Trust me.

ropes1Trusting someone is difficult. Trusting someone you just met is even harder. That is exactly what the students in the “Scots Science Scholars” had to do on their first official day at Maryville College. We joined Mountain Challenge in the College Woods for some team-building activities. From being lifted through a rope web to the whole group being blindfolded and led by leaders that could not communicate with them, the scholars had to give up control to their group of peers

ropes2crop

The group had to utilize skills like  communication, teamwork, and trust in order to complete the task . “Communication was difficult because while we couldn’t see, our leaders could not talk to us. So we had to develop a system to travel from point A to point B”, said Thomas Moore, a member of the “Scots Science Scholars”. Another scholar, Jamel Foster, said, “For a group that had just met the teamwork was great. We all did our part and it was like we had been working together for a while.”

ropes3The group did not let each other down. All the objectives were completed and the group could see again! At the end of this exercise we had developed a bond amongst ourselves. We are the first group in the “Scots Science Scholars” and a part of the largest incoming freshman class in Maryville College history. We will forever remember this experience and appreciate it as we become a part of the Maryville College community.

ropes4Posted by Preston Murphy, Scots Science Scholar,  Maryville College Class of 2017

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Waiting and…..

croppedTWhen Dr. Angelia Gibson and I were dreaming up this program, we weren’t sure it would ever become a reality.  We waited and waited to hear from NSF and then, BOOM, there it was, the letter saying that we had convinced them this program was up to their standards.

We  created promotional and  application materials, distributed them, and waited for the applications to come in. We  created peer mentor applications and waited for those to come in. We  made the the offers and waited for the students  to accept.

peer mentors

Peer mentors Josh Hunley, Kayla Lewis, Emily Pickett and Travis Wilson

We spent the summer organizing and planning everything from field trips to Oak Ridge National Labs to box lunches.  We purchased equipment for labs, we created activities and spreadsheets.  We had meetings and more meetings and we depended on people from the admissions office, residence life, the financial aid office,  and the business office in ways we never had before.  Finally it was all set up and ready to go.

Then, we all waited for everyone to show up and after all that waiting, here they are!
s3

These 13 students will always have a place in Maryville College history as the first class of Scots Science Scholars. We wish them luck in their college journey.

It was worth the wait.

Posted by Dr. Maria Siopsis

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment