h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We had to write a letter to the Guv'nor so here I am, copying and pasting the overview of a day at school into my Journal so my dear H2G2 friends can see it . Have to post the following letter now!

It is incredible what a blast I am having. I am in my second week at Governors School and already regretting the last days of my classes… How the time appears to have flown! When I think about my days so far, more and more I begin to appreciate all the variety of entertaining experiences available here at Drew University.
A typical day I wake up to the sounds of my suitemates stirring, and I attend my first core class, Neurobiology, where Dr. Knowles stimulates our minds with his analogies about neuronal transmitters or ion channels. It was cool how we are motivated to observe our own memories objectively as possible, as we learn to find out not so much the answers as knowing how to ask the right sort of question, which will then lead to further scenarios. During one session the Professor asked “Why are you here?” and when we said “We’re interested in Sciences” he chuckled, “Yes, but you’re not approaching the question like scientists.” What? What could he have meant? Intrigued from the start, the other Scholars and I listened, so when I went on the field trip to Rutger’s Kech Center, on Collaborated Neurosciences, the significance of curing spinal cord injuries impacted more, even at the expense of… sacrificing rats.

I came into the School interested in this field, but not with the mindset I have now. “Why does the sun rise in the East?” and in return, the proper question is neither being asked or investigated, for the sun does not rise in the East, we simply assumed it does because from one perspective it only seems to rise in the East. Therefore after considering this aspect of thinking, recalling the previous question, we are here because of neuronal communication and other “physical processing generate who you are” had somehow, through a series of events, brought us smack in the Hall of Sciences at 8:30 am in the morning, having the pleasure of absorbing all this data and inquiring more in depth about subjects some of us never had the time or opportunity to expand on, such was the Cell Biology and Cancer course.
At first I panicked slightly at Professor Seanor’s rapid review of general biology, a class I had not taken since the end of my sophomore year. I remembered vividly how dismayed I was that I could not drag up specific details of cyclin’s and checkpoints in cell division, how I had sent a rather self conscious email to the High School Biology teacher, Mrs. Miller, whom I admired the most and had actually recommended me to Governors School. She sent her encouragements and reassured me that I possess a wonderful cerebrum. So, boosted by this email, I begin to – with a bit of researching and more than my usual allot of thinking time – see how thrilling and complex living organisms really are. Funnily, complicated as today’s world is, the past to me is ever more so.

In Anthropology we are exposed to the theories, beliefs and remnants of the Human Evolution. Dr. Van Blerkom gave us homework readings ranging from Intelligence Design to the Societal Structures of the Bonobos, a topic I reassure you, that is quite the worthwhile read. She also, after finding out I’m a big Jared Diamond fan, allowed me to borrow a contemporary video of Guns, Germs and Steel, which I read freshman year when Mr. Andrews, the Earth Science teacher, recommended the book for me. Anyhow, after lunch I switch from trying to interpret and / or determined the truths and myths concerning our (mankind’s) ancestors to orienting rims and gluing together sherds for my assigned Team Project.

Team Project is a very big deal around here. In fact, the Counselors told us it might be the most important project out of all the classes and extracurricular available to us. They were not joking about setting priorities, because by the end of the month we live here all of us are to have become experts enough to present the powerpoint and research paper to the entire school. I walk in for two and a half hours the first day to Archaeology and I could already see why Team Project is stressed. The process of having to gather information, process it and use the datum to support a hypothesis takes us through a real application of the Scientific methods. Better yet, we’re in a group, as diverse as can be, and soon it becomes apparent how delegating the work to suit the different types of personality and skills is just as vital to the success of a project as the contributions of each member to the concerted effort. Speaking of working together, Professor Masucci had not only provided a wealth of excavated sherds from sites in Ecuador but also her husband came in to teach us how to draw the Pots and reconstruct their forms on the AutoCAD program. That was not only totally unexpected but extremely cool. My School instructed how to draft a blueprint on Inventor, though not this CAD program, which is similar. Though I am fascinated by all the ways an Archaeologist can measure the volume and area of a pot from incomplete fragments dating from 600 AD and earlier, am more drawn to reassembling the lives of those who had made the pottery. What would, one might ask, ceramic analysis have anything to do with the ancient people?

There are two reasons. The obvious answer is Chicha, a beer that may have established one’s politics and social status in the village. The Equadorians viewed the drink as sacred and from the pots used to brew, store and serve Chicha we will infer more about life in the typical household. The more subtle and fundamental reason is that, As Dr. Masucci accentuated with accounts of the Amazon and Inca lifestyles, that History is patterned, therefore, it is from speculations about the past trends that we learn our future, whether it is seen with a petrography microscope or not.

While I am on microscopes I feel like digressing to a tangent. A Laboratory actually, Dr. Miyamoto, the Director of this Governors School, teaches The Physics and Practice of Microscopy, and introduced us to the principles of refraction patterns and imagery. I was, as I had felt with Dr. Seanor’s cell biology class, flustered initially that I might be the only one in the classroom ignorant of what the Snell’s law dictates, especially since I will not be taking AP Physics until this School year. Quickly however I caught on, it was difficult not to understand when the lasers and fog machines are on and you have at least two classmates eager to explain to you what you would get from shining the light through a double slit. I am thankful to be with such helpful peers indeed.

Science and Technology of the Greeks and Romans proved not to be primitive at all. We began studying certain elements of Egyptian and Babylonian mathematics and the effects their calculations came when the Greeks started to engineer methods to investigate the world. Again, history ties in rather well to both the Greeks and Romans. I especially enjoyed reading what natural philosophers as well as the doctors at the age concluded with evidence and experience.

The Library here is certainly the ultimate experience. I borrowed out the Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, A Moveable Feast by Hemingway, and Karl Marx’s Capital to keep me occupied on weekends when I finished lamenting over Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and of course, Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time books that I bought from the Bookstore in the University Center. I do get out of the dorms. How could I resist? There’s a fantastic greenhouse here. I liked the tropical region best though it was hot and moist.

The campus here is vast and we walk everywhere! I even strolled into the town of Madison for ice cream after participating in the 30 hour famine, another thing I’d never tried before, but found to my liking I will continue to do so. It’s wonderful that I’m reaching out of my comfort zones and now am happily feeding my mind. I went on the American Golf Association trip though I never played any golf except miniature golf once in fifth grade. But Egads! The physics involved in just testing the golf products are impressive, not to mention that a windtunnel was donated to Princeton University, which I’ve read about on a website before but had not realized it originally was used to experiment on golf balls. We even got to keep a souvenir each, yay our very own golf balls!

Even the movies are great! On Friday we watched Office Space together, and it was, as everything here is, a blast in its own way. All the experiences have been enriching, as I am astounded by how enthused and avid everybody here are, not only to the Sciences, but to life. The same classmates who are inquisitive and active in learning just as they are dancing with flares to Backstreet Boys’ I Want It That Way. Perhaps I’m the only one who’s not looking at the Ivy’s for college next year, but then in my own way I have been educated by this spirited program as much as the person who is considering Yale or UC Berkley. I think I will miss this marvelous place when I leave.

Sincerely,

Lily W.

HIIIIIIII!

Dear Elwyn,

Sounds as you´re having a wonderful time! You´re so enthusiastic! Your subjects seem to be very interesting - but try to do something "unscholar" every now and then - recharging the batteries so to say.

I wish you luck in studies and time off.

As long as shes interested and enjoing it theres no reason not to focus as much as she wants on schooling. Im sure se'll take a break if she needs one.

*huggles*
Okay I'm finished with licking envelopes close, and I had to change Dear Sir to Madam for the district Senator, who is Martha... A woman

As for the rest, how are you?

Field trip to the Mine today, we had prior warning it'll be cold underground. Don't worry DragonQueen, after the next wekk I'm off to see my grandparents I can crash there and recoop.