Concord High School junior Skye Reese spent part of her summer at the Curie Academy of Engineering at Cornell University in Ithica, N.Y., which we thought was awesome, so we caught up with Skye via email now that she’s back in the 603.
How did you get connected with the Marie Curie program? My mom actually got me connected to the program. I knew I wanted to do some sort of engineering camp this summer, so my mom went online and researched various possibilities. I learned that it is a well-respected and prestigious program; 42 of the 200 to 300 applicants were admitted and there were girls there from Florida, California, Hawaii, and Germany, among many other places. The Curie program is all girls. I learned that girls are only allowed to do it one time, to give more people opportunities. If they didn’t have that rule, I’d certainly consider going back!
What activities did you do while you were there? Our time was packed. The day started with breakfast at 8:15 a.m., and all three meals were buffet-style and absolutely delicious; either the dining hall’s food or catered by a restaurant. Then we had two 1-hour lectures about different kinds of engineering from professors right there at Cornell. After lunch we had four or five hours working on our main project.
This year, the topic for the main project was computer and electrical engineering. We had quick lectures where we learned about software, hardware, and the internet of things, and then (let’s hope you learn fast, because half an hour was pretty much the only instruction time!) we went to the labs to try out what we learned and work on the big IoT project. The one my group was assigned to was a wearable health monitor. Our input was a force plate that sensed how many steps you took, and our output was an LED matrix display, a Piezzo element playing a tune, and a red light going on and off when a certain number of steps was reached.
I learned how to do the hardware part, so wiring and breadboarding, but it turned out I was actually really good at the software, so using the program C++ to tell the Arduino software what to do. I had to learn the programming language and write the coding into the computer.
After dinner, we would always have a fun group activity, which included things like a tour of Cornell, going to the campus store, rock climbing, bowling or playing games. Finally, at about 9:30 or 10 p.m., we had our personal time. By this point, I was normally exhausted but satisfied.
What was your favorite part of the program? What was your least favorite? My favorite part of the program was getting to do things that engineers actually do and problem solving. Even though I am not going to be doing computer engineering as my career, it was still worthwhile and helped me see that I really do love engineering. Also, the food was so good – Cornell is known for its dairy bar! Finally, I loved meeting the new people. I met a girl named Kate and we hit it off and ended up spending a lot of time together the whole week – staying up late and chatting, we even Skyped her boyfriend one night!
Did you learn stuff there that you can apply to school this year, or your life in general? For school this year, I learned about what branches of engineering I may want to go down, and also that computer programming is essential no matter what type of engineering I choose to do. For me, it’s most likely mechanical, because I like hands-on as well as improving efficiency. Also, with the knowledge of what engineering is like, it will help me a great deal when applying for colleges. I also learned that to be an engineer you have to learn fast, which I felt I could do pretty well.
What do you want to study when you go to college? Engineering; most likely mechanical.
Now that you’re home, let’s talk about Concord: where is your favorite place to go in the city? Oh, I like to visit the skyscrapers, or the Starbucks on every block, or hit the awesome mall with my friends, or get a tour of the city and all the interesting things there are in it . . . no, but actually, I love to go to the St. Paul’s docks with my friends, or go downtown and go to dinner or froyo, or go running through the city because it is pretty and the nature is beautiful.
What are you most looking forward to this year at school? I am most looking forward to taking classes that aren’t required but rather that I chose. It will be nice taking classes knowing that this knowledge really will benefit me down the road. Also, I’m excited for great cross-country running and tennis seasons, as well as seeing what comes of the Theatre Festival Club because I enjoyed taking Amadeus to Festival so much last year.
Hidden talent? Well, that’s hard. I’m great at keeping secrets, but do I dare share that? “The louder he spoke of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.” Alright here’s one – I’m good at figuring out the most efficient way possible to do something.
Guilty pleasure? Watching America’s Next Top Model. I know it’s a really trashy show that is probably half scripted, but it’s mindless and entertaining, which can be a nice way to debrief after a stressful day. Although sometimes I get stressed out when they’re doing the eliminations.
