SCHOOL - FRESHMAN YEAR
Storytelling in the Sciences
This was the first Honors course that I took at UW, and it set the tone for the years to follow in the best way. I did not fully know what to expect from the Interdisciplinary Honors program at first; I assumed that it would be all about academic rigor, with fast-paced AP style classes and the competitive environment I was used to from high school. I was caught off guard on the first day of class when I realized what a collaborative, relaxed, and supportive classroom I found myself in. In Storytelling in the Sciences, we learned how to present scientific ideas in a meaningful and compelling way, starting by letting go of the rigid and boring presentation structure we were all used to. We focused on capturing big ideas and removing as many words as possible from the presentation slides and replacing them with multimedia content. Our primary goal was always to tell a story or narrative rather than just present facts in a linear way, and I immediately noticed how much more engaging my presentations became. We were encouraged to improvise based on an outline rather than follow a rigid script, and regularly incorporated improv games into our class sessions. I've always considered improv games to be my worst nightmare and I was terrified for the first few weeks, but by the end of the quarter I learned to relax and just go with the flow and it helped me be less nervous for my presentations. I ended up having so much fun creating my presentations and feeling way more confident about my public speaking skills, and I realized that I had absolutely made the right choice in joining the Honors program.
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Unfortunately, I no longer have a copy of my final PowerPoint presentation. However, this was an assignment we did in preparation for our presentations where we created a blog post based on our presentation topic. My presentation was named, "Your Brain On Music: the Neurological Basis of Music Nostalgia" and for this blog post I wanted to focus on creating a strong narrative through which I could engage my audience.
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Public Outreach in Astronomy
For our midterm project we had to create a planetarium or observatory presentation to give to our classmates. I decided to do a planetarium "trivia scavenger hunt" where I split everyone up into two teams and then gave them points based on who could guess the answers to my cosmological trivia questions. I was pretty nervous because I had to focus on giving a presentation while also remembering all the right controls to navigate the planetarium software, but it ended up going smoothly and I had a lot of fun leading the activities. At the end I received feedback from my classmates, and they all said they loved the scavenger hunt idea and found it very engaging!
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I have always had an interest in astronomy, and I can still distinctly remember the awe I felt when my high school astronomy class took a field trip to the UW planetarium. We leaned back on the reclined seats, the lights dimmed, and we were launched off into the stars. We soared past planets and galaxies, all beautifully rendered from NASA telescope images, and ended the tour by zooming out all the way to the entire observable universe surrounded by cosmic microwave background-- beyond which the radiation from the Big Bang has not yet had time to reach Earth. I left the presentation feeling absolutely captivated that such technology existed; the ability to explore the entire universe with a computer program and an Xbox controller! I didn't think I would ever take another astronomy class, but during an exploration seminar that I took my freshman fall quarter, I learned about Astronomy 270: Public Outreach in Astronomy, and I knew I had to take it. In this class, undergraduates of any background or intended major can share their enthusiasm for astronomy by learning to use the planetarium and engaging in public outreach. We learned how to create fun and engaging presentations for a variety of audiences, and at the end of the quarter each of us gave a presentation to a community group ranging from elementary schoolers to retirement groups. I was amazed that this was something I could get involved in as an undergraduate, and it ended up being the highlight of my freshman year! |