Sunday, August 6, 2023
By:
And here we are. Writing a blog from my home in Pennslyvania feels incredibly strange, and it does not help that this is the final blog. I will undoubtely panic this time next week thinking I have another blog to write. I feel like there's so much I want to say here, but at the same time it feels like there is little else to say. The internship and a large majority of the summer is over. All of the presentations were fantastic. I think the rehersal was really beneficial for everyone. While everyone seemed prepared, there was something for all of us to improve on, and our final presentations were very strong for it. Friday was a very long day. The presentations started early in the morning with everyone nervous as expected. However, one by one, each of us got to talk about what we did this summer, and as the presentations went on, we all became a bit more relaxed. The support from SPS and all the attendees was superb. I was not expecting Brad, Kayla, and Mikayla to gift us all books either which was so sweet of them. They even signed them, which inspired us all to sign each other's books! I got a little emotional reading everyone's messages. And speaking of emotional, Brad told us all that we would be his last group of SPS interns. He has been such a massive source of inspiration and admiration, and I don't think SPS will be the same without him.
Saying goodbye to everyone friday night was such a struggle. All of the interns were such amazing people, and I didn't want to say goodbye to a single one of them. I really hope I'm able to see them again at a conference this year, or anytime in the future really. Being by myself without them in PA is such a strange feeling. I feel like Jaden and Devin should be right next door. It almost hurts to look back on the summer a bit because I'll miss it all so much.
Looking forward, I have my senior year at Millersville coming up. I definitely feel like I am taking a step back by going back to undergrad classes after this internship, but the fact remains I still have a lot to learn. I am really excited to apply what I have learned at NIST to my lab courses at Millersville. I will also be an officer for my local SPS chapter. I really want to devote a lot of my time to increasing my SPS chapter's presence at Millersville, as well as encourage more underclassmen to join! Graduate school seems so close yet so far. Although I'm sure that's how undergraduate felt as a highschool senior. I still struggle to see myself as a future scientist sometimes, but I've come this far, and there's no telling how far I'll go from here. The same goes to all the other interns. They all hold very promising careers ahead of them. It's hard to say goodbye, but all good things must come to an end. Until we meet again!
Colin Myers