Andy Sandweiss — Video Transcript
I’m Andy Sandweiss. I’m from Bangor, Maine. I was a member of the Bangor High School class of 2015 and more recently, I work at the Federal Road Administration at the United States Department of Transportation. Here to say a very quick word on how JSHS or the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium got me to where I am today. JCHS which I started back in my sophomore year so that would have been around 2012, 2013, was the first time I ever wrote a research paper and certainly the first time I ever got to do one on a topic of my choosing. Chose to work on water resources in Coastal Peru, a place I know is half of my family is from there, JCHS was the first time I got to present this research first as a research paper, and then as a lecture, PowerPoint presentation at the regional Conference. And after that with that same project, I had the real privilege to be able to do that three times my sophomore, my junior and my senior year, each time providing an update on the project and not only getting to go to the regional conference, which at the time was in Durham at the University of New Hampshire, but also getting to go to the National Conference, which I believe was in Dade, Ohio, my first year, then in Washington DC and then my last year was in Baltimore. Had an amazing time there, got to meet some wonderful people, people, some of whom I still am in contact with today. But I think the real benefit I got from all three years of JSHS was through the process, learning how to write a research paper, how to get feedback, how to stand up and give a presentation, and then defend your work against people who are going to ask questions about the merits of your work and the research validity of everything that you’ve done. It’s something that trained me not only for the rest of my time in high school, but for my undergraduate experience at Yale University, where I studied architecture, and then at my graduate school experience at University of Pennsylvania where I studied city planning, where I actually got to publish my first peer reviewed journal paper on a very different topic, but those skills I learned through the process of JSHS really paid off because that whole knowledge of how to write that research paper, how to work with people who are going to review it and go through iterations of edits and stuff, it really paid off. I really think for those of you who are interested in science and engineering, technology, mathematics, SEM, you know, I’m sure you’ve heard that before. It’s a truly wonderful opportunity to get into that world as a high school student, which is a privilege very few people get. I would really encourage you if you’re interested to submit a paper, whether you’re a poster presenter or a PowerPoint presenter, whether you go to the regional to national conference or both, you’ll get so much out of it. The people you’ll meet, the connections you’ll make, and just the stuff you’ll remember many years down the line, it’s going to pay off handsomely. I hope you’re all properly inspired, and I really wish you the best of luck, especially if you submit your paper.