The Mountain is Up

Thursday, June 6, 2019

Jet Propulsion Labratory

Our entire college trip was centered around our visit to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. We were very blessed that family of family offered to give us a tour! Sis wasn't feeling so hot, but still the day was amazing, detailed, and fascinating. Thank you, John, for taking soooo much time with us. We may be guilty of longest tour ever & thoughts along the lines of, those darn tourists with their question list a mile long. We appreciate Curiosity and you!

Museum

Spacecraft Assembly Facility

NASA/JPL Machine Shop

Mars Yard

The Rover Control Room

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Cal (Berkeley) + Cal Tech

   We skipped the admissions tour at Cal. We could not get there in time from our lodgings without making our teens grumpy from the get-up-and-go. We took a tour with a senior nearing the finish line on his triple major of European History, French, and Russian.He was good at discussing the history of the campus and the history of the university, now a 151 years old. We wished for more engineering discussions.

   Our guide noted the competitive nature of Berkeley, but also noted that students choose and create whatever environment they want at Cal. There are 27 libraries on campus, but you must be a student or staff in order to access. Shucks! The bell tower on campus is the 3rd largest/tallest in the world.

   The Cal system of schools has their own application process + FAFSA. They do not use the Common App or CSS. Freshman are guaranteed housing, but after freshman year it's not guaranteed, a turn off for our students. Acceptance rate for instate students is about 15-17%. We did not get access to dorms or the engineering school.

   The chemical engineering and chemistry programs are the smallest at the school with about 900 students and faculty total. We have now seen MIT, Standford, and Berkeley. Of the three, we liked engineering at Stanford best. We clearly appreciate a low key vibe. There does seem to be a lot of opportunities at Cal, but professor relationships seem to be pivotal. They are on a semester system with 13 credits per semester required as a minimum. 40k students on campus.

The next day we wandered onto the Cal Tech campus albeit rather intentionally since we were in the area to see the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and had down time. The funky campus has its own vibe. I sat in the coffee shop for awhile, while some wandered around hoping to check out their ham radio tower. Watching social interactions was really interesting. We also ate lunch in their cafeteria and curiously eavesdropped on a variety of wide ranging discussions from Star Wars to space podcasts.

The incoming class each year is small. Cal Tech clearly accepts a special kind of student and students must embrace 3-4 all nighters each week. The labs are amazing. The vibe warm. The food delicious. The smiles genuine. It felt less intense than Berkeley. No one seemed to be scurrying to and fro, but rather soaking in long discussions or lingering over lab tables. Little known fact: Cal Tech is the NASA contract employer for roughly 6,000 Jet Propulsion Lab employees. Their reach truly touches the stars.

Thursday, May 30, 2019

The Spring Break College Trip: Santa Clara University & Stanford

   I'll post a few pictures & thoughts. What a blistering trip. I won't pretend it was easy. We flew the longest legs. Good choice. We should have asked those in the know about LA to help us do a bit more planning. Poor choice on our part. The Venice Beach rental was lovely, but the area SO not us. However, we really liked the Venice Beach Canals, and catching up with my nephew who gave us a tour of Phase Four where he is working on space propulsion.

   We went to see some of these schools because they are on our consider list and others we were just curious about. It was all worthwhile. Seeing schools and regions in person really does change and form perceptions and awareness and take some of the mystique away. It's all about FIT for your student. What a haul though. Her gut melted down after an intense Mock Trial season and some other travel plus other strains on her system. She is such a trooper and so resilient, but her story is not mine to tell. That said, finding a college where she can fly (i.e., eat well) will be critical. I'll post a few thoughts about the schools from my notes.

   First stop Santa Clara University which has been voted #1 most innovative university in the west. We enjoyed our visit, but since school was out, we did not get a real sense of the place. The area did not really appeal to her, but her brother enjoyed the visit. Campus was mostly populated by international students and the soccer teams. Nice compact campus. Dean of Engineering is across the street from main campus. People drive fast in the area, and food selection was okay. Airport very close by.

Stanford

One of the best admissions discussions we attended.

97% of students will live on campus all four years.

Barns were to die for.

7k undergrads & 10k graduate students.

Decent size campus, really pretty large.

There was a sense of cooperative teamwork, not an eat you alive attitude like some Ivies.

Internationally known design school.

50% study abroad paid for by school.

Can't find your club? Propose it and the school will pay for it.

EE maker space labs are open 12 hours a day/6 days a week.

Palo Alto felt very expensive and not very appealing.

We did have some very good hummus in town.

The college itself felt like a safe welcoming space. That said, crime is becoming an issue in visitor parking lots specifically during break times when they know many visitors are on campus.
Keep your valuables locked up and out of sight in your trunk.

Some families found they had stolen suitcases, lap tops, etc....

Bill Gates on campus for an AI symposium while were visiting.

Food was good. She could eat here, but the lines were long at lunch.

Many housing options available.

Out of all the schools we visited, she could see herself here.

Likely to apply for kicks and giggles with no expectations.

There's more than one way to explore a campus.

More schools coming soon....

School Year Doings 2019-20

   A peak out our window says summer is almost here. The grass pollen is raging, while a swallow has built her nest in our eaves. I'll clean it out later, but for now I'm happy to enjoy her sweepings to and fro.

   School's grasp has almost released us, but summer appears to be priming herself to keep us busy. The kids have a few irons in the fire and we will see what summer brings. Certainly, there will be some soccer, some online health classes, and driver's ed, plus a big birthday party!

   But for now a glance back to late winter and early spring.

They had a great VEX season.

He served as a House Page for the day. His shy came out, but he rose to the challenge!

In the state press room yakking it up...

with the shortest haircut ever.

Inside the state vault. No $$$$$ here!

   Her Mock Trial season felt like it would never end, but what a wonderful group of students, judges, and lawyers. So grateful for their team's efforts and their hard work; they made it to Oregon State Mock Trial. Here's to this fall and another season, but not quite yet!

   Overall the kids are keeping busy. She took a study hall for semester 2 to ease her blistering class load, and when Mock Trial ended she did a deep dive into books. Hmmmmm.... She's riding and still working at a barn. Enjoying youth group, and starting to recognize some college planning is good!

   He's been playing spring soccer and also refereeing locally and that's earning him a bit of money. Home school co-op is over and his two classes in town are almost over, and he's very ready to be freed from the strictures of school (and me) in order to tinker and do his own thing this summer.

   I expect this fall I'll join a local gym so I have somewhere to go, sit (yes sit), hang out, and workout while they are busy exploring their interests. Hard to believe we will have two in high school. What a terrific year and they've both grown so much. Very thankful for God's goodness in all the crossroads and crossings this year. It's not been easy, but His grace has carried us.

~ Kim

Saturday, March 23, 2019

Welcome, 2019!

A few pictures of our crazy days. Overall, life is good. Our 2018/19 winter was less mellow than previous years due to National High School Mock Trial and VEX Robotics, but those are over and spring soccer is here. We are overdue in pruning fruit trees, the fridge is dying, and the moles are taking over, lots to tackle. Can't believe we almost have both kids in high school and new horizons approach!