So far I would say that my Senior Spring Project has been going well. I feel like the biggest component of my project has been my biomedical research/vaccine internship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, specifically at the Barouch Lab. I’ve been going there every Tuesday and Wednesday for five hours. My mentor and a group of other researchers have been showing me how to run certain assays, an ELISA for example, and I’ve gone through the process of running a gel electrophoresis and a PCR. I’ve also been lucky enough to attend Masters and Post-Doc meetings where people have presented research that they’ve done in the lab before sharing them to the public. As someone who wants to major in STEM and go into the STEM field as a career, I feel like this internship has been giving me a taste of what the real world experience is when working in big labs and conducting impactful research.  Besides my internship, which is definitely a highlight of my SSP, I’ve also been continuing my AP biology class, which has been going fine since we’ve mostly been preparing for the upcoming exam in May. It’s been helpful that we’re provided with practice problems and videos that have been reinforcing my understanding of new topics and those I’ve already learned.  In relation to senior seminars, I’ve been doing sign language on Mondays and Fridays. I find sign language amusing because it’s just like learning a new language, but with your hands. On our first day we actually already learned the alphabet, and I feel like I caught onto that quickly. By learning it, I was already able to formulate words. Then we started learning actual words in ASL. Most of our meetings consist of reviewing new words, emotions, etc. and playing fun games to practice memorizing them. We've actually chosen our song to sing for our Senior Farewell Dinner, and soon we’ll be practicing the signs for it. Sign language is also my new experience, so I definitely feel like everything that we’ve done so far has been teaching me things that I didn’t know prior to taking this seminar.  One of my other activities includes filmmaking where my three friends and I have been writing scripts, storyboards, and planning out each episode for our series. Today we’ll actually begin filming our series, which will then take us to the editing process of this experience. We’ve been working closely with Mr. Gaines who has helped us throughout the whole process. We have even recruited other students to participate as extras, which they have agreed to.  I feel like another highlight has been seeing my friends all throughout SSP. Despite having different activities, we have a lot of times where we’ve seen each other in and out of school. Seeing each other out of school has been during our cooking cultural food activity on Saturday evenings and recording of vlogs when doing so. So far we’ve made Haitian cuisine and Swedish desserts.  I’ve been continuing my ballroom and Latin dance classes throughout the week. We’ve actually been preparing for an upcoming competition and also our annual summer showcase lessons include going over my novice/gold routines with my dance partner and working on technique. In terms of my SSP book, Parable of the Sower, I haven’t yet started reading it, but I bought it and plan on starting it soon. It seems like an interesting read, focusing on the themes of community, environmental issues, religion and more, from what I read in the book’s description, so I’m looking forward to starting it. I haven’t changed anything about my project. I feel like overall everything is going fine. Probably my biggest issue is transportation to my internship sometimes because I haven’t been able to drive there and I’ve been getting dropped off either by a parent or an Uber which costs a lot of money to get there and from there to school afterwards for my next SSP commitments. I’m actively searching for a better solution, since public transportation would also take a much longer time. I’ve also wanted to drive to school and park at one of the lots, but on those days, I’m in the building for longer than the lots permit. Looking back at the planning process, I would probably find a way to start some of my activities later in the morning because some mornings I wish I could sleep in more. However, I’m also glad that I finished most of my activities early enough to have time for myself at the end of the day. I’m not sure if I could’ve done anything to make transportation easier aside from not including some of my SSP activities altogether, so that’s something I would’ve had to manage regardless.  A suggestion I have for class meetings is to leave time for seniors to socialize with each other. Maybe leaving time to play a small game or do an activity. If speakers are invited, it would be nice to have them give us advice on how to manage college life, financial literacy or any other crucial topic that’ll contribute to our success in adulthood.  I can’t wait to see how far I’ll come in the rest of this project. I hope by the end of my project, I’ll be able to identify how each experience has strengthened the way I approach new communities and tasks, and leave me with useful skills I can incorporate into my college life and beyond.