TAlGlWq844A4F0oQsUvA0HmcHkX8nS/s1600/IMG_4638.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglHXSOZoleDdu6QJBaychTdKssM-1jw8NQQwLcutZgCcUgVzlcVy3ufCdB5kl62kpTj8MlCKUKLePtO6ytcIhgXYUgtz5IMlz7s9J3FBIyFr7Un0TAlGlWq844A4F0oQsUvA0HmcHkX8nS/s1600/IMG_4638.JPG" height="640" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SJRA Family!!!</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong><u><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Residential Coordinator/ RC Group</span></u></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Among the parts of my experience at UPenn that truly influenced me was my RC and my RC group. My RC's name was Jordan Gaither and from day one he was set on differentiating our group from every other. From day one, he was able to make 12 complete strangers into close friends and from there we only became closer. My RC was probably one of the most inspirational figures I met while on this trip. He was very philosophical and passionate about literature. He had even published his own poetry book called, "Poets Elixr" which really surprised me considering he was only 23 years old. Throughout the course of the three weeks, he became our older brother and our role model. On one occasion, as an RC group, we had decided to all go on one of the excursions for laser tag. Being that at that point we had all grown very close together, we all formed one team with our RC as the team captain. In both matches we emerged victorious because of our coordination and communication as a group. Our RC later told us that the unity we had displayed had been truly inspirational to him and that he was proud of how far we had come. In addition, my RC group had a profound influence on me. From our first day we became friends very quickly and soon we had developed a system for around our schedules so we could always spend time hanging out. Out of the twelve of us in our group, five were a part of SJRA, five were in the Biomedical Research Academy, and two were in the Physics program. At the end of each day or over dinner, we would usually spent a bit of time discussing what we each had learned in class. I felt that compared to the RC group I had last year, the one from this year was much more united in the sense that we stuck by each other for almost everything. If someone was sick we each volunteered to bring them food or anything they needed; if someone was stressed we all did something fun in order to take their mind off of whatever was troubling them. This strong unity is what kept me, in a sense, from feeling to nostalgic because it allowed me to have that sense of support I would get at home. Through the course of the three weeks, we went from strangers to friends and ultimately to brothers. Although many of us are now thousands of miles apart, we still constantly check up on one another and continue to act as brothers, which is a quality I hope will continue long into the future.</span> <br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihELQPnfvr9sIK4M-ax17AEUuMXansNmUXROJ0SkakWUColLyUDLVFdNHD6XqThC5BsUNpKSPtLXGQ3iAore6VWbSukArtCqpX9frIdRsBUXBsDnP_BR085sU6OgejlsUlA_l9Dt__u67F/s1600/IMG_4635.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihELQPnfvr9sIK4M-ax17AEUuMXansNmUXROJ0SkakWUColLyUDLVFdNHD6XqThC5BsUNpKSPtLXGQ3iAore6VWbSukArtCqpX9frIdRsBUXBsDnP_BR085sU6OgejlsUlA_l9Dt__u67F/s1600/IMG_4635.JPG" height="640" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My <span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">amazing</span> RC group</td></tr>
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<strong><u><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Columbia to UPenn</span></u></strong><br>
<strong><u><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></u></strong><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Being that this was my second year as part of the ILC, I have had the wondrous opportunity of attending two highly prestigious schools, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. Often when I told someone about my experiences at Columbia, they would ask me a common question: "which one do you like better". For some this question might be very easy, however for me it is a very difficult question to answer. I chose to attend Columbia last summer because I was greatly interested in the course, Constitutional Law. For a long time I had had my mind set on desiring to become a lawyer, and even now this dream lives on strongly within me. However, my decision for desiring to attend the Social Justice program at UPenn came from a more personal perspective as I wanted to learn more about the social issues that exist not only in my community or country, but those on an international scope as well. When attempting to decided which school I liked best, I could easily argue in terms of logistics (amenities, friends, campus) but the way I view the question is, which one impacted you the most. The answer to that question is much more difficult for me as each school has left a lasting influence on me in different ways. Each has allowed me to grow as a person and has developed a new form of intellectuality in my mind. I see the world in ways I could have never imagined possible for a teenager growing up in a small community in the Bay Area. In addition, I am also asked how Constitutional Law could be related to a course based on Social Justice. For me, the answer to that is quite simple. At Columbia I learned lot of the legalities associated with common social issues that made their way up to the Supreme Court and why the justices ruled in a certain way, however at UPenn I was able to delve a lot deeper into the social issues and understand a lot more about the different points of view that surround them. In my opinion, both courses constitute two of my personal characteristics. I still have strong dreams of seeking a profession associated with Law, but I also want to be an activist for social change. I want to be a catalyst for social change and reform the society we live in through Law.</span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br>
<strong><u><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Conclusion</span></u></strong><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">For two years now the ILC has been my gateway to a distant world. It has allowed me to expand my horizons far beyond anything I could have imagined. It has taught me more about myself than even I was aware of. Before my first participation with the ILC, I was a shy and very introverted person. My greatest displeasure was public speaking and having to talk to new people. However, through my time with the ILC I have become much more extroverted and social. I am no longer afraid to walk in front of a crowd and speak my mind. I no longer fear having to meet new people or make conversation with complete strangers. The ILC has changed my life dramatically, especially in my outlook towards colleges. For a long time, I had my eyes set on attending school within the university system of California because that was the mainstream ideology of college. Anyone who believed otherwise was normally struck down by being told of the miniscule possibilities of ever being admitted. For that reason I never once could have pictured the reality of what existed beyond. The ILC has allowed me to realize one crucial detail about Ivy League and East Coast schools in general, they do not seek perfection. Nobody is perfect, and schools look for students that they feel will best fit their campus, which is not necessarily manifested in whoever possess the highest grades or has attended the most prestigious high schools. Before the ILC, I could never envision myself ever standing a chance of being admitted into a prestigious school outside of California, however I have come to learn that your background does not matter. Your ethnicity, socio-economic status or even beliefs do not hinder your ability to be able to attend a good university. What matters most of all is the dedication and the determination you place in everything you do. Everything I have learned through the ILC has truly revolutionized my life. I cannot even begin to express how thankful I am to everyone who allows this program to function. Don, Ms. Kronenberg and Mr. Ramsey surpass the abilities of any individual I have ever met and put in so much work and time to allow this program to prosper. I am truly amazed at the success it has in impacting the lives of students because I am honestly one of the students it has greatly changed. I must extend my gratitude to my chaperone, Mr. Hillyer, who not only spent the majority of his summer guiding us through our experiences at UPenn but served as an inspirational figure. Everything I have learned from my time with the ILC will stay with me forever and I am proud to say that my life will never be the same because of it. Although this is my last year participating in the ILC as a high school student, I stay true to saying that was consistently mentioned on our last day of SJRA, "this is not the end, but rather it is only the beginning!"</span><br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0XRwiAXIdvTRZsJvB1mJoKwQShumxp_B_mUU2ZtEK8Agof2mIBHMejR8BAiTaKkVUBus3UN_jxRZWFdPpWtObD2kg5jLMRcv884mDMfrbkOr7u_iNmUwr8mw357Fa38qL9E1U-q2ZnVlU/s1600/IMG_4619.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0XRwiAXIdvTRZsJvB1mJoKwQShumxp_B_mUU2ZtEK8Agof2mIBHMejR8BAiTaKkVUBus3UN_jxRZWFdPpWtObD2kg5jLMRcv884mDMfrbkOr7u_iNmUwr8mw357Fa38qL9E1U-q2ZnVlU/s1600/IMG_4619.JPG" height="480" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The end of our UPenn journey</td></tr>
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<br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477034180619751497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-26541931616926999622014-07-30T00:44:00.001-07:002014-07-30T00:44:17.353-07:00From There and Back Again<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Man, what an adventure I have had this past year! It seems so long ago when I first embarked on this journey to do the ILC physics program. I'm so glad that I applied for this program. When I heard Don this year at my school, something just clicked and I realized that I wanted to take advantage of such a golden opportunity as this. Writing the essays weren't as nervewracking as the actual interview, but in both the essays and the interview, I was able to express myself in an adequate way. And to my elation, I got in! But the journey didn't stop there, it just started. During the mandatory meetings and tutorial sessions with Don, I learned what was expected of me and of how I should behave back in the East Coast. The dinners and meetings with the other ILCers like my UPenn cohort were refreshing as I met and gathered insights from other people who were driven, intelligent individuals like myself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Then the day of departure finally arrived! Though packing up all of my linens, clothes, suits, and toiletries was a bit of a pain, I survived and I had a lot of fun visiting Washington D.C. with all its memorials and monuments as well as touring some colleges. What were especially helpful were the Georgetown and UPenn tours. From these tours, I learned that colleges shouldn't be chosen just for their academics but for their ability to help people grow as a whole. I also learned that you should just be yourself in your college applications, expressing your unique, personal life values and experiences. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">After tours, I moved into the UPenn dorms. Living in the Penn campus was a new experience for me as I was by myself in a dorm with no one to tell me what to do and so I had to learn how to keep myself accountable with my time. Now for the main part of the program, the physics class. I really enjoyed my physics teachers as they were funny and yet able to teach hard concepts well. What I also liked was that they wanted us to not be just scientists but communicative thinkers who were able to express their ideas clearly. The friendship that I developed in the class made physics even more enjoyable in learning science together. The thing is that these relationships weren't superficial, but were much stronger than some of the relationships I had with my friends before. The friends that I made here were so close that I felt that I had known them since I was young. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In conclusion, I really learned a lot about not only college or life, but also about myself during this trip to Penn. College is where people go to not only learn, but to develop close relationships with others whether it be professors or students. It's also a place where people are tested in their time management skills and will to succeed for themselves when no one's there to help encourage them. These things are essential to success not only in college, but in life as well. In addition, college shouldn't be a decision done by anyone else but yourself. Only you know what values you want in a college, environment you can thrive in, and what kind of community you can thrive in. I'm thankful for the ILC program for providing access to information like this and for my parents for helping me prepare for such a unique opportunity as this! But I won't be selfish with this knowledge I learned and I plan to share it to my friends and my schoolmates through informal conversation or formal speeches. College life should be an option for everyone and I want everyone to know that. Thanks ILC for starting this desire!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07399589686420692401noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-56269215060241823642014-07-29T23:54:00.001-07:002014-07-29T23:54:55.646-07:00All good things must come to end<div style="text-align: justify;">
It seems like it's been so long since last fall, when I first started my application for the ILC. My first choice had actually been a program at Vanderbilt, but it was very popular (forty people applied!) and I didn't even get an interview. That program had one of the earliest deadlines, while Penn was one of the last, so it was several months before I sent in another application. I remember spending time over Christmas break trying to finish my essays for the Penn ILC application early--and yet, just a few weeks before they were due, I was still frantically finishing up.</div>
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I was very excited when Don told me I had an interview. As the date got closer, my excitement was replaced with nervousness. I was afraid that once I got into the room with the interviewers I would freeze and panic, and my mind would blank, ruining any chances I had to get into the ILC... I was over dramatizing things, of course. Most of the questions were just physics problems, and I loved my physics class so I had no trouble answering. Then my nervousness built up again as I waited for a few hours as the rest of the applicants were interviewed. Finally, they decided who had been accepted, and I heard my name with relief. After all, I hadn't even gotten to the interview stage applying to Vanderbilt. It was only the start of a long process, though. After countless emails, forms, and more applications sent in, I was finally ready to go off to the East coast with the rest of my cohort.</div>
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Meeting all the different admissions officers and going to the different college campuses was an interesting experience for me. It also gave me insight into what kinds of things I'll be looking for when I apply to colleges in a year.</div>
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Living in Philadelphia was a completely new experience for me. I was on my own, independent, and I found that it wasn't terrifying, that I liked independence. I was on my own in a place where no one knew me, where I had no reputation to live up to, where I could make first impressions acting however I wanted. It was also a completely new experience to have decisions like when to get up in the morning and where to go in the afternoons be entirely up to me. New, but exhilarating. </div>
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Talking to Bill and others was also a wonderful experience. In this program I got to talk to people who not only truly understood what I was talking about when I went into long explanations about scientific theories I had, but had questions that made me think even more. I've never really had that experience before--usually people just say "yeah, that's cool" and hope I don't expect them to repeat what I said.</div>
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This summer has truly been a life-changing experience for me. There are so many good memories from my time on the East coast--some have been immortalized below in the form of quotes.</div>
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Julia M.: You're like a math onion. Every layer you take off is just more math!</div>
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John: Darwin would be proud. (On people jumping over and through miniature fireworks.)</div>
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Bryan: Does hand sanitizer kill 100% of germs?!? No! (In an argument with Andrew about absolutes being necessary for things to work. Bryan won.)</div>
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Gwennie: I know I've laughed before...</div>
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Julia M.: SPOONHENGE!!</div>
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Andrew: I want a margarita. (Don't worry, it was a non-alcoholic one.)</div>
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Donna: The air conditioner is burning.</div>
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Julia S.: Twenty minus six. Give me 10, I mean 6. No wait, 15, no 13! Don't look at me like that Gwennie, it's 6:30 in the morning! (Trying to get change from a taxi driver. The taxi driver was not as amused as I was.)</div>
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Gwennie: Why are all the pillows on the floor?</div>
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Julia S.: Don't judge me. I had arguments with those pillows. Dem b****es sleepin' on the floor!</div>
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Julia S.: I just burped. Now my life is complete.</div>
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Gwennie: Aren't I awesome? Yes, yes I am.</div>
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Julia M.: I am the special-est.</div>
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Mary: We broke physics again.</div>
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Bill: Quite simply, we don't exist. (In reference to electromagnetic principles that are broken by atoms all the time.)</div>
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Sophie: I hate men.</div>
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Sarah: I know, but they're so darn cute.</div>
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Sophie: Exactly, that's the problem.</div>
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Julia M.: They have free water here? WIN!!</div>
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Julia S.: Ewwwww, spider-butt strings! No, don't quote that!</div>
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Student A: I heard antimatter costs like a billion dollars an ounce.</div>
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Mary: They're selling antimatter?!</div>
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Student B: Where?</div>
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Student C: Home Depot!</div>
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Julia S.: Wow, that's a tiny dream catcher. You're just not allowed to have big dreams.</div>
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Bill: A photon doesn't bother a ping-pong ball, but it knocks the daylights out of an electron! It's like looking for light bulbs by firing bullets at them.</div>
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Gwennie: Well, when you have such huge numbers, an extra order of magnitude or two doesn't make as much difference. (Trying to justify getting a speed of light with an error of 2500%)</div>
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Eric: That's great! Now we know why we were wrong. The only problem is that we're not right...</div>
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Alison Sweeney's lab assistant: When you're scuba-diving in deep ocean, you have to stay tethered at all times, because if you don't and you drift away, there are no landmarks or anything in the ocean. So you probably won't be able to make it back to the boat, and that's not super great.</div>
Gwennie Gilbert-Snyderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15529439888653923634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-71949767557575235662014-07-27T10:27:00.003-07:002014-07-27T10:27:43.776-07:00The Journey Ends<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My last morning at the University of Pennsylvania began with gray skies and rain. My mood matched the weather. I considered the symbolic importance of the rain, then </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">finished packing and saying goodbye to Maayan. Maayan wrote goodbye letters for Julia and I, which was almost my undoing. (I will miss Maayan so much.) As we left the dorm for the last time I felt an unexpected pang of sentimentality and nostalgia. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After checking out of the Summer Discovery program and returning my keys, it was time to leave for the airport. Luckily, or unluckily, we had six hours to wait in the airport. We passed the time with one giant meal at Chickie and Pete's, and an intense game of Munchkin Cthulhu, which I would have won, had it not been for a sudden and unexpected betrayal by a close friend. (Et tu Julia?) At last it was time to board the plane and leave Philadelphia once and for all. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The plane ride was uneventful. I divided my time between talking with the people next to me and sleeping. It was with another pang of nostalgia that I realized our plane landed at the same gate we had departed from lo those many weeks ago. In honor of this continuity, we opted to take our group picture in front of the gate which marked the beginning and ending of our journey. </span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7EjBqyrT2gLjHSZoJ3L2jeEuQqRuT5PUbuDrdTz0_JejugWVV3ca30CcLffYyTjX2ivlYvHXuKLHTV3nWHWs5w6LQnwZe76qikKN4Epi6aYGxq9JMrrQ5EUVNdEvcz2CcFH8MOS5IxFA6/s1600/photo+(15).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7EjBqyrT2gLjHSZoJ3L2jeEuQqRuT5PUbuDrdTz0_JejugWVV3ca30CcLffYyTjX2ivlYvHXuKLHTV3nWHWs5w6LQnwZe76qikKN4Epi6aYGxq9JMrrQ5EUVNdEvcz2CcFH8MOS5IxFA6/s1600/photo+(15).JPG" height="293" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Sunset over the bay</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After that is was but a short walk to the baggage claim where we all reunited with our families, and the trip was officially over. I can't believe how much the trip changed me. Before going to UPenn, the prospect of going to college, especially on the East Coast was daunting. Now I am certain that I can and will do just that. I will always carry the memories of my time at Penn with me. </span></div>
Julia Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10298589369616573785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-82446376793244055732014-07-27T03:51:00.001-07:002014-07-27T03:51:42.917-07:00Back to the Bay<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0sjnnyziazoz4pk1bIGIdCoOht4_AZHq4m4W6LLsokzJiBHiCVHXbOoh8xAk0U8k2f4Sl-2TjUBDxCAIm8jScdo2XMooQOkM55kIf5b1Qn9GBWzejJX6_22AYRQ2cwuCIHq7LKKp8LpM/s1600/P7260131.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0sjnnyziazoz4pk1bIGIdCoOht4_AZHq4m4W6LLsokzJiBHiCVHXbOoh8xAk0U8k2f4Sl-2TjUBDxCAIm8jScdo2XMooQOkM55kIf5b1Qn9GBWzejJX6_22AYRQ2cwuCIHq7LKKp8LpM/s1600/P7260131.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goodbye, Philadelphia</td></tr>
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This morning I woke up at nine (and this is after having finally gotten to bed at FIVE A.M.) I said goodbye to my roommates, who promised to keep in touch, and packed most of my things that I hadn't gotten around to (I mean... did a little bit of last minute packing). My suitcase was so full (and how is it possible that it was so much emptier coming here?) that my roommate and I both had to sit on it in order to zip it closed.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrgLRKsEjjmZl3er8fHQ2rZO0JcehkQO2JoQfoJR0gj5jMTvDCRmcszzof8cGjOvYizc47MLdg7YKCe6fzktVkFCLiHLro7SyUcd6feN49TCRIYqMSL7DiJnNK2fn2ojp4Dw_PmAFDqjU/s1600/P7260133.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrgLRKsEjjmZl3er8fHQ2rZO0JcehkQO2JoQfoJR0gj5jMTvDCRmcszzof8cGjOvYizc47MLdg7YKCe6fzktVkFCLiHLro7SyUcd6feN49TCRIYqMSL7DiJnNK2fn2ojp4Dw_PmAFDqjU/s1600/P7260133.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My cheesesteak</td></tr>
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I turned in my keys outside the quad and met Mr. Hillyer and the rest of the cohort there. After many teary goodbyes to the friends we'd made, we took a shuttle to the airport. Since we had to leave the quad by eleven, but our plane wasn't until 5:30, we got to the airport six hours early and had a lot of time to kill. We found a restaurant near our gate and had brunch (brunner?) there. I had a Philly cheesesteak. We also played a round of Mr. Hillyer's game, Munchkins of Cthulhu,which killed a few hours and was really fun.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBF9TaXBUWzgcqY-K9T2A_ekAOWL4jCFIVpqfoKf4fUBOqfi-9Unjrcpi51wbqai7sSDCnoCGppuvd6rFik7UyTB32Zfpw-5yhmWaQIgxulfE58HjpczB0CtwpRKYI6ip0O86QMZYqGlI/s1600/P7260136.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBF9TaXBUWzgcqY-K9T2A_ekAOWL4jCFIVpqfoKf4fUBOqfi-9Unjrcpi51wbqai7sSDCnoCGppuvd6rFik7UyTB32Zfpw-5yhmWaQIgxulfE58HjpczB0CtwpRKYI6ip0O86QMZYqGlI/s1600/P7260136.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Airplane food--not as bad as it could be</td></tr>
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Finally, we boarded the plane. After almost six hours of staring at clouds, we were finally home. We landed and came out the exact same gate we went in a month ago, and took a group photo there in our Penn sweatshirts. Then we met our parents at the baggage claim. After we'd said goodbye to each other and John (sniff sniff) we went home.</div>
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This last month was a unique experience for me, and I really enjoyed it. I'm glad to be back, but the last month in Philadelphia has changed me and the way I look at things.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2BIfJSG-MgTrIK7dE0Gz1pDiToOTI4oC0XAcsUQu_1yBQQ60wuLzOTEwU_FPHjBtIyOz1E4io7XZp9199S0P_JpFLgwd1v6jPqrGKkZ6kK7l8_aS_zbslz1EuTVx9-Y8uYIlf2u6BDUM/s1600/P7260140.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2BIfJSG-MgTrIK7dE0Gz1pDiToOTI4oC0XAcsUQu_1yBQQ60wuLzOTEwU_FPHjBtIyOz1E4io7XZp9199S0P_JpFLgwd1v6jPqrGKkZ6kK7l8_aS_zbslz1EuTVx9-Y8uYIlf2u6BDUM/s1600/P7260140.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hard to say goodbye</td></tr>
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Gwennie Gilbert-Snyderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15529439888653923634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-87527757449315579972014-07-27T01:55:00.001-07:002014-07-27T01:55:12.302-07:00Nostalgia<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Franklin dormitory meant only a foreign building to me. A castle-like structure with the frequent cockroaches. An area where students tend to reside in after class to finish up school work or take a break from a hectic day. </div>
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But that was only how I felt when the program had just started. </div>
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Sooner than expected, that foreign building became home. UPenn was home. And just like anytime when you're away from home, you get homesick. Heartbreak and nostalgia is already following me after recently arriving back in the Bay. </div>
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I've never realized how beautiful Philly is at 6:00 in the morning until today. Probably because nothing looks beautiful at 6:00 AM. But today was special: it hosted the moment when our wonderful journey finally ended. Two of my friends, Annie and Prateek, were scheduled to leave on the 7:00 AM shuttle to the airport, so our small group of friends decided to get together at Starbucks and have one last meal with them. After many exchanges of hugs, we went to see them off, and that's when the chain reaction of depression began. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBWgl_n-I9fqLS2ppllEKfV1sfZcYrVKu_mYLWdlimO4rq_MCS_-3AwjjDzwmK1AqqfxOmcfQjrX0pJIn6LQnuTP5wRfX79k_PuAeT7OreQmQkZ6pSZDIpbommeBmZSTqMs4RSy88xEEM7/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBWgl_n-I9fqLS2ppllEKfV1sfZcYrVKu_mYLWdlimO4rq_MCS_-3AwjjDzwmK1AqqfxOmcfQjrX0pJIn6LQnuTP5wRfX79k_PuAeT7OreQmQkZ6pSZDIpbommeBmZSTqMs4RSy88xEEM7/s1600/photo.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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It first started when the sky seem to transition into a dull gray and even began to rain at one point. Jordy joked about how rain was a good way to hide your tears, and it wasn't really helping the situation to be honest. Soon after everyone else boarded their buses for their trains, it was the time for my departure. Being one of the last few to leave Penn from my group of friends did give me an advantage to see them all off and wish them a safe flight, and I was more or less ready to leave. As I rushed into my dorm to grab my luggage and check out at the front of the Quad, I couldn't help but feel attached to my triple-room-dorm. It isn't the best place to live, but I had quite a lot of memories in there: from late night blogging to finishing up projects with friends. I had to stare around my room for a bit before leaving, and ended up meeting with the cohort outside. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwGzaIZxIbqvVzszIroSBBDdai0mGIW1mMMFfICnfmUtMJNyao_s7fkDdp1SEhoGNQK1_9ktV7oVmXQfeRp333oeFRgq8IDB2c2JRc9JTQp9Z6VLFSZUS60AGlaBbLB5S6qh2_jKfHSgkf/s1600/DF.26.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwGzaIZxIbqvVzszIroSBBDdai0mGIW1mMMFfICnfmUtMJNyao_s7fkDdp1SEhoGNQK1_9ktV7oVmXQfeRp333oeFRgq8IDB2c2JRc9JTQp9Z6VLFSZUS60AGlaBbLB5S6qh2_jKfHSgkf/s1600/DF.26.1.jpg" height="640" width="456" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">#Waka Flocka Group</td></tr>
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We were all pretty exhausted from a long morning of good-byes on our ride to the airport, but Mr. Hillyer soon broke the desolate vibe when we went to Chickie's and Pete's for lunch. He also pulled out a game for us, and it was my first time playing Munchkins, but Mr. Hillyer decided to teach us all how to play. The intense game took up a lot of time that we had before our flight.</div>
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Being back in the Bay lets me realize how much that I have done and how far that I've went in terms of academics and personal growth. The program opened me up and allowed me to express my true colors, be all that I can be, and strive towards improving the person that I am.</div>
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I will never come across another experience such as this one, because nothing else can amount to my amazing summer well-spent in UPenn! </div>
Donna Fanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02455189389017667615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-31458308734608250172014-07-26T23:59:00.000-07:002014-07-27T16:59:51.030-07:00The End?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6AXKwYosxwTKzE68hDdx8BZoKCaCSBoX6DE4zAbAz6RCNE0EQYfsVkZi66Ni5LqwERgt_3IEYyO3Rl2seIdlkW8bRuQ9vTCnJowH8O4LJlF9dgBwFQLwnZJUqRXDkOpvj4YoDewdt_dY/s1600/Foto.26.1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6AXKwYosxwTKzE68hDdx8BZoKCaCSBoX6DE4zAbAz6RCNE0EQYfsVkZi66Ni5LqwERgt_3IEYyO3Rl2seIdlkW8bRuQ9vTCnJowH8O4LJlF9dgBwFQLwnZJUqRXDkOpvj4YoDewdt_dY/s1600/Foto.26.1.png" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of My Penn Friends!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Today was sadly the last day in Philly! I woke up early today to catch some of my friends before they left to go to home. It was so hard saying goodbye to all my new friends at Penn. Even though we had been together for only 3 weeks, it felt like we knew each other for much longer than that. I hope to see them in the future and I wish them the best of luck in college</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0DfG_E34-PXsZvp__0lAnJ9bHZjguSEGwDQKEH8z5AYjZtsjh0bwP4bR38NRqacFxYecEO7wvmfuE5FIK7kkMgmbmF8oJRRga5qnBhzYZfkJ2VD-o81pdWLaEjHpC16PjfRbv9a4IBTc/s1600/Foto.26.2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0DfG_E34-PXsZvp__0lAnJ9bHZjguSEGwDQKEH8z5AYjZtsjh0bwP4bR38NRqacFxYecEO7wvmfuE5FIK7kkMgmbmF8oJRRga5qnBhzYZfkJ2VD-o81pdWLaEjHpC16PjfRbv9a4IBTc/s1600/Foto.26.2.png" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Last Tastes of Philly</td></tr>
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After saying my goodbyes, I packed up all my stuff which just means that I threw random stuff in my luggage and zipped it up in my bag. Putting our stuff in the shuttle, we drove to the Philly airport and ate at Chickie's and Pete's, our last Philadelphian meal. There we had their signature crabfries and a strange dish, a lobster cheese steak. To be honest, the cheese steak didn't really look like much. But when I tasted it, it was heavenly! To kill some time after brunch, we played the card game Munchkins at the restaurant which supposedly finishes in 1 hour, but we actually finished in 2 and a half hours. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC0Vt-nqKG842iqtZkbiWTovtPTW0dllYOvL99PysWkTqPQEaDfbMUIUWM9OhY8MFdDXcKrVIpr_pqQDNjJZAondkOie5W0-6MdbQBJ-nZtOZMfrduhZ-0NlAMHvIJGxE-cgBVwnEHVTY/s1600/Foto.26.3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC0Vt-nqKG842iqtZkbiWTovtPTW0dllYOvL99PysWkTqPQEaDfbMUIUWM9OhY8MFdDXcKrVIpr_pqQDNjJZAondkOie5W0-6MdbQBJ-nZtOZMfrduhZ-0NlAMHvIJGxE-cgBVwnEHVTY/s1600/Foto.26.3.png" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Welcome Home!</td></tr>
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The plane ride was nice and I caught up with some sleep on the way to the SFO airport. Unfortunately, I didn't sit next to anyone new on the ride back, but I still talked with the Penn cohort on how the program was so amazing for them. After getting back home and unpacking my luggage, I relaxed and reflected on my experience at Penn. I'm so thankful for Don and John for helping make this trip possible and for my friends and teachers that I met at Penn for making this experience so worthwhile! This trip really opened my eyes to what college life was like, specifically in the East Coast. Though I left Penn and all my friends today, I won't forget them and I know that this isn't the end in my journey to discovering what college is like and best for me. It's only just the beginning and I hope that other people can share in this journey as I did or at least hear it from ILCers like myself. College life, get ready to be explored because we're going to have to tango pretty soon!</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07399589686420692401noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-22371586087462692662014-07-26T23:42:00.001-07:002014-07-26T23:42:34.394-07:00Day 20: A Chapter Concludes<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Well, as I have dreaded since the beginning of this week, it is over. After three weeks of pure enlightenment and profound self-reflection, the end has finally arrived. No matter how much I may beg and wish that I were living in an illusion and that somehow time had not passed as rapid as it did , I know that I strongly lack the ability to do so. That regardless of how much I may want to stay, I know that I must go. However, the greatest emotional pain comes not from abandoning the life style with which I have grown so enamoured over the course of the last 3 weeks, but rather because of the individuals I have had the greatest pleasure of meeting and befriending. Without them, my experience at Penn would have been very different and each one has educated me in a multitude of different ways, which not only have provided me with different outlooks on the reality in which I live in, but also have caused me to mature as a person. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGmYoirdYV0Q8svjgonxCbpwsbLTvMt7eAK6Sd8SSeACpVAhTcRn-gzbSXLiNlZSAUX9VurwCY_ymd8CDncMoDRk7Em09zXzdPJtXcEZT4HKlmTmAPjP3NIArPasIjQqAsv6vg0CbjTVKa/s1600/BM.26.1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGmYoirdYV0Q8svjgonxCbpwsbLTvMt7eAK6Sd8SSeACpVAhTcRn-gzbSXLiNlZSAUX9VurwCY_ymd8CDncMoDRk7Em09zXzdPJtXcEZT4HKlmTmAPjP3NIArPasIjQqAsv6vg0CbjTVKa/s1600/BM.26.1.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saying goodbye to two of my favorite RCs, Kelly and Jessica</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Reflecting upon the influence others had on me while at the program; perhaps the greatest example is epitomized in the unity established between my RC group. To express how united we were, we escorted and assisted each one of of us out of the dormitories and to their pre-determined method of transportation. This process began bright and early at 4:00 AM and continued up until only one was left, at which point none of us could assist him. It is remarkable to think how much we have grouped together and how we have supported one another through every step of the way. My RC group in large part contributed to my overall happiness of the program, because I knew that even on my most stressful days, I had each of their support to lift me up. I will miss all of them dearly, but thankfully social media will allow all of us to stay connected so we can continue that sensation of unity and support. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">After taking my last few glimpses of the Quad as the cohort drove away I could not feel profoundly sad inside. For three weeks it had been my home away from home. It had been a hub for socialization as well as safe haven. To see it disappear into the background was greatly impacting, but I knew that soon I would be back in my true home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">For lunch/dinner, we grabbed a bite at Chickie's and Pete's. Being that it was my last day in Philadelphia, I decided to pay homage to the Philadelphian cuisine by ordering one final cheesesteak sandwich. It was great to eat as a cohort once more. It brought back many memories of when we first began our adventure almost a month ago. After eating, and being that we had plenty of time before our departure flight, we decided to play a game known as Munchkin Cthulhu, one of the items we had bought John for his birthday. It was fun playing as a cohort and having a time to just relax after three weeks of intensity. After someone had taken victory we headed over to our gate where we patiently awaited the boarding time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The plane ride, like many, was long, however, it did provide me a long time for reflection not just on the program, but also how I have changed as a person of the past three weeks. I began seeing a new person within me. An individual who no longer wanted to conform to being shy, but wanted to be extroverted. An individual who saw the world for how it truly was and wanted to speak out against it. An individual who not only had been given the tools to make changed, but also was confident in his ability to do so. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Upon arriving back in San Francisco, I was bombarded with countless emotions. On one hand, I was happy to be home and to be in my natural climate (cold and not humid). However, the other part of me missed everything about Philadelphia, even the small nuisances such as the humidity. As I adjust back to being at home, I know that my experiences at Penn will always be with me.</span> </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Y6IOiOcYpVtIkY5103VgNksB-l6CfznQr_A0xS3G_JRBRhkep7S-SLH6yXbgD6XElFS6ff8nfRLkzckZMqsDJVm3PjAMRaRseV4XvzqI2qQdQLIxebS9wIwp9X1ZeeI7OKSnYIbwt-Is/s1600/BM.26.2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Y6IOiOcYpVtIkY5103VgNksB-l6CfznQr_A0xS3G_JRBRhkep7S-SLH6yXbgD6XElFS6ff8nfRLkzckZMqsDJVm3PjAMRaRseV4XvzqI2qQdQLIxebS9wIwp9X1ZeeI7OKSnYIbwt-Is/s1600/BM.26.2.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Final group photo of the trip! Back where it all began!</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477034180619751497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-60943166475750642522014-07-26T23:06:00.000-07:002014-07-26T23:06:57.990-07:00There's No Place Like Home<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In the morning, I finished packing and said goodbye to Maayan. There were some roommate-y hugs and Maayan gave Julia and I letters about how nice it was to share a room with us. Soon, Maayan was gone, and Julia and I were left to make sad faces at each other while we finished throwing stuff into our bags. Somehow, Julia's suitcases shrank and her library</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">—sorry, the few books that she brought</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">—grew, so I ended up taking four of them in my backpack. We left our dorm just the way it was when we first came. It felt different now. When we came, the empty room was emotionlessly waiting for us to fill it, but now that we were leaving, it was forlornly longing for the mess we had once left in it, wanting us to come back. Maybe I'm misinterpreting it. I don't speak room. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQRZ1a3v6txiYQIUVQLGWTWbBShMbjHGT-jRovZPDh9VhrViAPTT0C3SUFh-dDsqXJ1z3ZPemqm55uZP5YmPbXRS3KxuUa9wgRf8jsBedK5ze5k2QefH3QElwDjr92ibXR60TU9PjI7v0-/s1600/JS.26.1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQRZ1a3v6txiYQIUVQLGWTWbBShMbjHGT-jRovZPDh9VhrViAPTT0C3SUFh-dDsqXJ1z3ZPemqm55uZP5YmPbXRS3KxuUa9wgRf8jsBedK5ze5k2QefH3QElwDjr92ibXR60TU9PjI7v0-/s1600/JS.26.1.JPG" height="200" width="161" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We got into a cab for the airport, checked our bags, and walked to find something to eat. We ended up going to a place called Chickie's and Pete's, which was definitely not a breakfast place, but by then it was late enough that we should be eating lunch. (I secretly wanted pancakes.) I got soup, and once we had all eaten, Mr. Hillyer took out a version of Munchkin, the game we had bought him for his birthday. He taught us how to play, and we ended up having the longest (it killed <i>hours</i>) and most intense (I think Julia will never forgive me for sabotaging her victory) game of Munchkin ever played.<span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"> I'm definitely going to make my family play it sometime, it was really fun!</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0G1VGJ8cC7m6vYG7MeRVPkqQGpwUXPwBb4iAogSEOx1rvswF6yvr3VaJgfkMkU8Bc-NTISyMwkR2gejHGGGWiNWjZupfrzc55RBF2yXol53j5ziHQUBHuo5JKkJNltInHtko-KqFfk7J9/s1600/JS.26.2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0G1VGJ8cC7m6vYG7MeRVPkqQGpwUXPwBb4iAogSEOx1rvswF6yvr3VaJgfkMkU8Bc-NTISyMwkR2gejHGGGWiNWjZupfrzc55RBF2yXol53j5ziHQUBHuo5JKkJNltInHtko-KqFfk7J9/s1600/JS.26.2.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We made our way over to the gate, where we killed more time reading, listening to music, or in my case, filling out ILC forms so I wouldn't have to worry about them once I was home. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt2X-khB4f32e4hFLfntIiauLNE_-ZIc5IDKZxFkjC5qXUEiy7eMQRoTjexzvUBaNEQ4wVTD-_DFq6Y6YmVe37TMDenjNFVl5CIdt1vYD1ujWVr3hQSf3FIPycXDczuw35BXGycg8s6_Sk/s1600/JS.26.3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt2X-khB4f32e4hFLfntIiauLNE_-ZIc5IDKZxFkjC5qXUEiy7eMQRoTjexzvUBaNEQ4wVTD-_DFq6Y6YmVe37TMDenjNFVl5CIdt1vYD1ujWVr3hQSf3FIPycXDczuw35BXGycg8s6_Sk/s1600/JS.26.3.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We boarded the plane (all of us were in Row 18 except Julia, who was banished to Row 19) and took off. It was a long flight, and I was tired, so I slept for a few hours and filled out the Post-Mortem Questionnaire, a 160-question quiz about the ILC experience. It's not multiple-choice, so it took a long time. After about five hours, we were about to land.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRbDOg4jz3ENNPBvShiXzX7paMF7XomBSqrb9F4fvAcN-MNSlmwhCCmbVMY4uVAwTW3n3gwDacCmru4pxECqjVzrDxutOweP7tgh4Zi4bXkltMR3BHZGhaUMyAVEkbbQjDXAw7hMk1-v1N/s1600/JS.26.4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRbDOg4jz3ENNPBvShiXzX7paMF7XomBSqrb9F4fvAcN-MNSlmwhCCmbVMY4uVAwTW3n3gwDacCmru4pxECqjVzrDxutOweP7tgh4Zi4bXkltMR3BHZGhaUMyAVEkbbQjDXAw7hMk1-v1N/s1600/JS.26.4.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The first thing I realized was that I missed the fog. The second was that our slow march back into the real world was speeding up. When we landed, we left the plane in the exact same gate we took off from a month ago. We took pictures, got our bags, and said our goodbyes in one big blur, and then I was in the car with my parents, heading home (my brother is in Santa Barbara, so he won't see me until tomorrow). Despite my exhaustion from travel, I found my energy warming up when my parents asked me about the experience. When we got home, I only spent a little while playing piano and eating pasta before I started my blog (even though I didn't spend long before I ended my night, my mom probably still has around fifty pictures of me stabbing pasta and putting it in my face...but I'm sure in her eyes, I was stabbing pasta and putting it in my face here for the first time in a <i>month</i>)<i>.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A month. A month can change everything. Leaving the class, leaving all of the people I might never see again, leaving Penn...it was heartbreaking. It's over. I know there are new experiences out there for me, but...nothing quite like this. I've been trying to think of anything that could have made Social Justice different for me, better maybe, but I don't think I would want it to change. I don't want different memories. I want mine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A month can change everything. It did.</span></div>
Julia Shebekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05912840917209125214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-87668733980204341482014-07-26T01:35:00.001-07:002014-07-26T01:35:10.480-07:00Goodbyes<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS2x4NVn-jawBUf5H3XJjs6v9kZSdHQRR94pPrVQX1DFCg44GLuyq07om-3TgOCT7pZPNe4yuDefnVI_-YmF-hpb0iLHFvQP1xVvDcLgFAEHnzEWq7m7IxBeFh0WFXcFDBRJ4X9TEegso/s1600/P7250077.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS2x4NVn-jawBUf5H3XJjs6v9kZSdHQRR94pPrVQX1DFCg44GLuyq07om-3TgOCT7pZPNe4yuDefnVI_-YmF-hpb0iLHFvQP1xVvDcLgFAEHnzEWq7m7IxBeFh0WFXcFDBRJ4X9TEegso/s1600/P7250077.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing with Oobleck</td></tr>
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This morning in physics the first thing we did was play with Oobleck... a whole swimming pool of it, thanks to the group studying non-Newtonian fluids. People ran, danced and jumped across it, and one person did a belly-flop on it (ouch... oobleck feels like any other solid when you apply pressure, and I don't see anyone trying to belly-flop on the ground). I wisely stayed out of the way so as not to get cornstarch all over my clothes for the rest of the day.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqaaKGKGhyphenhyphenh7SD8NvXDpqd-PGEpXoPH_FaYiOKIE2sA-es1_vH8v1H8tUIMLimjwiQJw1qGcOa_syYcd-MNJnBf52syAOWBphFYzxtInbmIdraoQ5PEC9dzKzhxB1h1TuWavkhHuPKmhM/s1600/P7250083.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqaaKGKGhyphenhyphenh7SD8NvXDpqd-PGEpXoPH_FaYiOKIE2sA-es1_vH8v1H8tUIMLimjwiQJw1qGcOa_syYcd-MNJnBf52syAOWBphFYzxtInbmIdraoQ5PEC9dzKzhxB1h1TuWavkhHuPKmhM/s1600/P7250083.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"It wasn't actually that intense."</td></tr>
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Then we went back inside and started presentations. First were the four groups who still hadn't presented their exponential and Hershey Park experiments (my group included). Most had taken data on roller coasters... with varying levels of intensity. Then the interest group on High Energy Physics presented. They were a huge group, consisting of a third of the class. Their project had been on detecting cosmic rays.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgasLlTvrzgwdbExeqOm0Dqo0XVBBPVPH3weJ5HmYtnNTdF4wdJDAybrcSbmaoPX6D3vsH5h2yD49o4kcsxRs5Cht0R4El4K9Hg4YNmnU5telS0yA3-QPAfTmzxCOJD1W6SlkTyY5Hswps/s1600/P7250086.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgasLlTvrzgwdbExeqOm0Dqo0XVBBPVPH3weJ5HmYtnNTdF4wdJDAybrcSbmaoPX6D3vsH5h2yD49o4kcsxRs5Cht0R4El4K9Hg4YNmnU5telS0yA3-QPAfTmzxCOJD1W6SlkTyY5Hswps/s1600/P7250086.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cosmic ray detectors</td></tr>
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After lunch, we continued with presentations from the rest of the interest groups. First the group that had been making radio telescopes went. They had been working with James Aguirre--the man who came in the other day to talk about looking deeper into the cosmos by using larger wavelengths. The second group was the one working with a cloud chamber to detect muons. They had some interesting videos (and wow, well-timed) showing muons entering the cloud chamber and leaving glowing trails behind them. After that, my group went up and presented on quantum mechanics. </div>
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Our project had been taking data with single- and double-slits to
show the wave-particle duality of light. Right after us the Franck-Hertz
group presented on the quantum nature of atoms, which is related to the
wavelength of the electrons (and the fact that they <i>have</i> a wavelength). Finally, the Oobleck group presented the theoretical aspect of their project, talking about the quantitative behaviors of non-Newtonian fluids.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXS_Ds-7rx1orwZdzv_KySbJX6oiFwXaFzSXTdg1-i9HlJFhzypq3PvM2Nz7DXDH0E4GolOkqEvyToQGVZtAj5YhYWv6aYRsUrNCdF8k7Wq0VejFiuqXYxyUoTCatkoRD2x_QXFOYMP20/s1600/P7250093.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXS_Ds-7rx1orwZdzv_KySbJX6oiFwXaFzSXTdg1-i9HlJFhzypq3PvM2Nz7DXDH0E4GolOkqEvyToQGVZtAj5YhYWv6aYRsUrNCdF8k7Wq0VejFiuqXYxyUoTCatkoRD2x_QXFOYMP20/s1600/P7250093.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjixV391e8_KT44jwMK5iz40uktubcoc5Zgxyq3sziHt5i5v_EexfpLgCj2VMTdENjoESHQ_ISdBK-7go_WFLBblzewN2MQ-EyDuab_zScq8f9VR4N9crVUcbR5BboohzWbJE7w8NlRZyc/s1600/P7250106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjixV391e8_KT44jwMK5iz40uktubcoc5Zgxyq3sziHt5i5v_EexfpLgCj2VMTdENjoESHQ_ISdBK-7go_WFLBblzewN2MQ-EyDuab_zScq8f9VR4N9crVUcbR5BboohzWbJE7w8NlRZyc/s1600/P7250106.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bill's not actually as surprised as he looks</td></tr>
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After the presenters finished, Bill showed us a few really cool demos, and for the grand finale blew up a house (don't worry, just a house the size of a breadbox) with "lightning." It is really sad to think that the program is already over and I won't see Bill and Mary again. I will be staying in touch will Bill though, which is awesome. Unfortunately, the class had run so long that we didn't get out until almost 5:30, so we missed our meeting with John in the bookstore to get Penn sweatshirts. Andrew and I came back at 9:00 to get them, and Donna will meet John in the morning.</div>
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I can't believe we're leaving tomorrow already, and I'm sad to go, but I'll also be really glad to be home.</div>
Gwennie Gilbert-Snyderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15529439888653923634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-62669940863063685162014-07-26T01:26:00.001-07:002014-07-26T01:26:11.935-07:00Bittersweet<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The realization that today was the last day didn't hit me until the end of the day. It was just another routine morning at Penn:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Get ready for breakfast. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Walk to breakfast in 1920's with friends.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Head towards class.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am not <i>that </i>much of a sentimental person, but the fact that we we never going to be eating there together for breakfast and dinner ever again does make me feel sad, to say the least. Aside from missing friends, my grown attachment for my Physics class and teachers has never stopped growing, and seeing us walk away from each other was quite disappointing. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LnPxieisQFhC1kHQNCvx3OEJSHlAbhGyh2uyniZXJyceN-wVbGxkITctQndAU5LLEW1t_N6tROm1_0by76VgL5LA6BzR3IdYbX3lOxjHIHfXo2Z2GxFRfXVUUcoZNbVu54REfgMLx-xI/s1600/005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LnPxieisQFhC1kHQNCvx3OEJSHlAbhGyh2uyniZXJyceN-wVbGxkITctQndAU5LLEW1t_N6tROm1_0by76VgL5LA6BzR3IdYbX3lOxjHIHfXo2Z2GxFRfXVUUcoZNbVu54REfgMLx-xI/s1600/005.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bill and his bubble-making machine</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">After several demonstrations on mindblowing physics, and our presentations on interest groups, I realized how much that I would be missing from this experience. Never again will we be able to see Bill Berner explode wooden house sculptures or ride on a cart powered by a fire extinguisher. Although our last day of class today was filled with laughs and amusement, it was also very sad for all of us as well. Mary showed us a PowerPoint that she put together about Bill and all that we've accomplished in class. Just to make sure that we won't forget what is already an unforgettable experience, each student received a flash drive with class memories saved inside them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">After a few more of Bill's demonstrations, class was finally coming to an end. It was not easy to say goodbye to the people who've given me such an amazing summer experience here at UPenn. Bill, Craig, Mary, and everyone else who helped make this possible did not only teach me a bunch of amazing physics. They also taught me how to be passionate about what you love, that intelligence is not based off of a letter grade, and that perseverance and determination will always help you reach your goals. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-nTYGjOKNTGy-xWXtwaxcvvLsgbIu6BaPq7TTQvbIWj67oz-ELz_91HkQQFV16lYLk6CLa2xgxo40GbiZdUCazHXOMrNXfCJ53S9Ui7v-mFB68s3Pd1V0pRUCI7AzgqmccVtRy3jvzdna/s1600/027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-nTYGjOKNTGy-xWXtwaxcvvLsgbIu6BaPq7TTQvbIWj67oz-ELz_91HkQQFV16lYLk6CLa2xgxo40GbiZdUCazHXOMrNXfCJ53S9Ui7v-mFB68s3Pd1V0pRUCI7AzgqmccVtRy3jvzdna/s1600/027.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Group Picture with Bill Berner</span></td></tr>
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After class ended, my friends and I decided to head to an Indian buffet for dinner and celebrate our last day together. We all gathered in the lounge after and played games throughout the night. Despite the fact that I will miss everything and everyone from this program, knowing that I will be leaving Penn in a couple of hours does not make me feel sad. These fantastic three weeks has impacted me in such a way that I am ready to return to California with a new and improved mindset!</div>
Donna Fanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02455189389017667615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-40268214306933677762014-07-26T00:31:00.001-07:002014-07-26T00:31:15.501-07:00Day 19: "Emotional Ends of Everything"<div style="text-align: justify;">
Like all great things in life, they must <span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">always</span> have an end. As sad as it may be, my time here at UPenn is officially coming to a close. With just today separating my experiences here and my departure date, the reality of how time can fly when you are having one of the best times of your life.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK4t9_I3dGHGRDyT0AyBsW0DaEgJwZJSXCcGy592H-uSs7YrT6wb6w0qTa0q564MRzmzuXWnZZ7QZJ3_mhQglxT5oq-5FVSznqXaAPyqw75q5Sq_tCF9OviZv3IaDvyyHz1Hx92-stiMwM/s1600/BM.25.1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK4t9_I3dGHGRDyT0AyBsW0DaEgJwZJSXCcGy592H-uSs7YrT6wb6w0qTa0q564MRzmzuXWnZZ7QZJ3_mhQglxT5oq-5FVSznqXaAPyqw75q5Sq_tCF9OviZv3IaDvyyHz1Hx92-stiMwM/s1600/BM.25.1.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teaching Fellow Posters</td></tr>
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Now to recap my lavish day. It began bright and early compared to others. Being the last day, a large portion of the class had decided to show our appreciation of Andy and the various teaching fellows by making giant posters which everyone signed and elegantly decorated to manifest the personalities of each one. We all decided to "commandeer" control of the class before anyone showed up in order to set up the posters and create a brief <span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">PowerPoint</span> presentation to highlight all the subjects we had discussed in class over the course of the past 3 weeks. The greatest moment of this experience was seeing the emotional look on the faces of all the teaching fellows and Andy. To me, it appeared as a face of proudness in all of us. Some even got a bit emotional as this was such a surprise for many of them. It was a reaction that made feel good inside and one that will be imprinted in my mind for ages to come. </div>
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After our brief celebration, it was back to business. As part of the morning session, we were treated to a guest speaker, Professor Butler, who taught African American history at UPenn. She came in to talk to us a bit about her experiences with combating racial injustice throughout her life. For example, she explained how the experiences her father had sustained with the Jim Crow laws in the South had portrayed to her the level of racial injustice that existed even after the abolition of slavery. Furthermore, she also discussed various issues she <span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">found</span> in terms of religion and how they manifest a sense of racial and sexist inequality. Each religion was briefly depicted to contribute in some form to this level of injustice in society. Moreover, to enhance this argument, she illustrated the present issue that existed between Israel and Palestine and how the struggle epitomized the effects of religion on society. Lastly, she left us with a few words of valuable advice for anyone who sought to make social change in society. First was that with any social movement, there is always a cost. At times this involves political, societal or even internal challenges that must be overcome in order to achieve success. Second was that, in life, you should always do, that which makes you feel fulfilled. No matter where you go in life or the economic disposition you may find yourself if, doing the things you love will always bring you happiness. Never let anyone tell you that you cannot achieve something because as the saying goes "if you can believe, you will achieve, and you will succeed". </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-4O9ofAKGeWcMbETKU0maYhopDfcMJ_S7KBZ4B8nt_LTxj2o6DBG6bOtUBUTO7VtWVpPbW8nKNp6hvZ943Ssi7nH2bX2F88gCWDrhskvV78qHDbLyZgkjc3YdAcPi6uVTfJG5VLyJseX/s1600/BM.25.2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-4O9ofAKGeWcMbETKU0maYhopDfcMJ_S7KBZ4B8nt_LTxj2o6DBG6bOtUBUTO7VtWVpPbW8nKNp6hvZ943Ssi7nH2bX2F88gCWDrhskvV78qHDbLyZgkjc3YdAcPi6uVTfJG5VLyJseX/s1600/BM.25.2.JPG" height="640" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More teaching fellows and Andy's</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsBxy26Noh2Y_SV4FcCfc2wrYk-cjjWvCdVwmGeuuMeMRJzYEibzlB4nHUafC0fFXRCQMYBESAzCBBMnYUzS2Vf4rIx3yYHCi95LdPT5-aO0Jg_qC9A-7qo-jMk3lQcT-j3XgtpxQgQpOu/s1600/BM.25.3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsBxy26Noh2Y_SV4FcCfc2wrYk-cjjWvCdVwmGeuuMeMRJzYEibzlB4nHUafC0fFXRCQMYBESAzCBBMnYUzS2Vf4rIx3yYHCi95LdPT5-aO0Jg_qC9A-7qo-jMk3lQcT-j3XgtpxQgQpOu/s1600/BM.25.3.JPG" height="640" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A few figures who have served as my inspiration </td></tr>
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From this point on, the story of my day turns into a more emotional one. For the first part of the afternoon session, we were treated to a special guest performance by the musical activist group, Mahina Movement. They were composed of three woman from entirely different backgrounds who possessed similar ideas of social justice and elected to combine their talents in music to become activists. They sang a few songs for us all of which possessed very powerful and impacting messages that truly touched my heart. The topics ranged from heritage and one's own identity, to the reality of the corruption of the U.S and how the capitalistic mindset is the burden it carries. As a workshop exercise after their musical performance, we were given a set of three words, out of which we had to write down words we felt were associated in some way to them. The three words we were given were "love", "community" and "I am...". All of these inspired a wide array of ideas and opinions, however, one thing that surprised me was the amount of students who participated in reading out what they had written to the class. Even the shyest of students mustered enough courage to go up and speak which was truly inspiring to me. The last part of this portion of the session was that we were asked to help create a song that revolved around social justice. As a theme we chose community, and therefore we named our song "I am Somebody, We are One". It manifested not only unity by not only incorporating the same phrase in a vast array of languages, but also brought us all together through music. After this, the true emotional part came where we heard our final remarks from all the teaching fellows and Andy. It was very moving to see how close we had all become over the course of the past three weeks and it felt good to have developed that sense of community between us all. My aspirations are for us all to keep in constant communication and I hope to be able to succeed. </div>
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The evening was very similar to the afternoon session, many people all saying goodbyes and enjoying the last of their time together. Personally I know I will miss everyone I have met here, because in some way they have influenced who I have become and who I strive to be. Now that the program comes to an end, I realize the value friends play in my life and how I owe a lot to each and everyone of them. I cannot even put into words the emotions I feel for having to leave everyone, but I know that wherever life may take us, we will become the future leaders of tomorrow. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfjwJzAOKOtq1dj5NQzX2xT83-EbHQ8PxCjGIEy8TW2hodi5Sh_IkjimjFd3IrRSfluHLRRfsB2RO-DHziugeeUCWQ2zoH_lBESadUzHn-hGPLiQu3FvY28WcHFNFcXFiwZzxRMmQo1SIp/s1600/BM.25.4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfjwJzAOKOtq1dj5NQzX2xT83-EbHQ8PxCjGIEy8TW2hodi5Sh_IkjimjFd3IrRSfluHLRRfsB2RO-DHziugeeUCWQ2zoH_lBESadUzHn-hGPLiQu3FvY28WcHFNFcXFiwZzxRMmQo1SIp/s1600/BM.25.4.JPG" height="640" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The best RC group I could have ever asked for </td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477034180619751497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-70285474429760731892014-07-26T00:06:00.001-07:002014-07-26T22:09:17.742-07:00Fears, Cheers, and Tears with Peers<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It was the last day of class today. We're getting on a plane and leaving this all behind tomorrow. Maybe not all of it: we get to keep the memories.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yesterday, we signed posters for the teaching fellows and Andy and Michael, and since some of our classmates went to the room early to set up, the posters greeted us when we entered the decorated classroom. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Anthea Butler</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We milled around and talked for a while, then Andy asked us to set up for a guest, Professor Anthea Butler. Our final speaker. Professor Butler talked to us about race and about her life. She talked about the LA race riots, and told us about a time when she had, after being a part of a church for five years, been welcomed to the church as a newcomer by a white woman because to her, she was just another black woman. What I loved most about her presentation was her advice. "What you put in you is what's going to come out of you, so you gotta put the right things in you." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Don't let somebody make change for you. You be that change."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We got in a circle and gladly spent an hour and a half on what was meant to be a half-hour activity. We reflected on the course, one by one. When it was my turn, I cracked a joke about becoming BFFs with Andy over thee summer and said to the class, "I want to seek out stories and experiences to learn and share, because I think nothing makes change like the right story." I felt waves of emotion when we talked about our intentions and needs, hearing people express my own feelings: how the course has changed us, inspired us, bonded us together. "I'm not the same person I was three weeks ago. I see more, I know more, I feel more."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The teaching fellows did the same reflections, and Brendan spoke last, speaking about the program with shaking hands and a cracking voice. This was more than just a class. It touched all of us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbdoMJN6yEyd_2nV3GaqSuPyGYbLDlGw7FY6Ia15cUuuSKOa0acIoK5t1RUZqNVOm0cDg3_QMoJjZMcUcdREOq4oxRRj_3bGzIS26iwxpwa3_NDQjQUkfL1KvXJRlsz9H-k7XuTetwTbb1/s1600/JS.25.4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbdoMJN6yEyd_2nV3GaqSuPyGYbLDlGw7FY6Ia15cUuuSKOa0acIoK5t1RUZqNVOm0cDg3_QMoJjZMcUcdREOq4oxRRj_3bGzIS26iwxpwa3_NDQjQUkfL1KvXJRlsz9H-k7XuTetwTbb1/s1600/JS.25.4.JPG" height="282" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEillpiBrjjEvnuan4K2VMeopgOD9Qd_LJN1Kj-9KEZ16GSSCaHnRXdSw5umqcE-2y-MUPEpgzig8j2V7jXOIhPWjTAqG774AyFdYbCpu3kr5vNNzCSuZmB8_vlObGDF_0WVCUpTgEzeEez3/s1600/JS.25.5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEillpiBrjjEvnuan4K2VMeopgOD9Qd_LJN1Kj-9KEZ16GSSCaHnRXdSw5umqcE-2y-MUPEpgzig8j2V7jXOIhPWjTAqG774AyFdYbCpu3kr5vNNzCSuZmB8_vlObGDF_0WVCUpTgEzeEez3/s1600/JS.25.5.JPG" height="145" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After lunch, we heard from Mahina Movement, a group of three female storytellers, musicians, and poets, Gabby, Lorena, and Moana. What they shared was heartfelt and very fitting, as though they wrote their pieces just for our class.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoJrfIdNp8GmYvlRXU7LZ2vOyCIU7sra2bLLxYTENrGOfcSwGJacnvsoPiqA-lZwth1WCYRdyjxqGswd3sOqs7SaluP6Uw8pNtTX1d5E7ZKVVEZMD0R3Cb4MtZ4Z-x86f67ihzdjG_jhb5/s1600/JS.25.6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoJrfIdNp8GmYvlRXU7LZ2vOyCIU7sra2bLLxYTENrGOfcSwGJacnvsoPiqA-lZwth1WCYRdyjxqGswd3sOqs7SaluP6Uw8pNtTX1d5E7ZKVVEZMD0R3Cb4MtZ4Z-x86f67ihzdjG_jhb5/s1600/JS.25.6.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">They actually had us stand up and perform a type of poetry where a group of us would go up, and one at a time, we would say a word under a theme like "love." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After that, we wrote our own song as a class, "I am somebody, we are one," repeated in several languages. </span></div>
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Then we had to say goodbye to all our classmates and friends, all the teaching fellows who gave us their own perspectives and experiences. <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I said goodbye to Andy (I've been ordered to email him, so I only said goodbye in person), and I thanked him, tearing up, and we hugged, and he thanked me too. The last thing he said to me was that he was already sharing my poem with other faculty members. I think, in a strange way, that says a lot about Andy. He truly listened to us and cared about us, and for everything he has done for me, I owe him so much. At the moment, all I can give is gratitude, appreciation, and a few lines of verse. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhgTQt15KF8k5nljxiwj9TlGL1gGHDxrJiP4U9rDY2WNpInURyXgDdS3rf171-7r-QQA2ijwsymgG7cVGO4xmU421ou1Obf0x71CpV0KGY6Z737a_zWJNdE7UX23zbbtpH0NgPy_qjFmPg/s1600/JS.25.7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhgTQt15KF8k5nljxiwj9TlGL1gGHDxrJiP4U9rDY2WNpInURyXgDdS3rf171-7r-QQA2ijwsymgG7cVGO4xmU421ou1Obf0x71CpV0KGY6Z737a_zWJNdE7UX23zbbtpH0NgPy_qjFmPg/s1600/JS.25.7.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Our incredible teaching fellows</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And yes, I cried.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We headed back to the dorm, missing the class already. We picked up our Penn sweatshirts, and then Mr. Hillyer and Julia and I went out to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to comfort us in our time of Social Justice withdrawal. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnL-1qW11RoDLTxaBBizF_xzGCv6iEQ7wgCFJzBywp3KYyAijxtQiAvy_NcrDjlsNjrqCD4drHoxk4rx1RIQUsHxeHvmKdtYmruhS53XMIG6iV8EzkHFrydm9EaXNZDxXVQAyhElDm_GEj/s1600/JS.25.8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnL-1qW11RoDLTxaBBizF_xzGCv6iEQ7wgCFJzBywp3KYyAijxtQiAvy_NcrDjlsNjrqCD4drHoxk4rx1RIQUsHxeHvmKdtYmruhS53XMIG6iV8EzkHFrydm9EaXNZDxXVQAyhElDm_GEj/s1600/JS.25.8.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Quadrangle was sure to look extra lovely on our final day of class</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp5hTjp-ppcsZ_0K9pBEqjo7jgSF2ZdG7gmlo1SdvRTvVD2NP_rfeSiox1m7djMMgQVO9slyEnNOH6H0M0iHVl9de4khtNsWhgrLDQlnJihqHIh9OSHvsoJS1a5meLVrCKd7wNLgALgOum/s1600/JS.25.9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp5hTjp-ppcsZ_0K9pBEqjo7jgSF2ZdG7gmlo1SdvRTvVD2NP_rfeSiox1m7djMMgQVO9slyEnNOH6H0M0iHVl9de4khtNsWhgrLDQlnJihqHIh9OSHvsoJS1a5meLVrCKd7wNLgALgOum/s1600/JS.25.9.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyd09pzd8QkBJwczeusITYA6ZIqyUlvZAoluomTtVDqlJ4s1otuyHzQx9hIG5rAJ4iYNZktS6pC9iUl_5BWuzi57dmmcU2WFVPPisy2iQcS2VeHhdTUKkbTyTGX6fOJflazG2oNp5-kRRa/s1600/JS.25.10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyd09pzd8QkBJwczeusITYA6ZIqyUlvZAoluomTtVDqlJ4s1otuyHzQx9hIG5rAJ4iYNZktS6pC9iUl_5BWuzi57dmmcU2WFVPPisy2iQcS2VeHhdTUKkbTyTGX6fOJflazG2oNp5-kRRa/s1600/JS.25.10.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The art museum was amazing. Mr. Hillyer was surprisingly knowledgeable about art, and the pieces were incredible. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKMc_sFTUIlrf-JXgK4HOQZ6ko-bOGfF3VLbpIySNSCUHD3EF9OExGQkAYt848flyl9zkDQopDovBqhzyt2U8RXSA72dDrWtx5qW5-Tz29t5DBbVuSZiTJ65ZCVmeWaCx6hWJeTK8LbBeG/s1600/JS.25.11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKMc_sFTUIlrf-JXgK4HOQZ6ko-bOGfF3VLbpIySNSCUHD3EF9OExGQkAYt848flyl9zkDQopDovBqhzyt2U8RXSA72dDrWtx5qW5-Tz29t5DBbVuSZiTJ65ZCVmeWaCx6hWJeTK8LbBeG/s1600/JS.25.11.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">One of my favorite paintings today, <i>Liverpool from Wapping</i>. <br />The fog and the glow are just <i>so </i>perfect.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQbMl-eWwPSOIQu5yMVHVFIyySJwXkdKwEJgDZ-Zo02WbtMu5L5zaXX5CQmP0oTsIaKnQH4SQm5vvrhXDO0iIGRbvOJAZcA8UMVQMM_6wpXixEW_v98A8M5GLhTId8mtRbIZxct5qBTEi3/s1600/JS.25.14.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQbMl-eWwPSOIQu5yMVHVFIyySJwXkdKwEJgDZ-Zo02WbtMu5L5zaXX5CQmP0oTsIaKnQH4SQm5vvrhXDO0iIGRbvOJAZcA8UMVQMM_6wpXixEW_v98A8M5GLhTId8mtRbIZxct5qBTEi3/s1600/JS.25.14.JPG" height="320" width="269" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Julia and I tried to analyze the art as we went through the museum, and I stopped on this piece and pointed out something that was brought up in <u>Ways of Seeing</u>, about the tactile aspect of some paintings. If you move across the piece, you can imagine what it would feel like to touch the different surfaces. But, despite the apparent focus on touch, the name of this piece is "Music," and the center of the image is a violin with a broken string. Very deep.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8rxWWgfufPWxpH0buoerXVlTmCRAmHNqznVAd0KMQvgO7wgSjPZ5c-ekhIlDB8XhjAL9E6AmTw9gYgh6VWwePQ32dyZIS_El7JUJIRsICu1xujML5cUhUfNkvvy7bJ6xVJPvZcNGn89ZE/s1600/JS.25.12.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8rxWWgfufPWxpH0buoerXVlTmCRAmHNqznVAd0KMQvgO7wgSjPZ5c-ekhIlDB8XhjAL9E6AmTw9gYgh6VWwePQ32dyZIS_El7JUJIRsICu1xujML5cUhUfNkvvy7bJ6xVJPvZcNGn89ZE/s1600/JS.25.12.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This was definitely my favorite one. When you stand in front of the polished stainless steel, you become a part of the piece. At first, Julia didn't get why I liked it so much, so I said, "They're watching you, and you're watching them watching you," which pretty much blew her mind. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We walked through Photography for a little while, then left for cheese steaks, because we were starving. Oh, yeah. Cheese steaks. That one thing that Philadelphia is famous for which I totally forgot to do. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6bMxFUXLZcAtHYAeJsWOzPqaGTQ5A1FiXRCP0bMSa72j1Rs7tIMclTGCOz-MljdtLwxt44brijpPByHItcfoP3QNAGyqfwWMccV52xwsQaedz43jZm4g5QTjT0rvNFGHIzMrWliKiHa5s/s1600/JS.25.15.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6bMxFUXLZcAtHYAeJsWOzPqaGTQ5A1FiXRCP0bMSa72j1Rs7tIMclTGCOz-MljdtLwxt44brijpPByHItcfoP3QNAGyqfwWMccV52xwsQaedz43jZm4g5QTjT0rvNFGHIzMrWliKiHa5s/s1600/JS.25.15.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9tdU-GNx-m7ehWdY1WXToYKo-ezrjR5lxPXZDdTb1OTVxeCMXgrwDudHLEOykakRjXlAQd9BMgFPQjLg3nBUIrxNP43rb9zQcYYppz-TSDDfXwuT4JQPB7v5Y24AfcDTUfhKEXojEYXCT/s1600/JS.25.16.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9tdU-GNx-m7ehWdY1WXToYKo-ezrjR5lxPXZDdTb1OTVxeCMXgrwDudHLEOykakRjXlAQd9BMgFPQjLg3nBUIrxNP43rb9zQcYYppz-TSDDfXwuT4JQPB7v5Y24AfcDTUfhKEXojEYXCT/s1600/JS.25.16.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">All I'll say is...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">They're famous for a reason.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Wow.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">(Plus, did you guys know that pizza fries existed?!?)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">*Sigh.*</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But, much like that cheese steak, Social Justice ended too soon.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSTs1sX-mPyjZzN7Q_UNkmCVcNgavo_-9G0Z5N8000DWYoeSDLhIUKSQLFTVrvOsTK4Qhuizbz7QEK0r7N6k7QWhHBmat1lKhZf9yGkR58JMvCXM4NksvfZ4LP5OgUBcGGDlHQgAbmQ380/s1600/JS.25.17.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSTs1sX-mPyjZzN7Q_UNkmCVcNgavo_-9G0Z5N8000DWYoeSDLhIUKSQLFTVrvOsTK4Qhuizbz7QEK0r7N6k7QWhHBmat1lKhZf9yGkR58JMvCXM4NksvfZ4LP5OgUBcGGDlHQgAbmQ380/s1600/JS.25.17.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Julia and I said goodbye to the McNeil building, <br />where we had our classes, before we went to bed</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Three weeks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Three weeks can do so much.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">How do I feel? That's a big question. Sad...but also hopeful, passionate, inspired, grateful. Excited to see my family and friends again. In Social Justice...well, one of my classmates put it best. "Thank you...You all opened up my world."</span></div>
<br />Julia Shebekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05912840917209125214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-67731826715442434332014-07-25T23:23:00.000-07:002014-07-25T23:23:16.516-07:00Penntivities Before Departure<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh4P9VT2tu2AH2JCGJt2LwybhoaBNl8STeNyG2QTR9oaEJCCAJQglRqklghYw681dyc5dLVX8goRc9yGfh0dIbiWr-ZMtppWSz3sY5rYFiXHng3JOEKLLecAeGOCvWs9_brUCRBSGx4s0/s1600/Foto.25.3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh4P9VT2tu2AH2JCGJt2LwybhoaBNl8STeNyG2QTR9oaEJCCAJQglRqklghYw681dyc5dLVX8goRc9yGfh0dIbiWr-ZMtppWSz3sY5rYFiXHng3JOEKLLecAeGOCvWs9_brUCRBSGx4s0/s1600/Foto.25.3.png" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zany Demos and Presentations!</td></tr>
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Oh no, today is the last day at Penn! Oh, how it feels like it was just yesterday that I arrived at Penn. Man, time has flown by! It reminds me of the saying that the days are long, but the weeks are short. Today, I sadly finished my physics program and had to say goodbye to my teachers. We finished off the class first with group presentations. I did 2 group presentations today which was interesting. The first topic I talked about in class was my roller coaster ride at Hershey Park, the Claw and the data that we collected from the ride. My other presentation was about the cloud chamber that we had been working on for the past couple of days and in it, we showed some footage of the muons that we had seen in the chamber. There were multiple presentations from different groups and listening to all these groups took quite a while. But I still learned some pretty neat things that the other groups were doing such as one group was using a Dish satellite as a radio telescope to map out the sky in daylight! </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgplIkBAflQpQ_dpDYrrqB66RT87un49oI3C4GwKpeQuVos_tJkYnP9PmYY1qEcSq9gQDkiNmWjBG0UVAykW4SPnQWW1bM32M-jw8W4P9BL82H7_dbruK5fpu1Ra8w0AzdpHaZ6VimKTdo/s1600/Foto.25.1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgplIkBAflQpQ_dpDYrrqB66RT87un49oI3C4GwKpeQuVos_tJkYnP9PmYY1qEcSq9gQDkiNmWjBG0UVAykW4SPnQWW1bM32M-jw8W4P9BL82H7_dbruK5fpu1Ra8w0AzdpHaZ6VimKTdo/s1600/Foto.25.1.png" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photos With Friends and Teachers</td></tr>
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After the presentations, Bill did some final demos with us such as floating bubbles on carbon dioxide; exploding a wooden, magnetic house; and driving a car with a fire extinguisher attached to it just to mention a few! They were pretty amazing and capped off the amazing adventure we had in learning physics here. As a token of all the things we did in physics, Mary gave us a memory stick filled with the lectures, photos, and powerpoint presentations of all the things we did in class to not forget what happened. Then we took a group photo, said bye to our teachers, and headed off!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goodbye Philly Food!</td></tr>
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Following physics, I went to Shake Shack again to devour another delicious burger before I left Penn and got some Insomnia Cookie cake to celebrate the night with friends. To finish off today, I rewatched The Dark Knight Rises with my floormates and my R.C. Tim who claims to be Batman. Though my time in Penn is up for this year, I'm so thankful for the experiences that I had here and I will treasure these moments forever!</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07399589686420692401noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-68987077996505853262014-07-25T23:14:00.006-07:002014-07-25T23:14:53.854-07:00The Best of All Possible ClassesThe last day of class has finally and all to suddenly arrived. I have always, and always will, hated goodbyes. But it is time to say goodbye to my wonderful teachers and classmates and I don't want to. I want to the SJRA to keep going forever. Unfortunately, I can't start a coup or a protest movement to make time go slower. If I could I would have though.<br />
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As much as I dislike endings, I recognize they have value. For instance they are good for reflecting on the experience as a whole. And I do love the peculiar mix of nostalgia and hope that indicates that we have arrived at a unique place where we are simultaneously looking back and looking forwards. (It's a contradiction. That's what social justice is all about.)<br />
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Class this morning went on as usual, except that some of my peers had arrived early to put up thank you posters and decorations for all our teachers. We had a guest lecture by Anthea Butler, who was easily one of my favorite guest speakers in the entire program. She is awesome.<br />
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Afterwards we shared our reflections on the program and what we hoped to achieve when we got back home. When we returned from lunch, a musician group Mahina Movement performed several songs for or about social justice. The rest of class time was just spent hugging. (Social Justice Research Academy students are big on hugging.)<br />
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Because the best way to deal with creeping sadness is museum visits, Shebek and I finally achieved our goal of seeing the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We have been nagging Mr. Hilyer to take us there for weeks, and on account of his being the best-ILC-chaperone-ever-in-the-history-of-the-ILC, we finally achieved our goal. The museum is enormous. I could stay in it for days not hours. It was an amazing thing to see the works of people I had previously only read about in books. It is amazing that for the cost of a mere $14, I can see some of the most culturally significant artifacts of Western Civilization. <br />
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After our excursion to the art museum we had a dinner of cheesesteaks in the shadow of the Divine Lorraine Hotel, a defunct building which a rich history as a base of social justice movements.<br />
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I'm already missing everyone. We haven't even left yet.Julia Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10298589369616573785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-76997076727331345442014-07-24T23:25:00.002-07:002014-07-24T23:25:54.995-07:00Radio Telescopes <div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We had an interesting class today where my classmates and I had to be broken up into separate groups for lab tours! A large variety of science labs were available for us, since we were able to tour labs on nanotechnology, soft matter, and telescopes. My favorite tour was the one in a newly remodeled building called the Singh Center of Nanotechnology. Besides the fact that the building's architecture was absolutely beautiful, what really caught my attention was the Clean Room, where researchers dress in full-bodied overcoats, gloves, and eye glasses to ensure that their experiments aren't skewed by any possible dust or hair particles that might interfere with the experiment. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Satellite from the roof</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After our tours were finished, Jim Aguirre gave us a lecture since he was our guest speaker for the day. He discussed the significance of telescopes, galaxies, super clusters and a lot more interesting facts which was very helpful for me, since I was able to apply all of that new knowledge into my radio telescope group. When we were ready to go meet up with our groups after lunch, I was especially excited since the radio telescope group were going to a mini field-trip</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> to see a satellite that's around the area. The group met up with Jim, since he was the one to drive us to the facility. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Group photo</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We were all taken aback by the size of the satellite we saw! It was a lot larger than the average sizes (such as the one that we work with in our group) and even had quite a bit of history tied to it. The radio telescope was an old satellite from the '80s, which is of no use anymore. It turned out that the original plans for the telescope during the '80s was to tear it down. However, they figured that taking down the satellite would require a large amount of money and funds, so they kept it in the facility rather than taking it down.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My day ended with watching scary movies with friends, and karaoke night in the lounge. Although it wasn't the most popular activity available for us, it was also one of our last events put together by the program, making it host a pretty large amount of people. After we left karaoke night, we all congregated together in one of our dorms to work on our final physics presentation for tomorrow. It seems so different to think of tomorrow as the last day of so many things. The last day with my amazing new friends. The last day with the one-and-only wonderful instructors: Bill, Mary, and Craig. The last day of discovery, growth, and learning for this extravagant summer at UPenn. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimuhUpRSHyGRABTTyLXo9WaBvznL8P_VnIAXRZfF34v6bcDcam-F0mE04WrL5cRsDiRjMSkU5DjVihKQ0sduIaxgIeclmpZfbMMi1-BbQldFWixF3EvT5UOv1bk6270sSDs_2mk0wtiSsy/s1600/DF.24.13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimuhUpRSHyGRABTTyLXo9WaBvznL8P_VnIAXRZfF34v6bcDcam-F0mE04WrL5cRsDiRjMSkU5DjVihKQ0sduIaxgIeclmpZfbMMi1-BbQldFWixF3EvT5UOv1bk6270sSDs_2mk0wtiSsy/s1600/DF.24.13.JPG" height="144" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Working on final presentations</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Our exciting roller coaster is finally coming to an end, and although I am not prepared at all for this sudden stop, I hope that I'll be able to finish off strong and have the best experience that I can. </span></div>
Donna Fanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02455189389017667615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-62607009694957786452014-07-24T22:32:00.003-07:002014-07-24T22:32:53.745-07:00Day 18: "Presentations and Approachinng Departure"<div style="text-align: justify;">
So little time left! Just one day now separates my time here at UPenn from returning home. While I still possess a sense of nostalgia after being away from home for close to a month now, I will miss the routine I have established here. Waking up every morning anxious for the day, attending classes and spending time in the evening with my friends as we all become <span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">closer</span>. I will even miss the small miniscule aspects of my everyday lifestyle here. Saying good morning to the security guard at the door as I walk to class each day, the intense humidity and even the continuous sound of construction dispersed throughout the campus. I cannot say I am not say that I do not miss home, because I honestly do. However, I have come to love my life here and all the things that make each day memorable. It will hurt me a lot to leave but I know that I have made the most of the experience I have had the opportunity of being given. I feel as though I am a changed person who is ready to enlighten the world he lives in. </div>
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Moving on to today. Personally, today was one of the most memorable days out of this entire program. Unlike most days where we would either have a guest speaker come in to give us a lecture or go out on field trips into the city, today was dedicated to the students. For both sessions anyone could take a turn and give a short presentation about a topic they either felt passionate about or felt that they profoundly related to. The array of topics bewildered me. Some were on key issues with the world, however, most revolved around personal experiences and personal intrigue. Topics ranged broadly, from the Invasion of Iraq to analysis of the Chinese education system. Even more personal issues were brought into <span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">discussion</span>, such as the confines of beauty and racial profiling. However, with each topic, one thing was common in each and every one of them, the speakers spoke with a fervent passion. It was something that completely blew me away. Where I attend school, often very few display such a fervor for what they believed. However, being surrounded by countless individuals who displayed this vehemence was breathtaking , especially when each did so in a unique way. Some recited speeches, poems or even articles. Some spoke from the heart and others used the power of music to make a compelling argument for their perspectives. To me it was truly one of the highlights of my time here at the program. I had bonded heavily with many of my classmates but after this experience I felt that I knew them all on a much deeper level. I was able to broadly understand some of the hardships they had faced or where their points of view were placed. More importantly was that it was a unifying exercise. It is hard to think that only three weeks ago, we were all strangers to each other, however now, it seems as though we have all become close friends. At the end of the session, many were already beginning to show signs of sadness for the end of the program. Some were already displaying tears and hugs and songs were exchanged all around. </div>
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The evening was not as adventurous as one could hope, but it still possessed a many memories that I will carry with me for a long time. Right after class, a few of my friends from my RC group and class, all decided to have one last game of soccer together at Penn Park. We ended up playing for close to 2 hours before we were all exhausted. Regardless, it was incredible being able to have fun together playing the one sport we all have an immense passion for. Later on, the evening was more oriented towards my friends in my social justice class. In order to give appreciation to all the teaching fellows, Andy and all the others who had shaped our experience in the course drastically, one of the students in the class decided to make posters for each of them where we would all sign and show our appreciation. For me this was a great display for how unified we had all grown over the course of the last 3 weeks. Instead of just ending the program, we wanted to go out with a bang and show how much everyone has meant for us. Moreover, it was great to spend more time together outside of class where we could joke around and just have fun. It displayed a new side of all of us that lay hidden during class discussions. </div>
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As my time here draws to a close, I cannot help but feel sad. Sad because I am leaving one of the greatest experiences I have <span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">ever</span> had. Sad because I know unfortunately I may never see some of the friends I have made here ever again, although I hope to do my best to stay in contact with as many people as possible. While I look forward to tomorrow, I know that it will be difficult to say goodbye at the end.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04477034180619751497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-34611712780513769422014-07-24T22:28:00.001-07:002014-07-24T22:28:07.097-07:00From the Formation of Galaxies to the Behavior of Electrons<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3pwYj59QXrYgbQP81vBpOYq6SMBkJeswFlNOb0qke475NIO-0g1x9O112iIYyZUv70U12BHszhecHBANs6hzUARUopzpisFABDT00ulHHC3xnMAbDTsXpFNomiIp9R9dRuFRDeywYte0/s1600/P7240056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3pwYj59QXrYgbQP81vBpOYq6SMBkJeswFlNOb0qke475NIO-0g1x9O112iIYyZUv70U12BHszhecHBANs6hzUARUopzpisFABDT00ulHHC3xnMAbDTsXpFNomiIp9R9dRuFRDeywYte0/s1600/P7240056.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of an ionizer seen in our tour of the Singh Center</td></tr>
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Today we came into class fifteen minutes early so that we could go out and tour labs starting at exactly nine. (It didn't quite work, since there were six people who apparently didn't get the memo and still came to class at the normal time.) We visited labs on biomedical diffuse optics, soft matter, nanotechnology, sensors, and telescopes. The first thing the person in the first lab we went to (diffuse optics) said was "Basically, we shine light through people." One of my favorites was the nanotechnology building, because there was a lot of art because the dean of engineering was a fan. It is interdisciplinary, meaning biologists, chemists, physicists, and engineers work together on the same things. We also saw the newly built Singh Center in the nanotechnology building. I also thought it was interesting that a whole section was lit by orange lights, to prevent UV rays from getting in. Unfortunately, because we had to visit seven labs in different buildings in a short amount of time, we were constantly rushing around and only spent fifteen minutes in each lab, which I thought kind of defeated the purpose of the whole thing.</div>
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After spending a few hours frantically running around, we took a much-needed break before our guest lecturer, James Aguirre (one of the people whose labs we visited), came to talk to us about long-wavelength astronomy. He talked about the expanding universe, and how if you look far away in space, you're also looking far back in time, and the wavelengths of the light from those distant objects gets stretched beyond the visible spectrum. His team sends up telescopes in huge balloons over Antarctica to gather data from beyond the visible spectrum that can help astronomers look back in time.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A picture of electron diffraction through a crystal</td></tr>
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In the afternoon, my group worked on our quantum mechanics presentation that we will give tomorrow. We did a lot in class, but met up at eight and worked on it further for another hour and a half. During class, Bill also showed us an electron diffraction tube using a cathode ray. Tomorrow everyone will give a presentation (or multiple), and in the afternoon Bill will give a mysterious speech on an unannounced subject. I can't believe tomorrow is the last day of the program--it feels like it's gone so fast!</div>
Gwennie Gilbert-Snyderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15529439888653923634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-47336219033280021682014-07-24T22:04:00.000-07:002014-07-24T22:04:05.266-07:00A Face Full of Corn<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Tomorrow is the last day of the Social Justice Research Academy and I am already acutely afflicted by nostalgia. These last three weeks have been more complex, special, and transformative than I can hope to express with vague adjectives in a blog post. I have changed in more ways than I could ever have expected. Looking back, I can hardly recognize the person I was before this trip. The last four weeks seem like an unbreachable gulf and yet they also passed in the blink of an eye. I think back and it is as if it was surely just yesterday that I was getting on the airplane at San Francisco. Then I try to imagine the person I was before the program and suddenly that was eons ago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In case you are wondering, intrepid readers, I did not wake up this morning feeling this maudlin. (It only started around lunch time.) Maayan and I woke up bright and early to attend an optional breakfast and discussion of Hegel. (Which the group termed Hegel-over-Bagels. Because funny.) Andy is an unsurpassable teacher and when he is talking about Hegel he is in his element. It was awesome. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After breakfast and Hegel, we had class in the McNeil Building for the second to last time ever. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The penultimate day of anything important is usually more emotionally charged for me than the last day, when everything is surreal and weird. Today, the preemptive-missing-of-things didn't start until midday. Today's schedule consisted entirely of student presentations about social justice, in accordance with one of the principles of the SJRA; that education is not a one-way transfer of information from teacher to student, but an exchange between individuals, each with unique experiences to share. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Since I had opted to give a presentation on Roma rights, I was extremely nervous until my turn to speak arrived. Fortunately, I did not faint, though I thought I might. I'm really glad I did give my presentation, though I wish I had been able to portray the Roma more complexly than "okay-guys-here-is-a-really-oppressed-group-of-people-you've-never-heard-of-before." Still, the presentation was a success, and not just because I didn't faint. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and my beloved books.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Every single presentation today was incredible. I'm not kidding. Every single one. It was such a privilege to hear my peers open up about causes that are important to them and their personal struggles. Sitting in class listening to my fellow students talk about the things they are most passionate about filled me with so much hope. As someone in class said, "We are not the leaders of the future, we are the leaders of today."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I know I fell head-first into corniness in this blog. But I'm not sorry. I mean every word. </span></div>
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Julia Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10298589369616573785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-16344437101992621272014-07-24T21:07:00.000-07:002014-07-24T21:11:23.124-07:00It's Only A Matter of Rhyme<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On the first day of class, Andy told us that we could learn from other students, that we could teach ourselves. He was right. Today, we did just that. Presentation day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. No, not my <i>alarm</i> ringing. My <i>phone</i> ringing. The alarm hadn't gone off today, and the phone claimed to be Julia Mason. My groggy morning-brain picked up the phone to hear that class was about to start. I cursed, forgetting to thank Julia, and rolled off my bed (I'm still not entirely sure how that worked, since I'm on the top bunk</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">—somehow I landed softly). I dressed and flew out the door. The first thing we did in class was decide on some presentation norms, and I arrived in the room, completely out of breath, before we voted on the third norm. You could say that I take this class pretty seriously, because I didn't want to miss a thing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Lauren started off the presentations with a poem on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, then Maayan, Kevin, Matt, Ben, and Alejandro</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">—</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">wow, I learned a lot of names</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">—</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">presented. And then came the one we were all waiting for. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Julia Mason's presentation on the Roma. </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">YES. She started her presentation with a funny disclaimer that the whole class enjoyed, and effectively taught the class about the Romani people with the help of a simple PowerPoint. Julia's presentation went just over five minutes, but none of us would have been able to guess, because it was such a fascinating speech. She really did an excellent job, and she received plenty of well-deserved compliments for it. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Julia was followed by Jamie and then Zoey, who talked to us about the need for human connection, and who asked us to start asking people how they're feeling and why, to avoid answers like "fine" and "good." The idea was simple, but I really liked it. After a break, one of our classmates, Claire, gave a speech using sketches she drew on the chalkboard about all of the major issues we discussed in Social Justice. It was really great. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And then my name was called. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I didn't sign up to present anything, but a few days ago, I read one of my poems to Julia, and she had been insisting that I read it to the class on presentation day since then. Now, even though Julia says she only meant to ask for her name to be put on the list, somehow there were two "Julia"s on it by the end of the "sign-up" process. Highly suspect. Anyway, m</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">y name was called, and I made a quick decision. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I would read my poem, "Do You Feel Pretty?" about the gender norms around beauty. I stood and weaved between the desks, and Claire gave me a microphone and some reassuring words before leaving me alone at the front of the class.</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Can you guys hear me?" I asked, putting down the microphone on the desk behind me. In response, I got a mumbled affirmative from the class. I took a breath, and began. "Tell me. Do you feel pretty?" I shook when I read my poem. As far as I know, no one noticed, but my hands trembled. They shook, not because I was nervous about speaking, but because I was afraid that I couldn't compare with my amazing classmates, because we were all paying attention, and we were all invested in what was being said. I finished to a round of applause and a few high-fives, and a hug from Michael, who suggested that I publish it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Ruby talked to the class about standardized testing, and Brandon went next on youth voting. Kay talked about the school system in China, Nate gave an inspirational speech, Michelle told us about unjust labor practices, Tee talked about the N-word (it was a good speech, and I agreed with everything she said), Kelly talked about demonstrations in China (Kay stood up and said, "It's ridiculous that I know Chinese news from <i>New York Times</i>."), and Peter talked about music programs in school ("Music is a matter of life and death of our culture."). Then we broke for lunch, and I got a pleasant surprise. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I was receiving positive, supportive responses for my performance. Along with a handful of compliments (Zoey said "that was amazing," before I sat down), two of my classmates said that mine was their favorite presentation, one of my classmates teared up, and four people (including Andy) asked for a copy of my poem. I have to say, I feel really good about myself. (Julia, thanks for making me present!)</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Over the rest of the day, we heard about fifteen more presentations, including feminism and radical feminism ("It's not anti-men, it's anti-sexist."), art and theater ("There is a part of us that is...able to breathe through art. ...It will change your life."), freedom, urban environments, society, and gun rights. One of the last student presenters talked about respecting individuals, because as a twin, almost every conversation he has includes some form of "you're the same person," and he ends up feeling terrible. "Am I him, or am I me?" he said. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Max's presentation on weapons</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">The stories we heard were truly inspiring. Every single presenter, speaking about hope for change and the things that can make a better world, poured their emotion and their knowledge into the room, and we all listened, and we all felt it. Today was one of the best days we've had in this class. In Social Justice today, we heard speeches, poems, and songs, ending with songs led by students and then one big, beautiful song led by a teaching fellow. We really do seem to be ending on a high note.</span></div>
Julia Shebekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05912840917209125214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-91543810469938443532014-07-24T20:41:00.003-07:002014-07-24T20:41:54.924-07:00Minitechnology Labs and Nano Golf<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visiting the Nano Size Labs</td></tr>
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Another day has zoomed by and boy, is that scary! Today, I toured some of the science buildings with my physics class and it was impressive. One of my favorite spots was the new Singh Center of Nanotechnology. Though we were only there for a couple of minutes, it was still pretty cool to see people dressed up in bunny suits and working in the Clean Room. In the Clean Room, researchers have to dress up in bunny suits because they are working with semiconducting chips and these chips can be messed up by the slightest hair or dust on them. Another place that I really enjoyed was the Devlin Lab where we saw a structure that would carry a telescope up past the atmosphere. The telescope would capture wavelengths of light beyond the visible spectrum and give new sets of data and images to scientists studying the origins of the universe.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Telescopes and Telescopes. Wait, What The Heck?</td></tr>
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When it seemed that all our Penn tours were done, we were visited by James Aguierre who was one of the presenters during the tour. Basically, James was creating a telescope that used radio waves to capture the status of individual stars in the universe. Because the U.S. and Europe already broadcasts so many radio signals, James decided to move his work with telescopes to South Africa where he is building 300 radio telescopes uninterrupted to help map out a picture of the universe with radio signals. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Radioactive Fun!</td></tr>
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Following lunch, we worked on the particle cloud chamber to see if we could get good particle interactions with radioactive materials. It was kind of scary because Craig had a beta source and an alpha source in our vicinity, but we couldn't visually see the radiation emanating from these sources. What also didn't help was that the alpha source could work as a gamma source as well! Unfortunately, we couldn't see any cool action from the sources like we did with the muons which kind of sucked. So instead, we played with dry ice and experimented with it like little kids!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mini Golf Madness</td></tr>
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After physics, I went and played mini golf with my friends. I'm not very good and I messed up a lot, but it was fun to mess up with my friends. What really made mini golf fun was not the game itself, but the people who I was playing with! It keeps hitting me that I won't see such friendly faces in a couple of days and so I hope to make the most out of the time I still have at Penn!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07399589686420692401noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-442765460911743986.post-13398343747124220462014-07-23T23:48:00.000-07:002014-07-23T23:48:17.421-07:00Grassroots and Grass Roots<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Today was comprised of site visits. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Map of Philadelphia Public Transportation </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We began our morning with a visit to the Village of Arts and Humanities. The Village of Arts and Humanities is community resource serving a poor neighborhood in North Philadelphia. It is a non-profit organization comprised of several art parks, and based around providing art programming to children in the area. It was founded by an artist, Lily Yeh over 30 years ago and has been expanding its presence in the neighborhood ever since. The Village and its art parks provide a safe learning environment for kids who are deprived of that elsewhere in their lives, as well as academic support and enrichment. Our guest speaker from the Village, Jonah, is in charge of the community garden there which features chickens, composting, beekeeping, and a vegetable patch. The garden's primary role is educational. In the garden, kids learn about healthy eating habits and agricultural practices. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of the vegetable garden at the Village of Arts and Humanities</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">One of my favorite things about the Village of Arts and Humanities is its intersectional approach to Social Justice. When the Village needs to build something new or make repairs, it is deliberate about hiring inside the community, such as people of the neighborhood who have arrest records or served time in prison. This is important because most people who have been convicted of a crime have very limited job options after their release from prison. The institutionalized lack of employment opportunity is a major cause of recidivism, because no one will hire someone with a criminal record. The Village is different because it tries to alleviate this problem and teach people trades that will help them go on to earn a living. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After a lunch of pizza at South Philadelphia High School, we visited the immigrant-rights organization Juntos. We heard from members of the organization who are undocumented youth activists. I was awed by their incredible courage and commitment to justice. Juntos works to change the system through political activism; marches, rallies, petitions, and community support. A lot of undocumented immigrants are susceptible to intimidation because they don't know their rights and Juntos works to educate people about this. The constant fear of deportation is something that no one should have to deal with. As Juntos says, Immigrant Rights are Human Rights. </span>Julia Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10298589369616573785noreply@blogger.com0