Connecticut College Explore Weekend Reflection

Saturday afternoon,  I took a limo from Lincoln Center, 62nd St to attend an overnight stay program at Connecticut College called Explore Weekend. On my way to the college, which was about a 2-3 hour ride, I did not know what to expect. I would be stay with a college student for two nights and they would show me around campus. When we got to the college I saw so much green and trees, the atmosphere was different from New York, some thing I was waiting for for a very long time. After registering at the desk I met my host, Ben Ballard, he was very kind and welcomed me on campus. I could feel an amazing and friendly community with the college. Ben asked me what I was interested in studying, which was Political Science. As it turned out, our majors were very similar, he was a double major in history and international relations, both fall under government. We had amazing conversations about foreign policies and how the US has allowed its self to fall victim to pointless crisis's.

I was even able to discuss my high school and the programs it offers, he was really impressed and strange enough, one of his friends was a web designer. Later on I had the chance to meet interesting people at a banquet organized by the school. There was students from all over, most of them were from Chicago, Massachusetts and New York.

The next day, my host took out for breakfast and I was introduced to a lot of his friends, they seemed really nice and told me about the professors at Conn College. Later that day I had an interview at the office of admissions so I wore the most professional attire I had. By me performing well in interview was basically a way of me assisting my application.

After my interview I had the chance to take two college classes Psychology and Biology. In Pyschology, taught by Professor Ruth Grahim, I learned about how we receive pain and how the input goes to the part of our brain called the frontal cortex. I was very intrigued on what the professor was teaching us so I rose my hand and asked her if we need an input to receive pain then how do you explain the pain we receive when your leg falls asleep and it is numb? The response apparently was that the hair on your leg, no matter how small, is coiled in nerves, when your leg is positioned in a way that would un coil the nerves, the legs whole function is messed up, so it sends a message saying that leg is not in order, therefore as the nerves are recoiling themselves the leg goes numb.

In Biology, taught by Professor Marc Zimmer, I learned how one can use light to read and control minds. It was tested on lab rats that when a rat is sent a message of escape through a piece plastic attached to their head, when the light is turned on the mouse will force itself to find an exit. The way this works is that mice use their whiskers to sense direction and know where to move, sort of like a driving wheel in a car. Below is an image of the the professor's, Marc Zimmer, pet Axolotl which is a Mexican salamander that can glow blue in the dark, and when looked at through special goggles, makes the whole room look green

After these two classes. we attended a student panel where we asked currently enrolled students questions on college life. The event was very informative and a lot of what they had to say was very inspiring. Furthermore, the next day we participated in a community service project at a nearby theater. We got to learn about the New London, CT area as well as internship opportunities for college students. After that it was time to go back to New York, one of the hardest things to do was saying goodbye to my host, Ben Ballard, if it wasn't the amazing professors or great after school programs it was definitely is compassion and openness to invite me to the college, as well as introduce me to his Acapela group that made me feel at home on campus and definitely put Connecticut College on the top of my list.