Monday, March 1, 2010

Thank you PROMISE




I learned a lot from the outdoor activity this weekend. It was a very great experience there that I felt the trust among team members. I climbed up to the top of the ladder and let it go. I didn't even feel fear, because I trust all the team members. I knew all my team members were supporting me.

I also learned so much from the 'puzzle' activity. In the beginning, our team were trying to build a numbering system that the puzzle boards can be put together very quickly. However, something was wrong in that system and we stuck there. We can complete the puzzle in a few minutes. However, we cannot even complete the puzzle using the numbering system we built. Why? We were struggling on finding out the problem, but couldn't. Finally, we threw out our old system and build the puzzle again from the very beginning. It was so amazing that we got our numbering system work soon after we rebuilt the puzzle.

The same situation may happen in our research. We may stuck at some point in the research and cannot find the way out. What I learned from the 'puzzle' activity is: if something doesn't work out, do not stuck there too long. Try to think the problem over from another angle. Some magic may happen to you that all the problems will suddenly go away.

Thank you PROMISE.

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PROMISE Community Building - A Place for Graduate Students.

PROMISE: Maryland's Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) seeks to increase the numbers and diversity of Ph.D.s in the STEM fields by building community and supporting graduate students from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines. Here, we salute the spirit of PROMISE!
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