A Hot, Scorching Day

Wednesday felt like one of the hottest days of Providence. In the awful heat, I still decided to go to all of my planned workshops and activities. Fortunately, all buildings were well air-conditioned, so I survived.

In class, I ran a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of a section of my DNA using the primers I designed on Sunday for the gene: earwax type. Unfortunately, I did not get a product because when I ran my results through gel electrophoresis I did not see any strong results. Although I was quite disappointed, I started the process again after making some necessary changes with the annealing temperature. With the free time I had in class, I worked on my group presentation on intellectual property and genomics. 

At the end of class, I talked to Professor Hall about the career opportunities available in doing research in molecular biology. I also talked to her about fields of study I am interested in majoring in and I asked her if it's necessary to have a set plan for my future. After talking to Professor Hall, I became less tensed about planning for college and my future. 

Soon, my friends and I went to lunch. At 12:05 PM, I remember I wanted to go to a tie-dye shirt making workshop. I walked nearly all the way across the campus under the blazing sun to find out that there were no more shirts left. I walked back to my dorm and edited my blog from the day before. 

At 2:30 PM, I went to the Sciences Library (SciLi) to meet with my group members to finish our presentation slides and have a plan about how we will present our topic.

At 4:00 PM, I went to a workshop called Getting a Handle on the ACT and SAT. The workshop was presented by Karen Berlin Ishii, a Brown alum and an extremely experienced academic and test prep tutor. This was my second time going to her workshop. Although the workshop terrified me for the new SAT, I learned so many tips and tricks on how to do well on the new, harder SAT. I became very motivated to start practicing for the new SAT because of her presentation. 

After an extremely beneficial workshop, I went to dinner at the Ratty early. Then I went to the Main Green for the group meeting with Ms. Neal and everyone else. We discussed our plans for the next few days. Then we all made cards for our families, who have always support us; Don Gosney, who puts tremendous amount of work to make the Ivy League Connection journey possible for every student, Wally Gordon, who very generously gave a huge amount of money at a point when some trips would have had to be cancelled, and the school board, who has supported the ILC for years. 

Making cards and having fun!

Why won't Diana let me take a picture of her? Why Diana, why? I guess someone is shy.

After this fun activity, I accompanied everyone to the Ratty and then returned to my dorm to start packing, to finish my presentation preparations, and to blog about a nice day at Brown. 

Jackie breaking societal norms.