Fieldtrip to the waterpark!
Recap: BEAM Goes to Fall Yale Splash 2018!
Recently, nearly 70 BEAM alumni had the opportunity to travel to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut for one of our favorite yearly events: Yale Splash. This program offers students from 7-12 grade to enroll in courses that are taught by undergraduate volunteers in classrooms on campus. The students register online and get to pick their own classes and organize their own schedules. Yale Splash allows students to choose from an array of intriguing topics within many different fields. This year some of the students favorite courses included “Viking Age Iceland,” “The Science Behind Cookies,” and “Sharks: Nature’s Most Misunderstood.”
“In my favorite and most interesting class, “How The Brain Works”, I learned that you actually see upside down but it’s your brain that flips your vision right side up.”
After classes were dismissed, BEAM students reconvened at the library to meet with their assigned groups for tours. We had three undergraduate volunteers come to help give students a brief tour of campus and lead them to their assigned dining halls. A lot of our older students were especially excited to see a friendly face because Aishat Adekunle, a freshman at Yale and also a BEAM 7 alum from 2013 was one of our tour guides that evening! Although the weather was very choppy, students got see the ins and outs of a college campus. We explored the downtown area, ventured into the undergraduate commons and even got a sneak peek into student housing.
“From this trip overall I learned that college is a lot of work, but now I’m ahead of the game. I’m way more informed about college life than most kids my age so I’m ready for it when it comes in 4 or 5 years thanks to BEAM.”
After the tours, students were brought to the Yale dining halls for dinner. Fitting to BEAM, one of the dining halls we ate at is named after famous mathematician Grace Hopper. Students got to enjoy various foods and share with each other about their classes and highlights of the day. Afterwards, we all rallied back to buses for our journey back to New York City.
The pictures above feature many of our students throughout the day. The first picture is of 8th graders Yilin and Faoziah enjoying their 2 hour bus ride. Next, 11th grader Brianna and 8th grader Jeremiah show off their Yale Splash t-shirts. More 8th graders are shown hanging out; Ethan, Jeremiah and Amber are enjoying a quick break in the library’s lounge. Although it was quite rainy, Aishat got to reunite with some of her old friends from BEAM, Teo, Silvio, Rashik, Maria, Amanda and Elisa, before taking the students on a tour. Lastly, we have the same group eating at the John Edwards dining hall with Betty, one of the day time staff for the trip.
Weekend Trips at BEAM 7
BEAM works a little differently in that our academic week is Tuesday-Saturday and our weekend is Sunday and Monday. We do this so that when we go on fun trips, they’re less crowded and kids can really get the most out of their day off!
This past Sunday was our first field trip. We went to Grafton Lakes State Park, where we hiked and hung out at the beach. Most of the camp went for a fun, short hike around the lake and spent several hours at the lake, where they swam, built “sand volcanoes,” played sports, and just hung out with one another. Four of our students—Anais, Brandon, Cynthia, and Emmanuela—went on our hardcore hike. They hiked about 8 miles and climbed a fire tower! Here’s a photo of them with the amazing view they got at the top.
Here are a few photos of all of our students hanging out around the lake:
We came back incredibly exhausted, but excited for the next day: Zoom Flume Water Park!
At Zoom Flume, we spent the day riding crazy slides and rides and enjoying ourselves in the wave pool. Since we were at the park at the same time as BEAM 7’s Bard group, we got to know some of the other students. We don't have many photos from the water park, because we didn't want to get our phones wet!
The weekend was pretty jam-packed, but we’re already back and starting a whole new week of classes!
BEAM 8th Grade Visits Hudson River Trading
On Wednesday, February 21, 13 BEAM 8th grade students had the chance to visit Hudson River Trading's (HRT) Manhattan office. The afternoon began with a pizza lunch, and a chance to talk with HRT employees about their work.
Afterwards, BEAM students heard from an employee panel about their experiences working at HRT. They also saw a demonstration of using math and programming together to calculate the Fibonacci series. Three different ways of calculating the series resulted in drastically different computational times.
After the presentation, the students toured the office, including the gym and playroom, and took pictures on the terrace overlooking the Hudson. Everyone enjoyed the warm weather and great views! The day ended with games in the playroom and some awesome HRT swag. Afterwards, Porter said "It was cool!" "The had great views, and it was fun," said L.
BEAM would like to thank everyone at HRT for organizing and hosting an amazing trip.
BEAM Students Visit Columbia with Inside Engineering
On Saturday, October 21st, 21 BEAM 9th and 10th grade students visited Columbia University. Dr. Clark Hung, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia, met the students in the undergraduate biomedical engineering lab, and gave a half hour presentation on diabetes. He discussed both the causes of diabetes, as well as some current treatments and areas of research.
After the the talk, the students had the chance to do some hands-on work. They made alginate beads by dropping alginate solution into calcium choloride solutions. They tested different sizes of needles to make different sized beads. These beads could be used to encapsulate cells for diabetes treatment.
Everyone had fun making lots of multicolored beads.
BEAM would like to thank the Hung Lab and Columbia's engineering outreach for organizing an amazing experience.
BEAM and Baskets at Madison Square Garden
New York Liberty vs Washington Mystics - Final Score: 85-55
BEAM staff and students showed up in full force at Madison square Garden last weekend to show support for NY Liberty as they faced off against the Washington Mystics. The students arrived to the stadium from all around the city guided by their counselors, who were able to circumvent the various subway changes and delays. A vast majority of students were flaunting their new BEAM shirts, which were designed by Zavier, one of the BEAM 6 counselors, who also designed the BEAM 2011 shirt when he was a student at BEAM 7 (and a 7th grader!).
Anaya, Makayla, and Yilin during the halftime show and t-shirt give away
While only a few students were able to catch T-shirts that were fired into the audience, everyone walked away winners. Students were given snacks such as popcorn, hot dogs, hamburgers, or drinks. Not only that, students got to meet up with their new friends outside of the BHSECQ campus.
Junior Counselor Lennin and Eils pose for a photo with a NY Liberty T-shirt.
Our next trip will be to the movies to see Despicable Me 3 in a rented out theater.