10 November, 1996

November 10th, 1996

How I got involved in this project:

I thought it might be a good way to start off by introducing myself and explaining how I got involved in this project.

My name is Jennifer Stewart and I am 18 years old. Last May I graduated from Harrison High School in West Lafayette, Indiana. I am currently a freshman at Purdue University. I am on international exchange in Australia for one year (July 1996-July1997), so if anyone has questions about Australia, I would be happy to answer those as well. Being on exchange here down under means that classes have finished for the year and I can go to Antarctica over summer vacation without missing school!

When I was a junior at Harrison, I applied for a National Science Foundation Young Scholars summer program being held at Purdue. Twenty high school students from around Indiana spent seven weeks on campus that summer doing science research projects. It was a wonderful experience and really helped me decide that I wanted to be a scientist. My project was in the field of developmental biology. NSF and Purdue covered all of the expenses for this project, including giving us a per diem, which made it possible for many of us to attend. NSF cancled all of its Young Scholars Programs last year due to funding cuts much to everyone's chagrin.

The next spring there was a joint NSF/ Department of Education conference in Washington D.C. Purdue's program was chosen from amoung the 120 programs nation wide to represent the Young Scholars. I went with Dr. Oseto, the Program Director, and two other students to Washington D.C. for the conference. Again NSF covered the expenses and what an experience it was! I gave a poster presentation about my project and the activities I had done as a Young Scholar. It was neat to be part of the conference (my first ever like it) and to see some of our nation's capital during the breaks.

Accross the way from our booth was the Antarctic Booth. I met several teachers and scientists who had been involved in the project, and they told me that High School students can apply to go down "to the ice". The next spring when they were taking applications from Young Scholars for this experience, I applied, never expecting to be accepted! I was really shocked to get to go. I am truly very excited to share my experiences there with you, so read along and get in touch!