WA.STEM

June 22, 2017 ~Flying to Princeton~ I'm currently flying to the Newark Airport on my way to the home I am renting out town PACT. I will try to do daily blog posts of my experience similar to what I did last summer for the Summer Institute of Mathematics at the University of Washington (SIMUW). I am taking an hour long Uber to my homely destination in Princeton. I am splitting the upstairs of the house with a graduate student doing some sort of scientific research from Cornell (so I hear) and my roommate Kota from Georgia (who is also participating in PACT). However, Kota will be arriving a couple of days later than me and will be driving her car up to New Jersey with her so we can go grocery shopping. I will have to figure out my dining options for these first couple of days alone seeing as the nearest grocery store is only accessible by car. Luckily, there is a small diner right across the house I am staying in. Hopefully is not too pricy. In the mean time I am planning on...

Due to yesterday's new privacy update on Twitter, I was eager to examine the changes in my security and privacy settings. Not contrary to most other social media sites, I was informed that my privacy settings were becoming more lenient, now collecting non-Twitter-related browsing data up to 30 days from my last Twitter activity to store (from the previous 10-day limit). Twitter claims that this will allow for a more personalized and accurate experience by referring users to products and sites in which they are more likely to be interested. On top of this offline-browsing policy extension, Twitter's pre-existing Do Not Track option which prevented websites from tracking and ad-targeting users has been removed (despite having held a polar-opposing view in 2012 when Twitter originally implemented the Do Not Track option). Apparently an option to manually prevent specific websites and companies from receiving user data will still exist, but I have not yet been able to find this ...

The time is here! It seems that every week I have at least two college decisions to look forward to.  I am currently studying for my differential equations, Java II, number theory, and Physics finals (next week) amidst these college notifications. This truly is the final countdown. It is so exciting to think that only two weeks stand between me and my college decision: the notification that will determine where I will be spending the next 4-years of my scholastic career! Through the college admissions process I have connected with so many impressive high school seniors around the country, and even the world. From California to Korea, these students have proven to me that there is no shortage of amazing humans around the globe, and I feel very lucky to have befriended so many of them already. Waiting for decisions is a lot more bearable with late night video calls, meme development chats, and group meet-ups. I cannot wait for what is in store for me, but no matter what, I ...

A list of the scholarships available to high school seniors: For Washington State Universities: - Washington State Opportunity Scholarship For the University of Washington: - Space Grant Consortium Scholarship National Scholarships: - Jack Kent Cooke College Scholarship - Burger King WHOPPER Scholarship - GE-Reagan Scholarship  - Coca-Cola Scholarship  - SanDisk Scholarship - Elks Most Valuable Student Competition Scholarship  - AXA Achievement Community Scholarship (make sure you apply early for this one as only the first 10,000 applications are considered) - VIP Women in Tech Scholarship - Google Scholarships  - APIASF Scholarship (Asian/Pacific Islanders) -Hadden Scholarship -Intertech Scholarship  -Beyond the Boroughs Scholarship  -Best Value Schools STEM Scholarship for Women *For high school juniors: -Coolidge Scholarship (full-ride)

Applying to college is both an exciting, and tumultuous time.  Throughout these past six months, I have written (and rewritten) countless essays, spent an unorthodox amount of time on collegeconfidential.com (CC), and along with the application process, I have learned a lot about myself. Six months prior, I thought I knew all I needed to about college applications. My understanding was something along the lines of, "Get good grades in school, write an essay, take the SAT, done". Little did I know how much soul searching, passion, and thought was required for the essay component alone. College is undoubtedly a big step, and I wanted to be sure I was going in the right direction for me. Six months ago I had not even heard about SAT subject tests (which several of the schools I have applied to require). Six months ago I wanted to be an astrophysicist; now I am in love with math and captivated by many topics within computer theory (though still very much interested in ...

I was recently interviewed by the Ferndale Record for the programs I participated in over the summer. My hope is that this publicity for the STEM programs in the area will allow for students in grades younger than my own, to know that there exists a multitude of amazing opportunities if they are actively searched for. My message to the current and future Whatcom County students: No matter whether you want to have your own business, be a fashion designer, or an astrophysicist, there is a place for you to be that person; you just have to put in some hard work (or a lot) and do a little research before you take your first step in the right direction. I have found that a good indication that I am heading in the right direction is if I find myself actually enjoying the ever-eventful journey of life, rather than dreading the effort it takes to attain  "the perfect job" or "perfect life". I think most people would agree with the idea that the ideal situation would be to ...

SIMUW Day 1: Today is my first day at SIMUW. The day started off with an orientation and introduction between the SIMUWers, parents, and TACs. We had some delicious pizza (vertically stacked), then said goodbye to our families. Afterwards, we played a group ‘name-learning’ activity and became somewhat acquainted with where we will be having class, and the University of Washington campus. Tomorrow will be our first day of class at 9:15AM, and we will be beginning the sessions Beyond the third dimension and Introduction to mathematical reasoning. I’m super psyched to fall in love with math even more, and for the many fun memories that are sure to come.  *There is no wifi in my room, so my posts may be delayed. SIMUW  Day 2: Today we began our math classes. Just to give some background, there are 20 participants here at SIMUW, and we all live on the eighth floor of Hagget Hall at UW. We share a common room, which is where we met this mo...