Hello again, friends. Sorry I’m a smidge behind on the posting, but I promise to get you all caught up soon. With this workweek almost complete, there are only three weeks left in the program…and I have even slightly less time left. Our presentations are about two weeks away, and I fly home the following Thursday so I can spend a couple days [frantically packing] at home before I rush back to start school the following Monday. I am saddened thinking about the end of the summer, but by the time I head home, it will have been ten weeks since I’ve seen my family and eight months since I’ve seen my roommates, friends, and beautiful college campus. So I am excited for this next “era” as well.

The weekend before last was probably one of the most eventful of the summer. We had our mid-summer check-in where we all gave short presentations about our projects and participated in a couple of workshops about communication. It was great to hear about what the other scholars are up to in a more formal way (rather than giving each other a one-sentence rundown while lying around our apartment in our pajamas).

One portion of the science communication workshop, given by Liz Cerny-Chipman, particularly caught my attention. I’ve included a picture of the slide below. It depicts the category and risk level of different types of scientific engagement.

Looking at this slide got me thinking about my place on this graph. I love to communicate with people – not in a constant, steady stream, but in a speech or report where I am able to provide important or useful information to a group. I love being the person to relay that information, whose job it is to both share knowledge (or make a convincing argument) and captivate an audience. I am not fantastic with children, and social media makes me nervous. The minute someone classifies something as “a challenge” or “high risk,” my desire to do it increases by about 1000%. Thinking about all of these characteristics, I can’t help but think that I might be right at home in the High Risk, Political Engagement Zone in the top right.

I’ll let you know in about ten years.

After the check-in, we went camping at Trout Creek campground (near the town of Sweet Home in the Willamette National Forest). I haven’t been camping since I stopped going to summer camp at 16, and I enjoyed myself immensely. Rare/cool experiences from the weekend include: swimming in 37-degree, crystal-clear water; hiking to Moraine Lake, located above the tree line on South Sister; and remembering what 80 degrees feels like.

Crater Lake (!!!) happened this past weekend. More to come about that next post. Hope you all had wonderful weeks.