Yesterday marked the last day of the online 2021 National Youth Science Camp (NYSC). Founded in 1963, NYSC is a free summer program that lasts for three-and-a-half weeks. This year, there were around 140 delegates from 40 states and 11 other countries from the Americas like Argentina, Brazil, etc. The main activities in the camp are seminars, lectures, and directed studies about various topics in STEM. Besides learning about STEM and other subjects like the social sciences, the program has social events and cabin meetings to get to know other camp delegates better. During the pre-COVID times, the camp would be held in the woods of West Virginia and have an outdoor component. This year, however, we were on Zoom all the time on the weekdays, which left the weekends for us to explore our outdoor surroundings.
What made NYSC an unforgettable experience was that I not only had the opportunity to be exposed to various fields in STEM but also learn about the interdisciplinary subjects that combined STEM with the social sciences. In high school, one problem was that my STEM classes taught these subjects as if they were separate circles with no overlap between them to make a Venn diagram. I don't blame the school for anything. It is just that the current education system focuses on teaching content and more content to prepare kids for AP exams. I enjoyed the high school science competitions I participated in, but a limitation I noticed was that the competitions' structure made it hard for me to see the intersection between STEM and other subjects like psychology and activism. Like my classes, the competitions made me focus a lot on cramming in lots of knowledge without considering practical applications. For instance, I never thought of how science and policy go hand in hand before attending camp. When I attended the lectures, what fascinated me the most was listening to the presenters discuss how different topics in science relate to each other. An example of this was learning about how studying microbiology can help with making energy production more efficient and eco-friendly.
By immersing myself in a diverse range of academic topics, I gradually realized that I probably should not be so narrow-minded about future career and academic goals. If it weren't for camp, I probably would not have taken the initiative to learn about topics that didn't interest me that much before, like graph theory and cryptography. Before, I was primarily interested in chemical biology because it was my favorite subject. I felt certain that I would major in chemical biology and work for a biotech or pharmaceutical company. Now, however, I am a lot more open to other options like urban studies and education. Instead of putting so much energy going in one specific direction, I might as well go with the flow. Having this in mind, I shouldn't limit the academic and professional events that I attend in college to only chemistry and biology. The exploratory nature of camp should stay with me even after camp ends.
Another thing that made me enjoy camp was that I got to listen to so many interesting stories from the presenters and past alumni. The adults at camp had more diverse experiences compared to the adults that I knew in my area. After living five years in the suburbs of the Bay Area, I noticed that what adults expected their children to do after graduating from college was pretty standard. Get a graduate degree from a prestigious university. Work at a tech company that pays you a six-figure salary. Get married and have two children. Never did the parents in my area mention the idea of building a tiny home or working for nonprofits like the AAAS. From working in children's museums to serving for Teach 4 America, the people that I got to know at camp made life a lot more exciting for me because I never got to know people with these specific professions before. As I write this blog, I noticed that the excitement I get also comes from reading books about people from all walks of life. Obviously, getting to ask questions about their experiences and participate in screen-to-screen conversations (a new term from the pandemic) felt more interactive and engaging. Also, I was glad to learn important career and academic advice from the adults at the camp because they taught me important lessons and mistakes they learned from college, work, and life in general.
Besides the educational benefits of NYSC, I enjoyed getting to talk to delegates and staph* members from different states and countries. Sometimes they were lighthearted and funny and other times they were more serious and contemplative. But they all made me learn so much from diverse perspectives. Whether it was discussing the past online school year or hometown, I found it intriguing to know what it was like for people to live in places all over the Americas and go to colleges with different settings. Having these daily conversations with the other delegates on the virtual Laura Dill's porch made me want to meet them so badly in real life.
If there were any regrets I had about camp, it would be that I overscheduled myself during the summer, which prevented me from fully enjoying science camp. Before I knew that I got into camp, I already signed up to be a chemistry instructor for this online summer program. After receiving the acceptance in May, I could have told the summer program that I can't do it, but I didn't want to disappoint them. Looking back, I should have told them politely that I had too many commitments that summer because NYSC takes up around 6 hours each day. As a result, I couldn't be fully present because I spent my empty pockets of time preparing lessons and teaching kids chemistry. Besides overcommitting, I greatly underestimated my time and thought it would be possible to study for placement exams while attending virtual camp, but by the second week, I gave up on that idea. Now that camp has ended, I am sad that I did not have the opportunity to talk to all the delegates in camp.
Another regret I had was not writing down what happened each day at camp in my diary. Before junior year, I attended a summer program and wrote an entry each day. I think the main reason that I didn't write consistently in my diary during camp was that camp would end at 7:30 PM and then I would have dinner and then I would not have much energy to write down everything. Some of the entries I wrote during camp had nothing to do with camp, but rather other incidents that happened at home. This kind of frustrated me because I wrote down things that were not even as important as camp. Next time I should write in my diary throughout the day rather than writing write before I sleep. I notice that if I write before I sleep, I tend to write about things that happened during the night or thoughts I have at that moment.
Even though NYSC was virtual this year, I had a wonderful experience and learned just as much as I would have during an ordinary year. I couldn't meet any of the delegates in person this summer, but that doesn't mean that I cannot in the future. I hope to stop by other cities like New York City and Philadelphia to meet the other delegates.
*Staph is purposefully misspelled to highlight our enthusiasm for science. Also, it is a good pun!
Top: A fabulous lecture with Woody Williams, a WWII veteran who received the medal of honor.
Bottom: An unforgettable prank that we did. Now we are all in the director's office!
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