EIP 2018 REFLECTIONS: ABANG HARITH
"The people, the students, the experience, the stories, the late night drives— etched forever for many years to come."
The idea of making a program to raise the interest of high school students on physics piqued my interest in the first place partly because I never really liked physics at least not until I furthered my studies in foundation. I thought that it would be a great opportunity to share with the students some of the reasons why I really like physics. I was assigned to the Bureau of Sponsorship but was later changed to Protocol specifically in charge with the creation and execution of modules during the program. Initially we kind of agreed upon the idea of making 4-5 slots during the entirety of the program, to be honest majority of us were probably just following whatever had already been decided. It didn’t feel right to me, it felt too far-fetched. For a few days I was contemplating with a few of my acquaintances online about how I should go with this feeling of mine. Finally I decided to tell Azman mainly about I felt that the number of slots were too much and how some of the executions were not well thought off. He saw through my reasoning and brought it up on a meeting and we decided to change the modules altogether. I never really liked confrontations and had always followed the flow but I thought to myself that if I really wanted to do this program wholeheartedly, it had to be something that I really agree with because honestly I was very skeptic of the whole thing despite having prior experience of working with some of the team members in different projects. Somehow, someway, as time went by, as we rushed completing whatever needed to be completed— the program was days, hours away.
It’s time. Empowering Interest in Physics.
Day one was pretty great. I wasn’t really expecting the students to be that
chill but they were so that’s great! Ice breaking session— a challenge. Being
not really good at small talks, it was hard at first to connect with my team of
several students. Assigned with Juliana, somehow we made it alright for the
first session. Had some fun knowing each other, did some cheers, all in all
positive vibes.
Slots— Quantum Race, Physics Showtime and Glory of the Physicists. Assigned to
the station of stability and centre of gravity with Ju for QR, we legit didn’t
try the station ourselves (if it was doable) until at least 10 minutes before
the actual slot. It went great, lots of teams managed to make some impressive
structures. Physics Showtime with Auzan, it was okay on the first day but since
it was in the evening a lot of the students were already tired. We decided not
to only explain about waves but went onto explaining some concepts of modern
physics. I also might had exposed the students a little bit on SpaceX and Elon
Musk because I’m just obsessed with the guy really. It was such a great feeling
for me personally when I saw their faces lightened up and their mouths went wow when I tried explaining a little bit
on the beauty of relativity and quantum physics. Glory of the Physicists was a
bit of an odd one, I didn’t think it would work but it kind of did. It was
quite surprising really when most of them haven’t really heard any of the names
that we brought up but that’s good in a way because it made them wanting to
hear the stories and contributions of these great physicists attentively. I was
also asked to do the wrap-ups for both Physics Showtime and Glory of the
Physicists which I gladly did. Took the opportunities to share some of the
qualities of importance that is needed as a scientist in general such as
perseverance and how the journey of pursuing knowledge never ends. I’m not going
to lie, I was very skeptical on the impact any of these slots were going to
have on the students but once again I was glad to be proven wrong. Everything
went fantastic. The students learned. I learned. The students were having fun.
I was too. They were happy. I still am.
Post-EIP. It’s a weird feeling. I went in initially wanting to just end
the program as quickly as possible and forget about it. But it can’t seem to
leave my mind. Tired but well worth it! Weeks of relentless stressful
preparation actually came to fruition. I think my biggest joy of all is being
able to make them grasp the essence of simple concepts of physics and to blow
their minds off with its peculiarities and seeing the wows coming off their
mouths were just something else. That feeling and sense of accomplishment to
amaze them on the wonders are something that I take pride in and would always
remember. The people, the students, the experience, the stories, the late night
drives— etched forever for many years to come.
