College of Wooster Bacterial Genomics Day 32: Triple P: Posters, Performers, and Painful Goodbyes!!
The morning unfolds in a new way today. Surprisingly, I get up early — a record time of 7:15 AM — to get ready for the day filled with riveting events. You’d think that waking up that early would give me plenty of time for breakfast and a slow start to my day. As usual, I was wrong, and instead I spend a lot of time lazing around until I had to start rushing at 8 AM just to grab a banana for breakfast.
As I enter the Williams building and reach Knowlton Commons, I am greeted with our various posters hung up. I look for my poster, despite considering the fact that I am already late. As I find mine, it feels great to see, as it’s 5 weeks of hard work embellished into one 3 by 4 feet paper. It fills me with a sense of pride and also sadness, as I know this means goodbyes are near. It starts to feel more real when we sign each other’s lab coats, making sure we leave something tangible behind, a keepsake of each other, beyond the emotional ways we have already impacted each other. These signatures are a manifestation of our community, all within our lab coats. It’s so symbolic, but I might just be tired and reading too much into it. We can’t spend too long thinking about these lab coats, though, as many of us are super nervous for the poster presentation that awaits us. We spend the rest of the time until lunch practicing.
After lunch comes the time we’ve all been waiting for! Everyone is suited up and looking spiffy (as Sohana, who steals my phrases, said). Everyone is super proud, with beaming faces as they present their work, the nuances in their research, the positive results and the negative results, because all of that work is a reflection of our academic growth. As poster presentations wrap up, we all head to dinner. The night after is a big one.
In what follows, our talent show, I actively see a group of scientists converting into performers. From presenters to performers! The talent show starts off strong with calisthenics from Pedro, and it only continues to exceed my expectations as the night progresses. From magic, to piano, to recorders, to singing, a skit about a tragic barber story (so emotional), and then of course the NUMBER 1 act — the mixed media one by Sohana, Veronica, and me! We changed the lyrics to “California Girls” and “Party in the USA”. Instead of “California Girls,” it was the “Summer Science Girls,” and we definitely cooked (see more in the video vlog!), and of course the feature of the one and only flexatone, sponsored by Minna! Our song was such a hit that people were karaoke-ing to it two days after, and it was stuck in people’s heads. Jameson surprised us at the end by giving prizes to the people with the best answers to his question of the day.
I won the question: a food combination that has not been made — my answer was nerds gummy cluster ice cream. (I’m surprised I won, because my answer felt super simple and was also created as I was eating gummy clusters from Veronica’s candy bag in the common room a few days back.) Anyway, the show ends as we proceed to our rooms, blasting music from Nora’s speaker and heading back to Babcock.
The rest of the night is spent eating Ben and Jerry’s ice cream (thank you, Michelle, for sharing) and karaoke-ing! Here and there, Sohana would break into a dance as well, but it was a fun night. As our time here is ending more and more, we want to spend more time with each other. Regardless, goodbyes will be painful, and this is the best group of kids I’ve ever met.
I go back to my room that night and reflect on this. How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard? Tomorrow will be an emotionally overwhelming day, so I mentally prepare myself for the painful goodbyes. That concludes the most exciting day of SSP!
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Ashika S.
Hi! I’m Ashika, a rising senior in Connecticut. In my free time, I enjoy playing tennis, shopping, and hanging out with my brother. Some of my interests are in neuroscience, molecular biology, and public health. As the program comes to an end, I am so grateful to say that I have gotten the chance to attend this program. It has been a transformative experience in numerous ways, and I’m sad to see it come to an end.
