Students Reflect on Academy- Sponsored Summer Programs

By Erin Han, Lucy Jung, and Elaine Qiao

Many Exonians spent a busy summer packed with unique adventures, conducted through the Academy’s Global Initiatives Program.

From Stanford, California to Tokyo, Japan, six programs were offered, all of which reflected the wide range of Exonians’ passions and interests. Students traveled across the world and were given opportunities to participate in hands- on, immersive learning experiences in various fields, namely entrepreneurship, archaeology, scientific research, and sustainability.

RIKEN SUMMER INTERNSHIP

“The Riken summer internship was an extraordinary experience to get involved with hands- on nuclear physics research through the Riken Nishina School, a summer workshop held by the Riken Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science (RNC) in Tokyo,” explained senior Ishaan Vohra. The three Exonians who embarked on the trip, Vohra, Cee McClave and Daria Ivanova, frequently participated in lectures alongside undergraduate and graduate students and conducted various hands-on experiments.

Vohra reflected on one of his favorite moments from the program. “We were investigating the gamma spectrum produced by a proton impinging on an aluminum-27 target, and though we didn’t observe anything out of the ordinary, it was interesting nonetheless to see our findings match up rather nicely with the theoretical predictions from the existing scientific literature.”

He added, “It was sort of a beautiful verification that all the tiny particles we read about in our textbooks really behave in a way we, the scientific community, can somewhat understand and reproduce, even if we can’t see them with our own eyes.”

McClave also commented on the culturally educational aspect of the program. “Aside from just learning more physics, I think it was super cool to learn more about Japan as a country through experiencing it firsthand.” They added, “I think that it was also just cool because there are a lot of aspects of American culture that, because you’re ingrained in it when you’re here, you sort of forget can be different in other places. [In that way] I think [the trip] gave me a clearer picture of not only what Japan is like, but also what makes American culture, American culture.”

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SINGAPORE

The three-week Entrepreneurship in Singapore program was conducted in collaboration with the CIEE institute and organized to fit both classes and tours into the students’ everyday schedules. “One part of [our program] was to explore Singapore and immerse ourselves in the culture and the people around us. The other part of it was learning about businesses and entrepreneurship, especially how to start a business and pitch it to investors,” upper Kenzie Carty recalled.

When asked to provide his opinions on the overall organization of the program, senior Mitchell Tam responded, “I think that the program was well-organized. Everything was run smoothly, and nothing comes to mind when thinking of mishaps. The balance between class time, site visits, and free time was great: it was allocated perfectly, giving us a good mix of learning, entertainment, and freedom.” Carty talked about the tours and cultural experiences of the trip. Carty noted that a lot of the cultural adventures were done together as one large group, and wished there had been more free time to explore the wonders of Singapore independently. “We only got one day off where we could go and explore all by ourselves. I wish we had [these free days] once a week,” Carty said.

Carty also spoke on her favorite part of the trip: the trip had been her first time in Asia, and the striking differences between Singapore and her home, Boston, stood out. An example was the public transportation system. “I had never seen really a public transportation system like that. I could get anywhere and it was a lot more accessible.” Carty said. She continued, speaking on how great it was to see that the Singaporean government prioritized things like environmentalism and the safety of citizens.

Reflecting on their three- week experience, Tam and Carty both reached a consensus that they would most definitely go on the trip again if given the chance. “At first, I thought [the program] was too long — three weeks is a long-time commitment — but the program went by a lot faster than I thought,” Tam said. “I would definitely apply for the program again. I loved my experience there and I don’t think I’d do anything to change it: I got to learn quite a bit about entrepreneurship and Singapore, while also meeting a whole group of new people,” he finished.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN BERLIN

“It was a three-week entrepreneurship program and we basically took classes in the mornings to learn about social entrepreneurship and global entrepreneurship. And then in the afternoons and evenings, we were able to explore the city of Berlin and get to know some more about German culture,” upper Catherine Yan said.

Yan continued, “It was really cool to explore another country because I have never been to Europe before, so being able to explore Europe and Berlin specifically with friends and classmates and also learn about entrepreneurship in the Berlin setting was a very unique and memorable experience.”

Yan shared why she applied for the program. “I joined Exeter Business Club and competed in FBLA competition, so I was pretty interested in business and entrepreneurship.”

“I think overall it was pretty well organized because we had a balance of learning as well as having fun... getting to explore the city, and learning culture that way,” Yan reflected. “We had lots of time to reflect on how entrepreneurship could be seen in the daily lives of Berliners, and getting to interact with them was also a fun way to learn about it.

Yan concluded what she learned from the program. “There are lots of problems, lots of issues in the world right now, and you can always think of solutions to issues you’re passionate about and...be the agent of social change. No matter what your age is, what your background is, if you have a solution and an idea to a problem, you can be an entrepreneur.”

SUSTAINABILITY IN VERMONT

Upper Ben Soriano participated in the nine-day Sustainability and Service Learning program in Vermont. Soriano said, “The main purpose of our trip was to reconnect with nature and cultures we normally would never interact with. Through working on trails and talking with Abenaki elders and high schoolers in rural schools, we were able to view a world we otherwise would never have seen.”

Upon being asked to recall his favorite part of the trip, Soriano said, “My favorite part was definitely the mountain biking. The Northeast Kingdom’s mountain biking trails stretched through this entire valley and served as a great way for us to unwind and have fun in the middle of the program. It was quite physically challenging and pushed us all out of our comfort zones.” Soriano continued, “I think that the program was truly great. If I could change one thing, I would decrease the amount of trail work we did and add another day of mounting biking. Am I a little biased because I loved it? Absolutely. But it was a great bonding experience for the entire group and pushed us all emotionally and physically.”

BIO670 INTERNSHIP AT STANFORD

Seniors Valentina Zhang and Jenna Wang spent their Augusts as interns in the Seung Kim Lab at Stanford University under the mentorship of Dr. Lutz Kockel, as an extension of the BIO670: Biology Research course that they took during their upper springs. They spent their days both conducting experiments primarily involving fruit flies at their mature and larvae stages, examining results, and attending lab meetings alongside other researchers.

When asked about her favorite part of the program, Zhang reflected, “I would say that the most enjoyable part of the project was actually getting to see the results, and really think about how to interpret the results.” Zhang continued, “So for instance we had a hypothesis with the aging project, which was that, as the flies age their transposons would express at higher rates. So we were expecting that if we look at an adult fly that’s one day old, it would have, let’s say no transpose expression versus a fly that’s, you know, 30 days old. However, there were a lot of unexpected results.”

Zhang also spoke about experiencing firsthand some of the challenges that a scientist faces during their research. “One thing we struggled with was how to characterize the expression that we did see. So for instance, if you see a certain expression pattern in the brain of a one-day- old fly and then you see a different expression in a fly that’s 30 days old, how do you compare those two expression patterns and what can you say about the biology just based off of that? And I think getting to explore some of those data with Lutz and with Jenna and just looking through these images were really cool because it really made me feel like a scientist.”

Zhang added, “And Lutz was telling us that that’s a lot of what being in a lab and doing research are about. It’s about looking at your results and trying to analyze things that maybe hadn’t been analyzed before and trying to come up with new hypotheses.”

Wang also reflected on observing and learning from others in the lab. “It was incredible to see the inner workings of a lab. I especially gained insight into the critical thinking and perseverance that is necessary for research work. Seeing how lab members and my mentor, Dr. Lutz Kockel, adjusted experiments when things did not go as planned demonstrated how necessary problem-solving is — not only to research but also to life — and it’s a skill that we practiced often.”

During their time at the program, the two seniors were given the opportunity to interact with Exeter alumni Dr. Seung Kim ‘81 as well as Arjun Rajan ‘17. Wang spoke about being able to meet and connect with them. “At the internship, I gained vast amounts of insight and knowledge from both Dr. Seung Kim and Arjun Rajan. They are both incredibly inspiring and thoughtful people. I am truly grateful for all of the knowledge they have given me.” She added, “Dr. Kim gave me and Valentina advice on how to approach the future and truly cultivated a warm environment in his lab. Arjun helped guide Valentina and I through our bioinformatics project with stellar teaching skills and a genuine desire to help us learn. He also gave us helpful advice, not only regarding the project, but also about school, college, and beyond — and was so fun to talk with.”

ARCHAEOLOGY IN ITALY

Upper Ava Helbig introduced the itinerary of the program. “A week after we landed, we essentially went to this villa that was really close to the excavation site. And then from then on, every morning we woke up, we went to archeology, and we kind of just dug stuff, we excavated.” Helbig continued on the purpose of the trip. “And I think the whole point was to allow students to kind of explore the archeology career and how it goes and what it’s like and maybe give students something to contemplate, like why this would be a worthwhile career in the long run.”

Upper Laura Saldarriaga added, “We were in Gabii, which is kind of like a little town outside of Rome. And then we really focused on Gabii at that point. But we really tried to understand Roman history, even when we dug.”

Upper Keon Osei shared, “We explored all the museums and the culture, all the parts from the Coliseum and the Vatican. They were very interesting. Then we went for two weeks to an archeology site where we dug on an actual excavation site. And, we found a bunch of cool things like bones, pottery, and a bunch of building materials.”

Osei explained what motivated him to apply. “I was in Dr. Samuel’s Roman history class for Latin students. That really piqued my interest in archeology and Roman history because in his class he has these engraves that we’re supposed to learn and see if we can translate them into Latin, then translate them into English afterward. So then that really made me more excited to find these things in real life and go explore in archeology and also see how we can see the past in different ways and how it can reflect us too.”

Saldarriaga shared more about the trip experience. “The leaders like Doc Sam, who has been in the program since around 2010, and the other people have been there from the very beginning. They’re very well-versed in the history of the place. So they would tell us about the historical importance. It was just a really big learning experience. And then on the weekends, we would to go to cute little towns and also many historical museums. There was a lot of gelato.”

Osei shared, “But we had just an amazing experience on how we like to learn. We learned this specific time period that we’re excavating. It was really interesting because I don’t think I could’ve learned those skills. I would never have gotten to try these skills out if it wasn’t for this program.”

On the living situation, Saldarriaga responded, “Oh, I have no complaints about the housing. It was so good. So in Rome, we stayed in a Catholic school. Each of us had their own room, their own little bathroom, and a shared common room.... we would go downstairs to the school cafeteria where the lady would cook for us.”

“I was also not a huge fan of this Roman variant of spinach, which is super bitter,” Saldarriaga joked.

Helbig reflected, “I’m so glad that I did and I was able to experience all of this and meet all these new people who know that they want to do this for the rest of their lives. And it was inspiring to see, especially in archeology, that you have to have a lot of passion in you to keep going. By that I mean you can’t be an archeologist without seriously caring about the history of the people you’re excavating, and their homes or cities. And it’s just so admirable to see people have so much passion for what they do.”

The 2023 summer programs offered by the Academy’s Global Initiatives Programs provided remarkable spaces and opportunities that fostered a great variety of interests and passions. These programs created a very memorable summer for many Exonians.

Exonians on the Archaeology in Italy program pose for a photo. Photo courtesy of @pea_italy2023