Daily News

Life at Oak Ridge!

Saturday: July 10, 2004
Students and teachers from all over the Appalachia region gathered together at the Comfort Inn in Oak Ridge, TN. All the students and teachers arrived by plane or car. However the students and teachers who were arriving by the plane that took off from Atlanta were late coming to Oak Ridge, but that didn't affect anyone getting to know one another. When everyone arrived there, they were excited to settle in, meet new people, and learn what their research project would be. That evening our resident teachers told everyone what project they would be working on, the name of their mentor(s), their schedule for the next two weeks, their group members, and whether they would be eating off site at a fast food restaurant for lunch or at the ORNL cafeteria.

Sunday: July 11, 2004
Our day began at Maryville College, with a rope course. This course allowed us to build communication skills, trust, and teamwork. Everyone was divided up into four different groups, which were headed off to different directions. Each group went through separate tasks which they had to complete. These tasks included the spider-web, the bridge, the swamp of frustration, log balance, and almost everyone participated in the wall. It also helped us to get to know each other better. When we finished with the ropes courses, we ate lunch and toured the campus. We came back to the hotel and relaxed after the tour. After dinner, guest speaker Bill Landry gave us an excellent speech about the Appalachian region. He also showed us video clips on life in Appalachia, which was very interesting to everyone. That evening some of the people went to Wal-Mart while the others went swimming.

Monday: July 12, 2004
We were supposed to wake up early and leave for a day at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), but we got to sleep a little bit late because President George W. Bush was coming to the Laboratory to give a speech. So Martha Hammond showed us a film on how Oak Ridge came about, to take up time while we waited. When we finally arrived at ORNL, President Bush had just gotten on his plane and left. We didn't get a chance to meet President Bush, but we got to go to the auditorium that he was in, which was pretty awesome! Three students with ARC had received a picture of President Bush as a gift from the Graphics Department at ORNL. After visiting the Laboratory, which everyone enjoyed, we went to the hotel. After dinner we had a group meeting in which our resident teacher Lynette Young gave everyone some papers on how to do our presentations at the end of the program. She didn't require us to do the presentation at that time, but she just wanted to plant a seed so we can be thinking about the final presentation.

Tuesday: July 13, 2004
Today, everyone woke up early to go to ORNL. We were divided into our separate project groups, and we ate at the ORNL cafeteria for lunch. When we arrived at the hotel that evening, we had free time. Some of us used the free time to study for a test, while others, who didn't have a test, went swimming instead. That evening after dinner we had a surprise guest speaker, Anna Beaber who was very interesting. She talked about electrical wind turbines, windmills, and how they produced energy.

Wednesday: July 14, 2004
Today, we returned back to ORNL to continue on working on our projects. After dinner, we had group meetings and then we had an activity at the hotel, which some people went swimming.

Thursday: July 15, 2004
Today, we went to ORNL and continued working on our projects. After dinner, we had an amazing guest speaker named Art Stewart, who is a facilitator for the Stream Ecology group. He talked about the different types of languages in science. He also spoke about the poems that he had written and about the bridging science.

Friday: July 16, 2004
Today, we visited the University of Tennessee. At 10 o'clock the Admission Department gave us a welcoming. Later that morning, we visited the Anthropology Lab, which was exciting; however we didn't get the chance to visit the body farm. At the lab, they can determine how long a corpse has been dead and what happened to it. We visited the College of Engineering after lunch. They showed a future vehicle, which contained a DVD player, a lab top computer, Playstation with cordless remote controls and Global Position System. We then visited the Veterinary Medicine Department. The tour guide showed us some of the sick animals that they were treating. She talked about the admission process and how a person can get accepted. When we returned to the hotel that evening, we had some free time, therefore some of the groups started on their presentations while others worked on gathering information for their reports.

Saturday: July 17, 2004
Today, we visited Gatlinburg, TN. We got the opportunity to visit the Ripley's Aquarium, which was awesome and everyone loved the aquarium. Some of the students said that when they went through the tunnel they felt that they were actually in the ocean but in reality they weren't. After visiting the Aquarium, we went to Dollywood, which is an amusement park. We spent the rest of the afternoon there. It was a little late when we returned to the hotel, but everyone was eager to sleep and rest up for Sunday.

Sunday: July 18, 2004
Today was an easy day for everyone. Those who wanted to attend church went, and those who didn't rested up for the day. We went to Ryan's for lunch, which everyone enjoyed. We visited the American Museum of Science and Energy after lunch, which was very interesting to everyone. After dinner we had a group meeting and our research groups met. Everyone worked on their presentations and their reports that evening.

Monday: July 19, 2004
Today was a busy day for everyone. We went to ORNL and continued to work on our projects and tried to finish up. Later in the afternoon, we took a tour of the Spallation Neutron Source construction site, which won't be completed until 2006. We went to dinner at a local restaurant. After dinner, we had research group meetings for two hours, which all the groups were working very hard to get finished.

Tuesday: July 20, 2004
Today, we went to ORNL to continue working on our projects. This afternoon we visited Smokies Park in Kodak, TN for a picnic and a baseball game, it was Montgomery vs. Smokies, everyone had a blast. Some of the students and teachers got a baseball autograph by some of the players. During the game the section that the ARC participants were in, won a free gallon of wind shield washer from Advanced Auto Parts. The Smokies won the game. Everyone got back to the hotel late, but there were eager to go to sleep and rest up for tomorrow.

Wednesday: July 21, 2004
Today was a very busy day for everyone; we went to ORNL to do the final touches on our projects. Everyone had to have everything turned in for example, research report finish, and their presentations completed. We had dinner at a local restaurant. After dinner everyone continued working on their projects.

Thursday: July 22, 2004
Today, we woke up early to take a tour of the Graphite Reactor, which was pretty awesome. At lunch we ate with our mentors. Then after lunch we visited the Lost Sea in Sweetwater, TN. The Lost Sea is America's largest underground lake. We rode a large glass bottom boat to tour the place. On the tour we observe some of the largest rainbow trout in the United States, which was a pretty amazing experience. The tour lasted one hour. We had dinner at Ryan's, then after which we finished working on the last minute touches to our projects. Later on that evening we rehearsed our presentations.