Biosphere 2 Day 1

    During the tedious one hour drive from the airport to Biosphere 2, I could feel myself slowly becoming more and more tired due to the day’s long journey. However, my tiredness began to recede as we drove into the territory that Biosphere 2 occupies, and caught sight of its massive pyramid and dome. As we got closer and closer to our destination, I could do nothing but press my face closer to the window of the car, and stare in awe at the seemingly impossible, but amazing engineering feat, wondering how many bright minds, novel ideas, failures, and breakthroughs contributed to its development. The pyramid stood tall and proud, reflecting the sunlight amidst the tan earthly backdrop provided by the mountainous desert terrain of Tucson. The dome looked like something straight out of a futuristic science fiction movie with its geometric design pattern. When we finally arrived at our final destination and unloaded our belongings, I could not help but look back one last time at the Biosphere 2 structures, before heading to the casitas, feeling undoubtedly more excited for the coming week and looking forward to the incoming plethora of new experiences.

 

Submitted by Annie Yu  6/18/17

   

Holly and Annie making new friends at the Tucson airport with Jamie and Van.

I think something the academic connections program does really well is gear students toward self reflection, team building skills, and leadership improvement. One of my favorite activities we did was write about our hopes, goals, and fears we have for the rest of the week. For each section, all we had to do was write down a couple of things we would like to accomplish during the program, skills or experiences we would hope to gain, and a few things we feared. At first, I didn’t see the relation between this activity and the rest of the activities we would be doing throughout the week, but I then realized these notes would help keep us on track. I think now with these guidelines I have created for myself, I will gain the most out of this program. I am also interested to see how I change throughout the week: will I reach my goals, will my hopes be fulfilled or changed altogether, and will my fears disappear? I think this activity will prove to be one of the most helpful tools we get to use throughout the program, and I am excited to see how I progress.

Submitted by Holly Murphy 6/18/17