WHS Senior Studies Environmental Sci.

 In what summer program did you participate?

I participated in a pre-college program called BELL Rhode Island. It was an environmental leadership lab that I got college credit for through Brown University.

How did you hear about the program?

I heard about the program because I was contacted by a group called The Joyce Ivy Foundation, which grants scholarships to girls seeking higher education in the form of precollege programs at prestigious universities, mainly Ivy League schools. I looked through the schools they partnered with and found Brown University, which has been a dream of mine since I was little. I chose the BELL program because I’m interested in environmental science, and the lab was located right by my grandparents’ summer home. 

What was the highlight of the program?

It’s hard to pick just one highlight for the whole trip because it was two weeks long and every moment was amazing. I will always remember the people who I met, stargazing and seeing the international space station pass through the sky, and walking down the beach in the middle of the night to find bioluminescent jellyfish.

Were there any negatives of participating?

There weren’t really any negatives. The food and bathrooms were nothing glamorous, but much better than the average amenities at a summer camp. We disconnected from electronics and our cell phones for almost the entirety of camp, but by the second day of not having my phone, this was definitely a positive. We got to know each other better than if we would have remained in contact with all of the things going on back home.

Would you encourage other students to get involved in programs over the summer in coming years?

Absolutely. This was my first experience that was anything like a true summer camp and now I’m so jealous of people who have had these experiences growing up. I loved it and I miss the people I met there a lot. The only negative is how far away we live from each other; we can’t see each other often enough.