For a week in July. I spent my life at The University of Florida, participating in the R.I.S.E Program. R.I.S.E stands for Research Immersion in Science and Engineering. I lived in Hume Hall during my stay, sleeping in a dorm room. I even had the experience of living with a roommate. Now we get to the studies. The first night we were there we watched a short film about underwater rivers created by underground aquifers. It was an old film, apparently shown in many of the other students schools, but I found it interesting and it attracted my attention for a bit. The next day we visited the Santa Fe bat-cave. To my dismay, we did not encounter any bats, but we climbed down into the cave entrance, shamming on our hands and knees through almost 2 foot high tunnels. The cave was quite large, able to fit our group of around 20 kids and 4 counselors, still with plenty of room to move about. The water level was high so we weren’t able to explore the entire length of the cave, but the room was exciting enough for us. After we all left the cave, we took a long bus ride to Blue Springs. So the water we found in the cave had traveled all the way from the Blue Springs Aquifer to the cave. The water was freezing, but my newly-made friends and I explored all we could, walking through the shallow waters. The next day, lectures began. we sat in long lectures of professors and students teaching us subjects. Over the next two days, we learned about all kinds of subjects surrounding climate change. We learned about keeping our coastlines stable, mapping areas with drones, bees and our environment, and maintaining ecosystems. Our other explorations and field trips included a trip to Poe Springs which was just as fun and cold as Blue Springs, and we went to the Observatory. The Observatory was fun, not only cause we got to view the sky from a high tech modern telescope, versus an older style telescope, but also because we got to mess around with sound in the dome roof. I also got to see fireflies for my first time. We also visited a computer lab and we learned about the power of processors and what super computers are. We also got to see virtual reality simulators of the solar system, using Google Daydreams. Not only was this trip awesome for all that I learned, the college experience it gave me was even more important. I also made tons of friends who live all over the state so I will have to keep in touch with them.

My second learning experience of the summer of 2019, was working at a store called Sole-Lutions. Its a nice shoe store in Cooper City, Florida. They sell shoes, but the store is mostly known for their orthotics. I personally know the owner and so after coming to the store a couple times to use the lab, he offered me a job. In the back of the store, there is a lab, where the owner makes custom orthotics, fit to someone specific foot problems. Originally I was working at the store to learn how to run the 3D printer. We wanted to use it to create custom orthotics, but that project got put on hold. I still learned how to use the 3D printer, so I was able to use it for my own personal projects. The owner, Stuart Pressman, started teaching me how to create custom orthotics in the lab. Now, it was different for each person we did, but the general process was the same. First the person would come in for their meeting, allowing Stuart to take a look at their feet to find the problems and take and impression of the foot in a foam box. Next, we would pour plaster into the molds and create a plaster foot. We would sand it down so it had specific points lined up, so that Stuart knew where to have support. Then we would take a plastic heel cup, choosing the strength based on the foot. We then choose materials, using plasticity and foams, such as Thermocork, Polyethylene, EVA, and Neoprene. We then cut the material to the shapes that we need and we layer it all with contact cement. Then using a vacuum, we press all the pieces together using the plaster foot. After we’re done, Stuart goes ahead and sands down the edges to make everything look pretty. Not only did this experience teach me how to make custom orthotics, but it also taught me to use many tools, and gave me a great job experience, along with a way to fund more of my projects.