Sunday, June 6, 2021
By:
“Engage” - Captain Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
The first week of the 2021 SPS SOCK Internship is underway, and I couldn’t be more excited for the rest of the summer. Not to say that this first week hasn’t been without any hitches, but the future is very exciting and this past week has laid down the foundations.
First and foremost, I suppose I should explain what exactly I will be doing this summer. SOCK stands for Science Outreach Catalyst Kits which have a number of really awesome science demos packaged in them. The idea is for SPS chapters to use them as events for themselves but also outreach events and the general public. I’m going to be adding to last year's acoustic based sock, which Brad and I have a pretty awesome name idea for (I’m going to keep that under wraps for now). Another major part of my job, which I’m probably most excited for, is designing cool, engaging, and cheap physics demos for students of all ages. I’ve already drafted 2.5 of them, but I’m expecting a lot of edits and feedback. The final part of my summer will be working on a new outreach event called Psi* (Psi Star). The idea for that is to integrate technologies that are important in physics and apply them to real world problems and beyond. There are a lot of really cool ideas floating around about the program, but first we have to take the ideas that have already been made concrete by the creator (Randy Tagg, a professor at UC Denver) and get those into writing. I’m hoping that after the internship is over I might still be able to help out on the project, depending on how much we get done this summer. I can really see some incredible potential in Psi*.
The week wasn’t without it’s hiccups though. Working from home is far from ideal, and even though I’ve been doing it for over a year it’s still very taxing mentally. Staying motivated to keep working for 7-8 hours a day is exhausting, and sometimes I just can’t be as productive as I would like. It’s so easy to take a break and then play with my cat for half an hour. I also have to do so much brainstorming and coming up with ideas and how to convey sometimes very complex concepts in a way for elementary school students to understand, it can give me a headache at the end of the day. As much as it’s a struggle, it’s also a challenge I can rise up to and overcome. Also it’s very mentally stimulating which, unlike some other jobs I’ve had in the past, is very welcome.
I’ve also started to get to know some of the other interns and they are all wonderful. We watched Ant-Man last Friday and had some good laughs over the “quantum realm” and all the other physics Marvel decided to throw in to explain the movie. I’m really looking forward to hanging out with them more, but also sad we aren’t in person to meet them in real life. We do all plan to go to the Phys-Con 2022 though, so we’ll get to meet there!
If I had to summarize the first week, I’d say that we’re off to a great start, but there’s still a lot to get used to and to work on. It’s early on in the summer and this internship is a marathon, not a sprint. I think next week I’ll be much more in the groove with my day to day tasks and how I can effectively use my time. So until next week!
Live Long and Prosper,
Noah Johnson