On Sunday, the BEAMers had woken up to the hustle and bustle of the city, but this Monday morning, they woke up to the country side’s silence.
After a pleasant walk to the dining hall through the ivy-covered and tree-filled campus, the students had breakfast, boosting their brains for the following Opening Challenge Set, a test designed to measure where the students are at in math. After completing the test, the BEAMers were taken outside, where icebreakers took place, even though the ice had broken a long time ago. Lunch followed, and then the students split up into their respective halls (Hopper, Noether, Ramanujan, and Euler) and received a step-by-step orientation on everything from their daily schedule to how to do laundry. Additionally, each student opened an Art of Problem Solving account as well. The BEAMers were then split up into the activities they had signed up for the night before, these being charades, soccer, a tour of the campus, and Fluxx (a card game). Afterwards, the BEAM instructors gave presentations on the courses they would be teaching this upcoming week, and the students filled out sheets with their preferences regarding the courses.
Later in the evening, while the instructors hid out, huddled together for hours, making sure every student was placed in the appropriate course, the BEAMers enjoyed free time back at the dorms and the basketball court. Hall meetings were held before bed, and the students would wake up tomorrow to their first day of class and to find out what course they’d been assigned to for the upcoming week. What a day for the BEAMers to look forward to.
