SSEP
Last summer, I spent 4 weeks at Smith College and participated in their Summer Science & Engineering Program (SSEP). The program is designed for girls entering grades 9-12 who are interested in science, engineering, or medicine. Smith also offers a few other summer programs which you can explore at this link. The program is broken into two two-week sessions. During each session participants take one research based course taught by a Smith College professor. (The courses are not actual credit bearing college courses.) Current Smith students act as program assistants and the class sizes are very small. A typical day includes 3 hours of class in the morning and 3 hours in class in the afternoon. Some courses assign homework and the program assistants offer office hours. At the end of each session, the students present their work to their peers and families.
The courses I took were Introduction to Aeronautics with Professor Paul Voss and Designing Intelligent Robots with Professor Doreen Weinberger. 6 hours of one class a day is a lot, but I genuinely enjoyed both courses. In the aeronautics class I learned some physics and math related to flight and a lot of engineering design. We built gliders out of a variety of materials (see above). I enjoyed prototyping with tools like a milling machine (see below) and a CNC foam cutter. In my robots class it was fun to work on the hardware and software sides of a robot. My partner and I learned a lot about the cyclic nature of the engineering design process. (In other words, a lot of our original ideas didn’t work we needed to find a strategic new approach.)
While on campus I lived in Northrop and ate at Cutter-Ziskind. I also did an on campus interview and had my professors write me letters of recommendation. In addition to the academic coursework, there were tons of fun things to do. Each house (4 in total) hosted an afternoon activity and an evening activity. Some examples include rock climbing, karaoke, movies, and friendship bracelets. The house activities were optional. I sometimes used the time to read, study for the SAT (my favorite study spot is shown below), play tennis with friends, or just go for a walk. Occasionally there were mandatory activities. One mandatory event was a talk about the Big Bang by a Smith Professor. Another was a variety show that I sang at.
Classes ran 5 days a week, so weekends provided a bunch of free time. Students could go downtown, go on trips, or take part in other activities. I went on two hikes, visited the conservatory, and visited the art museum (my favorite piece is shown below). All in all, I had a wonderful experience at SSEP and would highly recommend it. The program definitely solidified Smith as my first choice. If you have any questions about SSEP, please feel free to ask!
