Sunday, June 4, 2023
By:
It feels really weird to be writing one of these after reading so many within the past year, but I am so excited to share my journey here this summer.
It started off on Sunday when my family took a nice 4-hour car ride down to D.C. Luckily because I live in NJ, I was able to pack all my stuff up and not have to make any Target runs when I got here like some of the other interns did. I got all unpacked into my room and met my roommate Hannah. It was so nice to finally meet in person after texting for the last few weeks.
Monday was Memorial Day, but it was also really rainy so I did not do too much exploring. My family stayed overnight to avoid driving back home in bad traffic, so I spent most of the day with them. I have been to D.C many times before, but we did something I had never explored: Ford's Theater. It was free and definitely a really interesting stop to learn about Lincoln and his assassination if you have not been there before. We took an uber back to the dorm and I said goodbye to my family for the next 9ish weeks.
That night was the first time I met all of the other interns for dinner at a restaurant called Tonic. It is definitely nerve-wracking meeting new people in a new place, but everyone was so nice, and it put me in a really good mood for the rest of the program. The restaurant also had really good mac and cheese (just saying…).
Tuesday was our first official day, which meant I woke up nice and early to catch the metro into ACP for our orientation. Fun fact is that I love the DC metro stations. I think they are much cooler than any other subway system station I have traveled on. Once in College Park I met some of the SPS staff, as well as other AIP members. We learned a bit more about what AIP is, program expectations, and even did a team bonding spaghetti tower competition (we almost won but then our tower fell during the extra two allotted minutes…shoutout to my group Devin and Brynn). After orientation me and the other two APS interns, Jaden and Devin, hopped on an IT meeting which was a bit crazy to say the least. After an hour of dealing with super slow internet, we hopped on another zoom call with our mentors. We got a brief introduction to everyone and what to expect for the summer. We also got a very warm welcome from the APS employees, which I really appreciated.
During the rest of the week I had some more meetings where I was introduced to my main mentor Nicole, other team members Allie and Claudia, and the projects I will be working on. More details to come in the following weeks, but I’ll be working on Physics Quest which focuses on creating lessons for middle school teachers that involve physics but also work to change the narrative of physics to be more inclusive, and APS’s Science Trust Project which focuses on combating misinformation in science. I spent this week learning the basics about these projects and how they work currently in order to orient myself before jumping into my tasks next week. I already had multiple check ins with my mentors, and I can tell these projects and the group fit my interests really well. I also learned of the opportunities I will have to talk to APS staff and ask questions about their career path in order to help solidify some of my future career goals. I am lucky to be a part of a great group this summer and am really looking forward to working with the Public Engagement Team.
Some other fun moments were the times the interns spent after work. My motto for this summer is try everything! On Tuesday a few of us went to watch the sunset behind Lincoln Memorial. On Wednesday we went and sat near the national mall. (Pro Tip: Do not spent 8 dollars on soft serve chocolate ice cream from an ice cream truck – not worth it.) On Thursday we all hang out at the dorms playing some board games and just talking about our day. We actually went around in a circle, and everyone gave a quick synopsis of what they did. The theme this week seemed to be IT issues, but I think they are all resolved now. It is so interesting to hear what everyone is doing since it is all so different and unique. On Saturday a few of us went to the Smithsonian Zoo! We saw some pandas, various small mammals, and a lot of elephants. It was a fun first weekend of exploring D.C and also catching up on some sleep…
Now that we have all met and started bonding it is clear that we are already quite close group of interns who are passionate about their work, but also enjoy relaxing and having fun. I can’t wait to explore more of D.C with them during this summer.
Jenna Tempkin