Splish Splash by Ana V. '15

Listen to this awesome, late 1950s song.

Now try to picture me several years back when I was in junior high. What do you think occupied several of my Saturday mornings after I found an old CD containing Bobby Darin’s “Splish Splash”? Teaching myself differential equations while starting my own company? Heh…nope.

I played “Splish Splash”, of course. over. and. over. Like I am now, except now I’m not dancing to it.

After I found this song (and immediately realized how positively musically delicious it is), I forgot about my Saturday morning cartoons a few times and just danced. Life can’t get much better than wearing slippery socks on laminate wood floor while blasting out great music from the stereo and pretending to be becoming the master of a new kind of swing/slide-jazzy dance genre. I was clearly inspired. Really, really inspired. What can I say? Inspiration comes from people who are passionate about something.

In my opinion, while being passionate is an individual quality, it hardly focuses just on the individual. Passionate people don’t lock themselves up to do what they love; they share what they love with others in hopes that they become inspired. If Bob Darin hadn’t been passionate about his music, I would have been far less invigorated those Saturdays…

..and speaking of Saturdays and inspiration, check out the massive number of people who were at Lobby 10 this morning/afternoon for Splash 2011!!

From 1st floor:                                                                                           View from the second floor:

   

Splash is a day-long event in which people at MIT (undergrads, grad students, professors, etc) prepare short classes lasting about one hour. The subject of the class can range anywhere from “The Physics of Singing” to “Build Your Own Solar Rechargeable Lamp” to “Salsa Dancing”. Students in grades 9-12 can sign up for classes and become immersed in and inspired by something that they may have otherwise never even considered or known to exist! If you’re in high school and feel like you could be learning more, or are particularly interested in something, I strongly recommend doing a program through the MIT Educational Studies Program (ESP).

I was involved with a similar program back at home at the University of Chicago called Cascade. I would have never learned about topology, game theory, and several other out-of-classroom mathematical topics if it wasn’t for the inspired students who decided to be passionate and pass along their knowledge!

While Splash 2011 at MIT registration is over, consider signing up for another ESP program because…

• It could be close to home! While programs like Splash originally started at MIT, they have branched out all across the country so that students everywhere can get a chance to get mindblown by the awesomeness that exists in this world. There are programs at Stanford, Northwestern, Duke, UCLA, UMBC and more!
• They’re also cheap or even free! (Food, too!!) ;)
• It’s a great way to get excited for college classes.
• There are classes of ALL KINDS, not just relating to math/science.
• A lot of programs’ registration deadlines are coming up!
• Crazy fun. Enough said.

As a freshman here, I am amazed at the opportunities MIT provides its students and students in general! The collaborative and passionate spirit here never fails to make me smile, and it’s just one of the reasons it makes its rigor extremely worth it.

Let yourself become immersed in the music of learning and research the programs that are out there.

Take off your shoes and get comfortable. Happy dancing.