Course Description

Science Research Program – Grades 9, 10, 11, 12


Full Year – Level H: Incoming freshman and sophomore students must apply for admission to this program in January of the prior academic year. Acceptance into the program will be based on a science teacher recommendation, a written essay, and excellent academic grades.


This is an ongoing program that is taken in conjunction with the student’s regular science course. There are several tiers to the program. During Year 1 students learn the components of scientific research including the scientific method and apply these concepts in various settings including designing and conducting an authentic science research project and communicating results by participation in at least one local science fair. Students also explore various applications of science topics through field trips, guest speakers and class projects. Advanced students (Years 2-4) select their science research topic, locate an out-of-school mentor (either in industry or at a local university) and compete in a variety of science fairs including the CT State Science Fair, Southern CT Invitational Science and Engineering Fair (SCSEF) and the CT Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (CT JSHS). Advanced students pursue their selected research in depth, perform statistical analysis and compete at a number of local and/or national science fairs and competitions. In Years 2, 3, and 4 students are grouped together in a non-traditional classroom setting and are required to meet individually outside of class with their Science Research Instructor biweekly to review individual goals and assess progress. All students participate in the culminating annual activity, Amity’s Science Symposium.


Friday, May 22, 2009

2009 Symposium Reflection

Please Blog the following information (in paragraph form) as a follow-up activity for the symposium:

1. What was your personal contribution to the symposium? Include preparation, set up, presentation, clean up etc... both at home and at school.

2. What was your overall favorite component of the symposium? (I'm sure that most of you enjoyed the food -- and if so, blog this -- but also include something about the overall symposium, speakers, set up etc...)

3. Did you enjoy our keynote speaker and/or the robotics demonstration? why or why not?

4. What one improvement to the program do you feel would be most beneficial?

79 comments:

  1. Well, last night I presented my project as one of the 4 student presenters. I was kind of nervous (and I think people could tell!) but I practiced a bit in class and at home so overall I think it went well. I think everyone just wanted to get out of there at the end last night, but this morning our class helped pick up the remaining supplies and brought them to Ms. Day's office.

    My favorite part of the symposium overall was just spending time with all of my fellow science researchers. We're all in different classes and went to different science fairs and events, and it was just nice to have everyone together.

    I really liked the keynote speaker - his pictures/videos were entertaining and his stories were engaging. With robotics, it easily could have gotten very technical and confusing, but he kept it nice and simple and easy to comprehend.

    Also it was great to hear about student research, especially the advanced students that we don't get to interact with as much, which is why I liked the second half more than the first, which focused on introducing our program. I feel like the entire first half could be condensed down to an hour TOPS. Time was a big issue and we lost a lot of audience after intermission (but we were just getting to the good part!)So yeah overall: shorter SRP program introduction, more focus on ACTUAL RESEARCH.

    -zizi

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  2. Personal contribution:
    I bought a cake with Yesmien.
    I spent 15 hours at school because I never went home after school to help set up for the symposium.
    I did the welcoming remarks, a Nanosense presentation, part of the SCSU poster presentation, and mentor recognition.

    Favorite Part:
    Food was excellent, especially the pies, but the food ran out pretty quickly.
    I liked the robotics presentation immensely even though I heard it for a second time.
    The symposium looked professional (introductions, presentations, well-dressed students)
    The symposium was student based.
    Many of the introductions and presentations were well though out, well written, or touching.

    Robotics:
    As I said before, I enjoyed the robotics presentation. I thought the robotics demonstrations were a very nice touch. I personally enjoyed "interacting" with the robots and I saw that Evan's sister did as well. I appreciate them coming to our symposium

    Improvements;
    Streamlining to two hours with a 15 minute intermission by:
    Prewriting EVERYTHING (except for student presentations) Even talking in class, it took some people forever to say what they had to say. It will take twice as long to say things, and only with careful though before will you be able to say things in a clean, concise manner.
    Recategorizing everything into fewer presentations with less details
    the focus of all presentations about what we did during the year should be how we improved and our experience (what we got from it) Details such as what exactly we did, detailing instructions, etc, should be omitted.
    Student presentations should be limited to seniors only and should be in the beginning middle to middle of the presentation. This may be unfair, but the way we do it now has many flaws as well and goes over time to top it off. Seniors only has less disadvantages.
    Bringing more food.
    In response to Zizi: why don't you walk around during poster previewing or come before and help set up so that you get a chance to see the advanced students' posters?

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  3. Sorry, that was more than one improvement.
    To Ms. Day: why don't you make this a graded thing, so that there are certain things we all have to do. That would make assigning presentations much easier and ensure that everyone does something.

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  4. My contributions to the symposium...
    I was one of the two people in charge of the candy jar. We made and decorated the jar of candy and the candy table. And I also announced the winner:D. Also, I stayed at school for 15 hours straight to help set up and decorate the cafeteria. Additionally, I helped with minute details such as writing names on envelopes for the middle school invitations and punching holes for the first year recipe project displays.

    My favorite component of the symposium...
    I really liked the fact that all the classes came together for the symposium. It gave us all a chance to see who else is in the SRP, and to hang out with others that we might not normally see in our classes. That also gave us the opportunity to learn about others' projects that we had never seen before in the year.

    Keynote speaker...
    I thought that the keynote speaker was excellent! Scaz was an incredible speaker with a great presentation. His presentation was really interesting and entertaining with just the right amount of funniness and information. I just wish that he had presented earlier so that the people who had to leave early would have had the chance to hear him.

    Improvements...
    Though the symposium was a success, there are certainly aspects that can be improved for next year. As Emily said, I think that grading people based on their contributions will motivate people much more to help out and do their part. The first-year students really should have contributed more, as not one of them stayed after school to help set up and decorate. Also, I think that some of the SRP introduction should be condensed- especially in the areas of symposia and nanosense projects. And as I mentioned before, I think that the keynote speaker's presentation should be moved up in the program to allow for more people to see it. But overrall, our symposium was a great and successful event!

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  5. My contribution to the symposium:
    Because I had a dress rehearsal last night for dance, I was limited when it came to presenting at the symposium, but in spite of my absence for the large part of the symposium, I tried to contribute as much as I could. Prior to the symposium I helped the Nanosense presenters compose their PowerPoint’s, I put up posters/flyers advertising the symposium around the school, and I stayed after school Wednesday for the symposium run-through. I also stayed after school to help set up for the symposium. During this time, I helped bring down posters from the office, set up tables, and organize the name tag table. I brought a veggie platter and a case of water to the symposium as well.

    My favorite part of the symposium:
    I have to say that I agree with Joanie, I really like how the symposium gave us the opportunity to interact with other SRP students and learn about their research projects. I also found the student speakers at the symposium to be very engaging and, therefore, enjoyable.

    Robotics:
    Though I was not there for the keynote presentation (I meandered in just as the presentation was winding down), but I heard that the keynote speaker used a condensed version of the presentation that he gave in class. With that being said, I really enjoyed the presentation he gave us in class because it was fun to learn about robots and their use role in the world. I heard that everyone also had a great time playing with the robots.

    Improvements:
    Though this year's symposium was an overall success, I certainly agree with both Emily and Joanie that there are improvements for next year. I think that the symposium should be on a Friday night, so that everyone is not so concerned with getting home to do homework and study, but rather can enjoy the symposium. Additionally, I feel that parts of the symposium could be condensed. Based upon what I heard from others, the student presentations about field trips, guest speakers, Nanosense projects, and other symposia, should have been condensed. In spite of these minor improvements, the symposium was fantastic!!!

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  6. I would first like to congratulate Ms. Day and all of our SRP classes for preparing this great event! Personally, I enjoyed it all very much! :)

    1. Personal Contribution
    For the symposium, I introduced Ms. Day, presented the mentor recognition, talked about my Symposia adventures, and also gave an overview about our presentation to Ms. Randall's class at SCSU. I made the Powerpoint for Ms. Day, Symposia, and part of Ms. Randall. I actually really enjoyed presenting; it was definitely a great experience to speak in front of such an audience!
    On Wednesday, the day before the symposium, I was one of the students who stayed after school for the "dress rehearsal." I think we learned some valuable things (such as how to adjust the microphone! lol).
    I brought barbecue and lime flavored chips on symposium night!

    2. Favorite Component
    Yes, the food was AWESOME! I didn't really get a chance to enjoy all of the food before the Symposium, but I did have some great pie during intermission! :D I do want to note that there was not much food left during intermission. Perhaps we should bring more next time!
    I also think that Scaz was an amazing presenter. The interactive aspect of his presentation captured the attention of the entire audience (even of those who may have felt a bit sleepy haha). He also really gave us an understanding of the important role social-ness plays in robots!
    Most importantly, I think the presentation of all that the SRP students have done this year was essential. It really gave our audience and ourselves an idea of how much we have accomplished.

    3. Keynote Speaker
    As I have mentioned above, the speaker was fantastic. His stories and demonstrations made his presentation come to life! (;

    4. Improvement
    I understand that it is difficult in this time of year to get the auditorium on a Friday night, but I think this would be a great improvement! Also, we should advertise the fun aspects (such as the robot demonstrations) of our symposium more so we attract more audience members.

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  7. zelun-
    my contribution was on the photolith team presentation. i had to take the information gathered by me, ms day, peter, and zizi and put it into the ppt and then present with peter. I thought the presentation of student research was most interesting, especially the dude with the nut oil project. the project with the tick microbes, i didnt understand why he didnt use a more direct method of identifying microbes such as specific staining. I felt the keynote speaker was a veryu good speaker, and his presentation was interesting. He could really grab peoples attention. An improvement could be to make it more brief. By the second half many people had left, and i was almost dozing off. if the program is shorter, more ppl may stay better focused

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  8. and emily no offense i dont like ur idea. we should all be responsible on good nature rather than threatened by grades XDXDXD

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  9. For the symposium I helped make the name tags, the posters that told people to come and I helped take down the science research board so the symposium stuff could be put up.

    My favorite part of the symposium was the pie table, (of course) and I also liked the program. The keynote speaker was really cool because he brought a demonstration and it was really fun to watch it and see it.

    For an improvement, people need to keep their presentations five minutes and there was a lot of presentations that weren't necessary. This would help make the symposium shorter and people wouldn't get fidgety and bored from listening to people talk for a couple hours straight.

    I also don't agree with Emily. We had grades leading up to our symposium and that was enough. Besides, it's not right to tell kids they have to be at this thing that ends at 1030 on a school night.

    And also Joanie- No offense or anything but we tried to help as much as we could. However, most of us have sports so it was really hard for us to stay after. We did what we could but we have other things to do besides science research. I'm sure we all would have been there if we didn't have something else to do.

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  10. 1. Personal Contribution:
    I contributed to the symposium by staying after school and helping to set everything up. I helped decorate and contributed to the candy count contest For the contest, I printed out pictures and signs. I also bought the lollipops and helped to count them. In addtion, I brought a veggie platter to the symosium.

    2. Favorite Componenet:
    My favorite part of the science research symposium was the pie table because there were so many varieties of pie. I also enjoyed the student presentations because they allowed us a chance to see what people in other classes were doing. I also thought they were presented well and were very interesting.

    3. Keynote Speaker:
    I thought the presentation was very good. Scaz was an excellent presenter because he made the subject interesting and engaged the audience. I also liked the dinosaurs and minerva. The presentation was interesting and I think the audience really enjoyed it.

    4. Improvements:
    I think the symposium should be on a Friday instead of a day where we have school the next day. This would make the event less stressful because students would be less conconcerned with their homework. Therefore, more students would stay after to help set up. In addition, some of the speaking parts can be cut down. Some of these parts include the symposia and the neurosense project.

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  11. Will and I set up the pie table. We were going to put on the table cloth and set up the table, but someone did it for us. Then we took the pictures that we had found online and taped them in various locations on the table cloth. Most had to be cut out. There were repeats, but that did not matter at all. We just spread those out. There was a great variety of pictures and we actually had to through out many of them because there were too many pictures already. We used class time and time at home to get the pictures online. It wasn't that hard to find interesting pictures of pie/pi. However, it was hard to look at some of the pictures and not get hungry. It was also sometimes tough to choose which ones to use. My favorite parts of the symposium were the food, the student presentations, and the keynote speaker presentation. Even though I had heard some of the presentations, I had forgotten some things. Besides, it's always interesting to think about these great ideas again. Unfortunately, I did not get around to seeing the robots. I was talking a lot, especially to my dad, who kept asking about my project. I wish I had seen "Keep On" in "person". I think that the symposium went on too long. Longer isn't always better, and I think there was some stuff we could have cut out entirely. I'm just trying to see it from the audience's perspective. I believe that it would also be good to integrate the student presentations with the other stuff. The symposium, though, was fun.

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  12. Yesmien: I helped create the certificates for each student; I stayed after to decorate for the symposium; I bought a cake with Emily; I also introduced Justin. My favorite component for the symposium was our guest speaker. His presentation was really good because he captivated the audience with the robotics demonstrations and videos. I also enjoyed the food and decorations. Additionally, I liked the fact that this year the stage was not utilized for the presentations. In my opinion, this made the student presenters seem calmer and approachable to the audience. For next year I believe that we should change up the sequence of all the presentations. Many people do not have time to stay for the entire symposium and thus they do not get to see any of the student presentations. In my opinion the student oral presentations and the key note speaker are the main attraction of the symposium. I think that it would be nice to have some student presentations at the beginning and some at the end. We need to work a bit on the mentor recognition part as well, but overall I think that we did a great job. It seems to me that every year this has been getting better and better. Maybe next year we might want to start planning a bit sooner because every year we seem to be cramming for it.

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  13. My contribution to the fair was bringing brownies then going to get ms day's video camera and regualr camera. My favorite part of the symposium was the key note speaker. He did a great job and had a very intersting topic to speak about. The thing that could improve the most was hte amount of time that the symposium took up. I was at at school for an extra 4 and half hours. I think we could change this by only presenting very prominent things rather than minute details.

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  14. I contributed a food item and I also decorated the pi/pie table. My favorite part of the symposium was showing my mentors my poster that I had created and another favorite part was the keynote speaker. I felt that the keynote speaker was great. He knew how to talk to people and connect to an audience, and was one of the most interesting parts of the symposium. The way to improve the symposium was to shorten the amount of time the symposium took. I speak for most of the people who attended it when I say that it was way too long. Both of my mentors left before the keynote speaker in fact, because it had already taken up too much time. Also, I think we should shorten each section especially the part about the symposiums each of the students went to. I think that one way to fix it would be to give a list of each of the symposiums and then briefly go over what the student did at just that one, and not go on to describe every single one.

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  15. For the symposium, I formatted the abstracts, helped assemble the booklets, presented my research, and brought rice crispie treats.
    My favorite part of the symposium was presenting my research. At first I was nervous but once I started, I really enjoyed it.
    I enjoyed the keynote speaker this year. He had a very interesting presentation and set up a robotic exhibit in the cafeteria.
    One improvement for the symposium I would recommend would be to not present the field trips, science fairs, and other activities in the powerpoint. Instead, we could make a couple of posters with pictures and some text to describe what we did. We could display these posters in the hall or cafeteria for people to view during breaks. This would give more time for students to present their research.

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  16. I brought apple juice! I helped create present my portion of the presentation as well, the guest speaker segment. I presented my research in the cafeteria to 8 people! I helped clean up by eating everything =].

    My favorite portion of the symposium, besides the food of course, was the robotics presentation. I thought it was very interesting to learn about robots from a guy who actually built and did research on them. I thought the idea of student presentations was great too. It gives students more experience presenting in front of large(r) numbers of people rather than just to a small class, or a panel of judges.

    As I said earlier, yes, I enjoyed the robotics presentation.

    One thing that I would really like to improve is the LENGTH of the symposium. It was over four hours and the presentations in the end probably had an audience of about 10 people, with the rest of the audience either sleeping, or have left already. One way to make this improvement possible is by reducing the time of each presentation (especially the beginning and end where we were all in the cafeteria for about an hour), and cutting some of the less crucial elements of the symposium out (such as the lollipop guessing thing)

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  17. For the symposium, I made two quiches for the Pi table, gave a presentation on science fairs with Yuqi, and created a photo slideshow of the Science Research students. I of course enjoyed the food, especially the pies. The student presenters did a really good job. They were all well rehearsed and poised. I also thought that the keynote speaker this year was fantastic. He was very interactive, entertaining, and thoughtful. Even the second time presenting he managed to offer a new way of viewing both robotics and human nature. Finally, I felt that the symposium could be greatly improved if it were shorter. I believe that we could eliminate the lollipop estimation and our presentations on such things as Nanosense and individual symposia and we could shorten our presentations on field trips, science fairs, etc.

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  18. I helped out a lot with the organization; I helped Ms Day put together the certificates and finish the envelopes addressed to the middle school students interested in taking sciece research next year. I also helped a little with the program and I gave feedback to the speakers that were presenting.

    My favorite part of the symposium was listening to my fellow classmates talk about their projects. I had never gotten the opportunity to do so for several of the students who were chosen to present simply because I am not in classes with them.

    The keynote speaker was great; I felt that he was easy to listen to and made his science easy to understand. His presentation applies to everyone, not just a robotics scientist. He did a great job of explaining his work and he even brought his robotic dinosaur (which was pretty fun to play with).

    Overall, I'd say just time was the biggest problem. The symposium should not be that long; especially next year when we have even more students. We do not need to talk about so many field trips, guest speakers, and science fairs. Maybe one student can cover all of those in 10 minutes? That way we can have people be focused on the student presenters (and the keynote speaker)- the people who deserve the most attention.
    -Ishan Sinha

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  19. I contributed to the symposium by bringing food, and introducing zizi, who presented her project "The Effects of Rain on Riverine Nitrate Concentrations." Our Year 1 class, being period one, helped to clean up some of the supplies the next morning that were left in the presentation room.

    I think my absolute favorite part of the symposium was the guest speaker. Professor Scasellati (spelling) was really interesting and inspiring. He is the kind of scientist and presenter that we would all hope to be like someday. HE was really great because in his presentation, he made his research accessible to the audience. Professor Scasselati"s robotics demonstration was really cool too.

    The one thing i would say to improve the program for next year would be to shorten things, compress things so that it takes a shorter time. It was disheartening after the intermission to see that half of the audience had left. We as students were really tired too by the end, and some of the student presentaters were affected in their presentations. All in all, i definitely think the symposium was a success!

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  20. Thomas J. Mattessich, Esq.May 25, 2009 at 7:07 PM

    Yuqi and I made copies of the symposium flyers and distributed them to teachers' mailboxes. I contributed a pie to the pie table. I watched all of the practice presentations during period 7 and gave feedback. And of course, I presented, and practiced presenting at home and in class.

    In my humble opinion, the superlative element of our prestigious symposium was interacting with the esteemed guests and fellow SRP students from other classes. (And the food was nice too.)

    Our keynote speaker was wonderful and knew how to engage the audience. The interactiveness of his robot display in the cafeteria was very effective. Unfortunately, by the time he presented, many people had already left.

    As mentioned by just about everyone else, the biggest problem was time management. The first half contained alot of unnecessary information and could have been condensed into a much shorter presentation. Also, it might be more effective to have student research presentations and our keynote presentations directly after the opening remarks. We can definitely toy with the schedule next year to make it more efficient.

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  21. Contributions:
    I returned to the school at, let's say 2:30 or so, to help with the set-up, ehere is stayed to help for two hours or so, during which time the entire cafeteria was decotated, the posters assembled, the balloons attached, the poles wrapped, the recipe projects hung, and a number of other activities, all of which i had a hand in. During the symposium itself, I had only one speaking role: i co-presented about the field trips that we went on this year. Also, my mom and I baked a pie, which we contributed to the Pi(e) Table.

    Favorite Component:
    My favorite component of the symposium by far was the Student Presentations portion of the event. The focus of the symposium itself is, after all, the projects and experiments that we the students have done this year, and it was very interesting to listen to the research that my classmates and fellow participants conducted.

    Keynote Speaker:
    The keynote speaker was definitively my second favorite aspect of the symposium. He was engaging and fun to listen to, he never forgot his audience, he was genial and approachable, and he was an excellent speaker overall. The robotics demonstration was of course higly entertaining and still very interesting.

    Improvement:
    I agree with the overarching sentiment so far: the most beneficial improvement would be to cut down on time. Failing that, this symposium would have to take place on a different day; it can either take up four hours of, say, a Saturday afternoon, or take up less time on a Thursday evening. Four hours is way, way too long for a time like that, especially when some of us are so overloaded with work.

    -Gregory Loscalzo

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  22. For the symposium, I did a few random jobs. One was to make and print the mentor certificates. I also baked cookies(very important), tried to help out presenters by giving feedback, and introduced Professor Scassalatti at the symposium. For me, my favorite part of the symposium was (and always is) the poster presentation sessions beforehand and at the intermission. It gives an informal setting where everyone can show their work all at once, and I think it shows how strong the research program is at Amity when all the posters are together in one room. I did think that Professor Scassalatti’s presentation was very interesting, and very futuristic, but at the same time, very similar to the presentation he gave us in class. So for me personally, the presentation was a bit repetitive, but I think he is a great presenter and it was a fascinating topic. Finally, I know that it is important to tell the audience about the program (especially the mentors in the audience), but I think that part of the symposium was a bit lengthy. I think everyone would have appreciated focusing more on student presenters rather than the program as a whole. But overall, very well done! Congrats everyone
    ~Dave

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  23. I stayed after to help with decorating for the symposium. i also brought croissants to the symposium, and I presented the water portion of the nanosense project with Josh. Overall, out of everything, I liked our keynote speaker the best. He was very entertaining and managed to keep my attention. I enjoyed our keynote speaker a lot. I liked his power point and presentation and also the robots he brought.
    An improvement we could make is to shorten the presentation on all the symposiums a lot of the students went to. I don't think it was really necessary and it took a lot of time. We could sort of list the symposiums instead on one slide, so we don't have to explain it in too much detail.

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  24. My personal contribution to the symposium was creating and reciting the speech for Dr. Britton. However, it didn’t take very long to make it because Dr. Britton specified that it should be as simple as possible. I also brought a crate of water bottles to the symposium. And of course, there were a bunch of other preparations that needed to be made, including the creation of the mentor biography and the guest list.

    My overall favorite component of the symposium was Dr. Scassellati’s presentation on robotics. Even though I had already heard a similar presentation from him in class, the lecture was still extremely interesting to hear the second time. He presented the complex world of robotics in such a practical and simplistic manner that it was truly a joy to listen to him. In addition to this, I enjoyed the four student presentations as well. Zizi, Justin, Tom, and Evan all presented in a very professional manner, and it was really interesting to listen to the work of other students.

    I certainly enjoyed the keynote speaker and the robotics demonstration. The Amity Science Research Program was extremely fortunate to have such a qualified and interesting presenter, so it was a very entertaining evening. In my opinion, the most interesting aspect of his research was his use of robots in order to treat autistic patients. This is a very practical application of robotics that I had never considered before. Hopefully, we will be fortunate enough in the future to have other guest speakers who are qualified in an interesting area of expertise.

    One improvement to the program that I believe would be the most beneficial would be to shorten some of the details that came at the beginning of the symposium. For example, when some of the SRP students were talking about the Nanosense projects, I believe that their presentations should have just been simple summaries. However, it sometimes seemed that the students were trying to teach the audience rather than simply informing them about different classroom assignments. In addition, I believe that the section in which Jenny and Ishan presented about the different events they attended was completely unnecessary. I believe that this long section should have been replaced with a brief congratulations to the students who had been selected to compete in supplementary events. By eliminating a few of the unnecessary details, we would be able to keep the audience’s attention while remaining within the three-and-a-half-hour time limit.

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  25. For the Symposium, I helped reorganize part of the slide show, which somehow got messed up after the background was changed. I also, brought orange juice and try to give feedback to the presenters. My favorite part of the symposium was the keynote speaker because they somehow make their topics very fascinating. Also, I liked the pi(e) table, especially the cheese cake. I did like Professor Scassalatti’s presentation a lot because it was entertaining and also very interesting. Some improvements could be to make the symposium shorter. After, awhile it got very tiring and exhuasting. I would also appreciate it if it was on a Friday, so that people wouldn't be so tired in school the next day.

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  26. For the symposium, I designed the cover page for the program. Also, I brought grapes for the food contribution. My favorite component of the symposium was the keynote speaker. I really enjoyed him because his presentation was interesting and well delivered. I think a good improvement for next year would to make the theme of the symposium more clear and thorough, and to tailor student presentations to be shorter and to the point.

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  27. 1. Contribution
    I brought four jugs of Juicy Juice to the symposium. Also, seeing as I was a student presenter, I spent a significant amount of time, both at home and in class, editing and practicing my presentation on my research.

    2. Favorite component
    My favorite component of the symposium was the keynote speaker. Even though we had already seen him before, he was still very interesting and enjoyable. I like how he captivated the audience and interacted with us the entire time.

    3. Robotics
    As explained above, I really enjoyed the keynote speaker and robotics demonstration. I found the speaker just as intriguing at the symposium as he had been the first time he presented to us. I also liked the robotics demonstration in the cafeteria. I got to control the dancing yellow guy with a controller! It was fun!!

    4. Improvement
    THE SYMPOSIUM WAS TOO LONG!! A four and a half hour symposium can not take place on a Wednesday night, and it shouldn’t even be that long to begin with. As discussed in class, certain aspects of the presentations should be cut out, and the symposium should be shortened significantly, to somewhere around two hours in length.

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  28. I helped a lot during class time to assemble everything. Unfortunately, with 4 AP tests, I missed a lot of SRP these past 2 weeks. Laura and I presented the science fairs powerpoint which gave an interactive run through of our spring with the audience. Greg and I also bought flowers for Ms. Day and Tom and I did closing remarks. Unfortunately, I could not stay after on Wednesday because I had JSA elections to attend to.

    I thought the food was great; perhaps next time, more water drinks with sufficient cups so kids aren’t drinking orange juice straight out of the box. I noticed that within the first two hours, we ran out of water bottles. The decorations look great; we should just make it a tradition to take junior prom materials. The symposium in my opinion went way too long; we have to find a way next year to condense everything to 3-4 hours because the audience definitely got restless. Many people left after intermission and many kids left early.

    I thought he was great, although his presentation didn’t change from the one he gave in class which sort of surprised me because I thought it would be different. But how interactive it was definitely made up for the lack of a new presentation because of how it drew in the audience.

    I think that people with the small presentations such as field trips, science fairs etc. have to rehearse what they are going to say in advance or be comfortable enough to say it without stuttering. I also think that people need to stick within their 10 min time limit and not dwell on things that aren’t absolutely necessary so speed up the symposium. Ms. Day, is having all those small presentations necessary? We can somehow incorporate some of it into the programs to save time because the symposium really went on for a long time. I also think that the student speakers should go before the small presentations because they are definitely more important. Much of the audience missed the last student presenter because it was 10pm. Overall, it was a great experience.
    Yuqi

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  29. I agree with Ed about cutting out that part of the presentation and replacing it with congratulatory remarks
    Yuqi

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  30. 1. For the science sympsium I brought chocolate chip cookies and I helped to stuff inviation letters in class.

    2. Overall I thought the symposium was great! As you said I loved the food, but I also liked our key note speaker. In particular I liked how he included several videos and made his presentation really interesting. I also liked how we had our recipe projects hanging.

    3. I thought the keynote speaker was great! The robotics demonstration was really interesting. I really liked all the videos the speaker showed us. Also I thought it was cool that he let us hold the robotic dinosaurs.

    4. One improvement I would make would be to try to shorten it a little. Instead of having a representative from each year of the science research program speak it might be better to just have two speakers. This way it would be more interesting for parents and shorter.

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  31. Well, after having this deleted TWICE, here is my blog.

    For the symposium, I presented about guest speakers as well as doing the powerpoint that went along with it. I also made a ricotta pie and helped keep the (student) audience loose. But seriously…

    My favorite part of the symposium was probably the keynote speaker, but I also really liked the photolith presentation. Having two people presenting on a topic helps keep it flowing and makes it more engaging (for me).

    I really liked the keynote speaker. A LOT. I really enjoyed his presentation, especially the part about how humans see social situations in everything. The videos that he included in his presentation also helped keep it flowing.

    My biggest concern, like most everyone else, was time. So I’m not going to talk too much; no use beating a dead horse. If we were to space the student presenters out before and after the intermission, those people who need to leave early would still be able to see some student presentations.

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  32. I personally came on Wednesday night to help with the preparation of the symposium. I also brought in two trays of food for the symposium.
    I thought that the keynote speaker was the best part of the presentation. He really grabbed everyone’s attention and added some enthusiasm to the auditorium.
    Like I said above the keynote speaker was excellent and definitely the best part of the symposium, (after the food of course!)
    The only improvement I have to add to the list was that is was too long. People were getting ants in their pants!
    -Doug

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  33. lol @ clark!!!

    z

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  34. doug....ants in their pants? are you serious?

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  35. I also helped the janitors clean up after the symposium.

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  36. zelun-i brought tasty chipps and brownys

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  37. Oh, I forgot to mention that I attended the after school rehersal the day before. In addition, I volunteered to introduce Ms. Wycinowski and prepared a short speech, but unfortunately I was not able to give it because she was not able to make it.

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  38. ...I forgot to tell about another contribution I made for the Symposium (in my post above). I created the name tags worn by guests at the program and posters that were displayed in the school.

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  39. I also went to the symposium rehearsal on wednesday!

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  40. I just wanted to add that I also baked cupcakes for the symposium and brought juice.

    -zizi

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  41. ....and I alphabetized a bunch of lists for Ms. Day....

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  42. Living on a PRAYERRRRR!!!!!

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  43. Weiwei and I both stuffed envelopes for the eigth grade invatations.


    -Jacqui

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  44. I helped film during the presentations and helped the Janitor clean up.

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  45. Wanted....DEAD OR ALIVEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

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  46. i also stuffed invitation letters for the middle school students

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  47. ....and I cleaned up w/ my period 1 class next day....

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  48. For the symposium, I did several things, two in school, and one out of school. In school, I was responsible for creating a powerpoint of the water component of the Nanosense presentation with Kenn Su. Also, I was responsible for the folding and stapling of many, many programs. At home, I helped my mother to make ricotta cheese. The thing I liked best about the symposium were Professor Scassalatti and Tom’s presentations. I thought that Tom did an excellent job, as did Professor Scassalatti, and though his presentation was very similar to the one he gave in class, I thought that it was interesting to see how different his style was when speaking in front of a different sort of audience. Also, I thought the information in his presentation was interesting enough that I was excited to have the oppportunity to hear it twice. The biggest improvement that I would like to see in the symposium would be that it were moved to a Friday night, however I know that that is, unfortunately, up to chance. So, I would really like to see the presentations about class and science fairs being condensed into one 10 or so minute presentation that was a little more general. All in all though, I think that the symposium was a huge success. Congratulations everybody!

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  49. For the symposium, I brought a platter of chocolate chip cookies. Also, I helped prepare the decorations, such as the recipe project displays, but was unable to stay after school because of work, both days. My overall favorite component of the symposium was the keynote speaker, who spoke enthusiastically and entertained the audience about robots. I also thought that the cafeteria was well decorated, and this year, the set-up in the auditorium was better for the presenters, in my opinion. Yes, I enjoyed our keynote speaker, as I mentioned, because I found his presentation interesting, even though I may have already heard it before. He knew how to grab the audience’s attention well. I, along with others, liked the robotics demonstration. It was something entertaining for people of all ages. One improvement to the program that I think would be most beneficial would be (if possible) scheduling the symposium for a different night, such as a Friday, as mentioned by other students, as well. Other than that, I felt that this year’s symposium was successful.
    -Pauline

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  50. Also, I stayed after with Kenn and Emily to polish the Nanosense presentation, and brought in chips.

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  51. although i came a little late to the opening poster period of the symposium i brought some pie for the pie table, also i introduced Tom Mattessich who presented his research project. As ms. Day said i loved the food part (haha) but i also liked our key note speaker on robotics. I thought he was a great choice. However one improvement for the symposium is that we have to dirasticly cut down on the the length of the symposium the goal was to be out and done by 9:30 but we didnt actually leave until 10 ish. 6 to 9:30 should have been more than enough time to finish everything we needed to do.

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  52. I also made a flyer and printed out 30 copies of each and put them into teacher's mailboxes with Tom. After the symposium, I helped clean up the food and the cafeteria.

    Yuqi

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  53. I personally contributed a lot to the symposium. I created and presented three PowerPoint presentations: the nanosense solar cell, Ms. Randall’s class, and the photolithography presentation. I put a lot of effort and time into each one of these presentations, but I also helped a lot with setting up. I stayed after school until the symposium, so I helped set up everything in the cafeteria. This includes the posters, the decorations, and the food. I helped a lot with this symposium.
    I really enjoyed the intermission. I remember last year we did not have one, but it helped a lot this year. Some of the presentations were lengthy, but being able to stretch for a few minutes and talk to people was very helpful. It enabled me to stay awake through the rest of the symposium.

    As for the keynote speaker, I thought Professor Scassellati was very interesting. His PowerPoint presentation had many graphics to hold the audience’s attention, and he presented it very well. I thought the demonstration was excellent as well. I think robots are fascinating, and most people do, so it was a great way to involve the attendees. It was very fun.

    I think one improvement that would be very beneficial would be to spread out the student presentations. They were all good, and the students did a good job, but when you have four, twenty-minute presentations in a row, it is very long. If we had spread these out, it would have been much more efficient. I personally think that we could have used less student presentations. I think that the people there understood our projects and what we did by looking at our posters and seeing a couple presentations, but we do not need four. I think that the other presentations (i.e. Ms. Randall’s class, field trips, guest speakers etc.) were very nice. They showed how much we do, and that we don’t just do our projects.

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  54. LOL @ YOUR PARANOIAS!

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  55. Also, next year, whoever creates the nametags should make sure they include everybody on the list because both my parents and my mentor didn't have nametags and that was sort of embarassing
    yuqi

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  56. I also stayed after wEdnesday for the rehearsal!

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  57. To everyone (ahem, zelun, jacqui):
    Why are you so miffed at the idea of grading the symposium? First of all: it was not my idea, we have been doing this for past symposiums by rating each other on "perceived energy." Second of all, why are you guys so upset by the idea of grading, because obviously you guys all helped a bunch and have nothing to be worred about, right? Third: sports don't really cut it. Sure, I totally understand if hypothetically one has a game and can't make the rehearsal or stay after. However, why not make that up another way by volunteering to present something during the symposium, create a PowerPoint, etc? Zelun mentioned acting out of our own good will. However, I saw no exhibition of "good will" on the majority of those who claimed sports or other school work as their alibi. Furthermore, please don't tell me that any of you have "too many grades" to worry about. I'm sure everyone is very busy at this time, but I don't feel like those who have used that as part of their excuse have the weight to put behind their words. HOpe this clears things up.

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  58. Lastly, the ratings we gave each other aren't even grades: they're ratings to estabish student awareness. Now if Ms. Day makes the ratings grades, I may be a little annoyed...

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  59. Arian J.

    My Contribution:
    For the Symposium, I spoke and introduced Mrs. Fanucci. Additionally, I presented about the Field Trips to the CRISP Nanotechnology Lab, Substrate Building Lab, and SCSU Human Preformance Lab. Also, I stayed after school on Wednesday to attend the rehersal for the Symposium. Furthermore, I stayed after school all of Thursday for 3 and a half hours (total of 15+ hours in school), from the end of school to the beginning of the Symposium. During this time period, I helped set up food, decorate the cafeteria, set up posters, set up balloons, and hang up recipe posters. Finally, I played an important part in the technological aspect of the fair, especially with the powerpoint. I formatted the entire powerpoint, alphabetized the student list, fixed backgrounds, changed illegible text, and made sure everything was in order and the powerpoint was set. Also, I worked with the technology person to set up the powerpoint on the computer. To finish, I also filmed a lot for the Symposium.

    Favorite Part: Most certainly, the keynote speaker was one of the best parts of the Symposium. Not only was he a good speaker and really drawed the crowd in, but the topic was also cool. Additionally, I really liked the Science Fair-esque presentation system. I think it really allows each student's achievements to be highlighted in a deserving manner. Finally, the food was great! I LOVED the cookiees!

    Robotics/Presentation: Once again, Scas had a very good presentation. He was a very good speaker and someone for SRP students to look up too. It was also very cool how he had the robots there at the demonstration table for all of the people to see.

    Improvements: I think, first off, that if the Symposium is going to be 4 hours, then it should be on a Friday night. Secondly, I think that there should be less emphasis on personal endeavors like the supplemental Symposia, and more focus on group things. This way, no one student becomes the highlight of the show. Furthermore, sequencing for he Symposium should be changed to make it a bit more interesting. Fourth, things like the NanoSense presentation should be cut down on. It felt like the students were teaching the class about water, not talking about the special things the SRP class does. Finally, I disagree with the proposal to make presentations senior only.

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  60. Emily, it's a pretty good excuse for juniors (5 of us who have 3+ AP classes) to say that we had too much work that night. It's kind of hard for us to spend 5+ hours at a symposium and miss homework for one night. The workload for upperclassmen is nothing like the workload for 10th graders, especially since we have packed schedules. So I completely disagree with your last statement. We DID have "too many grades" to worry about, and giving up so much time in one night is a huge deal.

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  61. Word to the above comment. Some of us really do have a lot of work since our classes are definitely harder and we have to worry about SATs.

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  62. Mind you, two comments above, that everyone, not just you, have a lot of work to do. 9th graders have their first finals to worry about, 10th graders have harder finals (most honors), and 11th graders do have AP tests the week before. Plus, 10th graders have SATs to worry about too, as well as SAT 2s.

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  63. 1. My contribution to the symposium was bringing gatorade for food. Unfortuanatly that day i had a voice lesson to attend to which was to prep me for an important audition for this summer which is coming up. I dearly wish that I had been able to help but my schedule just could not allow for it.

    2. My favorite part of the symposium would definitly have to be our key note speaker. Even though I had heard his presentation before his videos and pictures as well as the three robots that he had present were very engaging and kept our attention. unfortuanatly due to the length of our symposium many people left before they could hear him speak.

    3. as mentioned the key note speaker was awesome.
    his research delved into topics that we could understand. He did not get into the mathmatics and logarithms needed to program a robot he talked about the beneficial uses of them instead of boring us with things we probaly would not understand.

    4. I know that everyone is saying this but make the symosium shorter.
    after intermission we lost about half of our already small audience. We spent way to much time talking about things that were not completly part of our program. talking about the other symposia (I apologize Jenny you were an awesome speaker) took way too long. Things like that and field trips and guest speakers can be displayed outside on a posterboard so people can read on thier own will rather than add it to the already long symposium
    im stopping because my words no longer make any sense and have no order.

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  64. I agree with my fellow anons,I think we all need to see the symposium more as a fun night put together by US as STUDENTS, it is a group effort, it is what we make of it, and kudos to everyone that went the extra mile for it, but it is by no means a "test," and as with all other things, we need to take what happened this year and use the knowlegde we have to make it better next year. If you think that someone you know didn't really do everything they could, instead of pointing fingers and saying they gave "bad excuses," why not instead, make suggestions as to what they could do in order to make up for lost time due to after school activities, etc.? Especially for those who are first year students. I think we need to be a little more proactive because fighting about this is only a waste of time.

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  65. Rt..because 11th graders don't have to worry about SAT subject tests and finals either..it's just the underclassmen. The only reason you guys are being defensive is because you guys are still sophomores and freshman; once you guys become juniors , I am pretty sure you will be complaining this time next year

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  66. Maybe we could have robots set up the symposium and present everything for us. Or something.

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  67. I didn't even think about finals as a sophomore this early. Its not like your finals are soon; you have a month. SAT2s are literally next Saturday for us juniors (and the few sophomores taking them).

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  68. Hi yuqi!

    For the nametag things, we just used the list Ms. Day gave us so I'm sorry about that.

    Jacqui and Weiwei

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  69. Ok Emily-

    Well sports is a legitimate excuse because right now for me, it's SCCs and the game that I came from was my last game of the regular season. Sports is very important and it definitely an excuse. Besides, I did help out but most people probably saw that I didn't help because I came late and left early. (Which wasn't my fault by the way. My brother got sick and my mom had to take him home. She wasn't going to come back to woodbridge from Milford at 1030 at night to come and pick me up. It wasn't realistic but I'm sorry I missed the second half of the symposium.) So anyways, we have stuff that was graded leading up to the symposium and Ms. Day told our class the symposium wasn't graded so it kind of took our period one class by surprise. I don't have a problem with it being graded, I just would rather not have it graded. We shouldn't be graded on all of our efforts because we all did what we could and in real life when people work on projects, leaders come out and step up. They end up doing more than others while others are more comfortable standing on the sidelines and watching while helping out where they can. In real life, those who step up don't always get the credit. Everyone in the group gets the credit because they all helped out and made a good presentation. I mean, good for you that you stepped up but you don't always need the credit. The fact that the symposium was a success should be all the satisfaction you need. You shouldn't need the satisfaction of a grade or everyone applauding you because then you won't get very far in life.

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  70. I don't really understand what the whole deal is. Are people upset that not enough people helped out or people didn't do enough for the symposium? That the freshman didn't stay after to help set up? That we might be graded on our contributions? Was this year's symposium worse than last year? Because like Jacqui said, if you stepped up and went above and beyond, then good for you. We all know who you are and have you to thank for the success of the symposium. Next year we'll all try to be like you.

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  71. Emily,
    THIS IS SPARTAAAAA!!!!!!!

    lol

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  72. I completely agree with Jacqui
    Emily, I don't think that you need to have the satisfaction of a 100 on your grade or everybody recognizing you for your efforts. We know that you worked hard, but you really don't need to rub it in our faces. Some of us are just busier than you are.

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  73. Guys, this is a class. There is no extracurricular excuse. You don't tell your Biology or Chemistry or Physics teacher that you didn't do the project because of sports, or that you didn't do your homework because of "too much work" to do. If you bring up an excuse, you get points taken off for late homework or a late project. Science Research is absolutely no different.

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  74. Jen Dalecki, you need to write less.

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  75. Except the Symposium isn't graded, nor is it an in-class assignment. YO ARGUMENT IS OBSOLETE!

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  76. "Guys, this is a class....."

    We never said that this wasn't a class, we are just putting forward our opinions on a symposium that went on for 5 hours. Had biology had the same thing, I would also complain to the teacher. We aren't treating SRP any different. And the fact that Ms. Day told us to talk about what we would change next year invalidates your point.
    Plus, I don't know about you, but physics homework has never taken 5 hours before; what kind of level 1 class are you taking..

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