Stevens Admissions: Julia

Colorado

Every other year, our volleyball team is allowed to take a "trip", which really means that we get to play in a tournament in a state out of our region. We went to Wisconsin my freshman year. Colorado was much more fun.

Things to note:

1.) The Altitude

Below the scoreboard in the Colorado College gym, it says 'ALTITUDE 6,200 FT. BREATHE DEEPLY'. We were laughing at it in the beginning, then soon realized we were all out of breath. The balls also traveled a lot further than they do at sea level, so serving was interesting as well. It was a tiring weekend, but we played some really great volleyball and had a lot of fun on the court. We took the 14th ranked team in the nation to 5 sets and almost beat them.

2.) The Scenery

This is actually my favorite picture of all the ones I took this weekend. We went to a national park, "Garden of the gods" in Colorado Springs. There were a bunch of neat rock formations, and it was beautiful. We split up and wandered around... and then got lost. Our coach had to call us twice and then come pick us up in the van. I took this picture after we decided to just wait to be found, after walking around trying to find the rest of the team for 15 minutes.

3.) The Statues

This picture was taken at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, which was an amazing facility.  We really liked this statue.

I'm glad that we had the chance to go on this trip, I really couldn't have asked for much more.

Summer Plans

With only five weeks of classes left, I've had to start solidifying my plans for this summer. Towards the beginning of this semester, I was lucky enough to secure a research position in one of the Chemistry labs here. I plan to continue in the lab through the summer and upcoming school year. The thought of summer research makes me nostalgic for last summer. I really don't know how this summer will be able to compare, but I guess I should explain how last summer went.
Being in the Scholars Program at Stevens has opened so many doors for me. The program allows a student to choose either to enroll in summer classes, or to choose a research position in one of the many labs on campus. I chose the research option, and worked in the Biomedical Engineering Lab on a couple of different projects. What attracted me to this lab particularly, was the wide range of projects that were offered such as: Better Defining the Center of Rotation in the Lumbar Spine, Designing Pumps to Reduce the Overgrowth of Blue-Green Algae in a Lake... and one of the more fun ones: Designing a Better Doggie Swim Ladder. The professors in the department gave us a lot of freedom in running the projects.
One highlight of being involved with this lab, was the chance to teach in ECOES, the pre-college summer program for high school students. Basically, high school sophomores and juniors stay at Stevens for two weeks and get introduced to all of the different majors that Stevens offers, while experiencing the "college life" and the Hoboken scene. When the students came to the BME lab, we gave presentations and showed them how to use several of the devices in the lab.

But my FAVORITE part of the summer was going to Norway.
I never would have imagined going to Norway... in my life.
As part of a new exchange program in Systems Engineering, the Scholars Program sent 9 students to Buskerud University College in Kongsberg, Norway. I cannot fully explain what a phenomenal experience this was. During the summer, there are only 4 hours of darkness, which is why Norway is called "the land of the midnight sun". It was weird still being able to see the sun around 10:30pm, but we got used to it. Norway is absolutely beautiful, and we were fortunate enough to have the weekends off from school which allowed us to hike and travel throughout the country. We made a bunch of friends there that we still keep in contact with, and even made it onto National Television! Apparently a news station near Kongsberg caught wind of American Students in Norway, and did a feature on us. Basically, we became international celebrities (slight exaggeration)

I'll end with a picture from the trip, though I wish I had TV clip.

This was the view I had from my window for three weeks :)

Spring Break

Greetings from sunny, Tampa!

It's hard to believe that last week we had a snow day, and this week I'm laying out by the pool in 83 degree weather.

It's beautiful here, and I'm so happy to just spend the week relaxing with my friends. This is about as productive as I plan to be this week. I'll post some pictures at some point, I'm sure.

I hope to leave Tampa, not being the palest person in the state.