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Summer Visit - 2023 - SCHARP

The summer visit to Caltech is 4 days long and is the only time during the year of work when all the participants on the team come together in person to work intensively on the data. Generally, each educator may bring up to two students to the summer visit that are paid for by NITARP, and they may raise funds to bring two more. The teams work at Caltech; the summer visit typically includes a half-day tour of JPL, which is a favorite site for group photos. Reload to see a different set of quotes.

The SCHARP team came to visit in June 2023. The 5 core team educators attended, plus 10 students.

Quotes

  • The best thing about the trip was collaborating with my group. Everyone was so willing to help each other and work toward a common goal. You don’t always see that in many work environments.
  • My advice for teachers is to be willing to take the risk of learning side-by-side with your students. Likely every teacher is reluctant to do this, but if you can get over the initial anxiety, the rewards are great for yourself, your students, and even your school’s culture.
  • [student:] Real astronomy is time consuming. It is sleepiness and long periods of looking at computer screens. It is not knowing if you are doing anything the right way.
  • There is nothing like the group being in the same room to ask questions and to support each other. Also, listening to others’ questions is an important piece of this project – many times, I didn’t think of the question that was posed before it was asked.
  • [student:] I think the most important part was also being able to see the growth and change in myself as I became a more passionate learner.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2023 - SCHARP