Today is day 29 and it is our teaching day in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. We woke up a little late, so we zoomed over to the Bud Werner Memorial Library. We were met by a large class of about thirty 10 year-olds. Sean went first teaching game theory. Cole and I helped Sean with his activities, while the rest of the group went and go get fresh class supplies. Asia taught next and did a really entertaining chemistry experiment making a substance-like slime. Everything was great but it made a big mess that had to be cleaned. Today the Steamboat Springs library actually had a special guest speaker, John Holdren, who served as the senior advisor to President Barack Obama on science and technology issues. Some of the group got a chance to chat with him. He is actually a Stanford alumni; what a coincidence. The large class left at 11pm and there were 3 students that remained. I taught next a small and personal neuroscience workshop. Because the class was so small I actually got through all my activities in 45 minutes, so I had 15 minutes extra. So we watched cool brain and psychology videos on YouTube that I’ve always found interesting.
Travis plays memory games with the kiddos.
Next was lunch. I went out and explored Steamboat Springs. I went to a really cool café/bookstore. I relaxed there and explored the best-seller section. I went to Sean and Jenny’s recommended Mexican food place, Azteca Taqueria. I had fried fish and shrimp tacos with a special mango chili sauce. I brought back two tacos for the group could try. While I was gone, Cole and Maceo had both taught. Only Anna’s workshop was left. For the remaining hour and a half, we all read and worked on different stuff on our computers. After Anna finished, we went home and had pizza and salad. We ate an earlyish dinner because we were meeting with the MIT group at a hot spring 15 miles away. When we arrive at the hot spring, the MIT group arrived just after us. Punctuality check!
East meets West in the Middle!
There were 8 people on their team and they had a huge van that was completely filled. We had a great time in the hot springs, jumping from pool to pool, sharing stories, experience, advice, and laughs. They are a great group of intellectual and charismatic students; we wish we could have met them for longer, but time always seems to be our greatest limiting factor. Steamboat Springs was a beautiful stop where we all got the opportunity to rest for the big climb up the Rockies. Sean and Jenny were absolutely great hosts and it was a pleasure staying and getting to hangout with them. I feel pretty great at this point and excited to bike tomorrow!
-Travis