<p>I was excited to receive my SS packet yesterday in the mail. Do any of you have recommendations as which workshops are the most interesting, fun, etc. and which might be kind of boring. I have a few top picks and a few that I am not interested in, but I am having trouble choosing some others.</p>
<p>well, i'm not sure if they're the same as last year BUT the ones i remember i really enjoyed were the physics (really interesting, we got to tour the lab, play with lasers, and measure the width of a hair using lasers), rockets (we basically just built an estes rocket after 1/2 an hour of talk) ummmm i don't remember. oh! the stats one where you configure a catapult (aka statapult) to "bomb" a helo was pretty fun too. and she gave out candy last year. :D</p>
<p>the one that everyone was literally falling asleep in was astronautical engineering. but it was the very last session, we were all exhausted, and his voice was very ummm... well it lulled us to sleep. i felt really bad.</p>
<p>my "fuzzy" friend said she enjoyed the writing one and i think the psychology one too but i can't remember for sure.</p>
<p>Political Science is fairly interesting. They do a simulation where groups of people play different countries and have to try to accomplish different goals (and not everyone can win).</p>
<p>not everyone can win??? what's up with that?! ;)</p>
<p>Does anyone know what the deal is with the Introduction to Airmanship? It says "all students to attend", but do we really have to?
My choices so far (I haven't decided my last 3 placed ones yet)
1. Introduction to Air Force Avation
2. The Chemistry of Aerospace Propulsion
3. Bombs On Target
4. Lasers and optics
5. Principles of Aircraft Part Design
6. Officership</p>
<p>Anyone have any suggestions about what else I should think about or anyone who has been there before have any opinions on the ones i'm thinking about?</p>
<p>yup, you sure do. it's okay, it's cool.</p>
<p>those sound good :)</p>
<h1>s 3 and 4 i went to and enjoyed both.</h1>
<p>Anyone have opinions on...
-Field Biology
-Aerospace Physiology
-Polymers
-Small Scale Rocket Design and Test
or any of the electrical engineering workshops?</p>
<p>i did the small scale rocket design and test.
and electrical engineering (don't remember which. or that there were more than one).</p>
<p>rockets was fun, we heard a lecture about student-built rockets, toured some of the facilities, etc. then we built estes rockets. it was fun :)</p>
<p>electrical engineering was really really good. i think that was one of my favorites. the guy who led it (no idea if it'll be the same, but just telling you 'bout my experience) was entertaining and informative. and we got to sauder little chips into really annoying buzzers which was pretty darned awesome. then after we finished, we still had like 25 minutes, so he showed us trunk monkey videos and told us why we should major in electrical engineering. much fun! :D</p>
<p>I thought officership was really valuable: They tell you how much you'll be making once out of the academy, what jobs you could have, how often you'll have to move, benefits etc. etc. The speaker last year was engaging and had a lot of good insights.</p>
<p>Small scale rocket design is exactly that. They give you a 20 minute brief on the rocket program at the academy, and then you get like 45 minutes to make your own. It was fun.</p>
<p>The English/poetry one was a little boring, unless you're really into literature. At the end you do some improv speeches which turned out to be pretty funny.</p>
<p>I forget what it was called, but one of the workshops you get to play with these really high-tech legos. Your goal is to build the fastest dragster using different gear ratios and tire sizes. If you like robotics, definitely go with this one.</p>
<p>Im not sure if they have it this year, but last year they offered a tour of the 94th Flight Training Squadron. You get to see the gliders and meet members of the Wings of Blue. I recommend it.</p>
<p>Bottom line, no matter which ones you choose, you're going to have an amazing time and learn a ton about the academy.</p>
<p>I attended Summer Seminar in 2007, and besides going to the 94th FTS (which everybody has to go to), I was only able to participate in three of the workshops I signed up for. My advice is to just sign up for whatever sounds fun to you; I found all the workshops to be engaging, but really, most of the time in all of them was just spent interacting with the professors and asking as many questions as you can about the Academy. The activities they have going on are just icing on the cake. </p>
<p>Last year I attended the following workshops:</p>
<p>The History of Space: Here, we watched a few videos about the space race and also split up into groups to design a futuristic space tourism concept. Beyond that, we spoke to the professor about his career in the AF. I didn't sign up for it, but it was still great nonetheless.</p>
<p>Economic Theory and Practice: This was one of the best workshops because aside from watching a dull video on supply and demand charts, the entire class just had a giant Q&A with the two Captains watching over us. All the while, we were munching away at a ton of candy they just threw around to keep us quiet while others were speaking.</p>
<p>Analysis of Water in the Environment: This workshop was pretty boring. We took a little hike into the woods and measured the pH of some water samples gathered from a river. I would only recommend it if you're a big chem junkie and love doing labs (do these people even exist?)</p>
<p>Lasers and Optics: This workshop was really neat. You get to sample the introductory physics class, the observatory, and an optics lab with some cool laser demonstrations. I thought this was very worthwhile.</p>
<p>Small-Scale Rocket Design & Test: I enjoyed this workshop not so much because we got to build little model rockets, but also because the professor there had some awesome stories from his piloting career. Building the rocket was just an aside; interacting with the professor was the main attraction. Oh, and pressing the little red button to make your rocket fly hundreds of yards down the parade field is a lot of fun, too!</p>
<p>94th Flight Training Squadron: It's a good thing they make everyone go to this because it gives you a lot of insight as to what flight programs are available to cadets. You get to see the gliders up close, learn about the jump program, and tour the control tower. </p>
<p>Overall, I advise you to ease up on worrying about which workshops to choose; the most important thing is just getting a feel for the place and seeing whether or not it's a good fit for you. Just get to know the professors and see if the facilities are capable of providing you with the experience you want (which I'm sure most of you will). </p>
<p>If any of you have further questions about my SS experience, feel free to PM me!</p>
<p>I attented SS last year also. It was an awesome time and I enjoyed almost all of my workshops. I thought the civil engineering was the best by far. We went out to a workshop in jacks and did some pretty cool stuff. welded random stuff, straw bridges and that type of thing. The workshop concluded with a catapult building competition which was really cool. I also thought the polysci simulation was a whole lot of fun. It was a real good opportunity to interact with your possible future classmates.</p>
<p>I did the rockets as well and loved it, also, if you are into building planes, the glider workshop was really fun. You basically use a computer program to help you design a glider then you build it out of balsa wood and fly it off the steps in one of the very large rooms (can't remember the name, it was some kind of ballroom) This was a fun workshop but it took most of your options because it was so long (like 2 days).</p>
<p>I did both (?) EE workshops and I really liked them! Also, try and do the ones where you tour the airfield, the facilities are really awesome.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure that everyone gets to tour the airfield (gliders, Wings of Blue, 94th). It was well done and a lot of fun!</p>
<p>My favorite though, was the flight simulators where you get to fly around and later dogfight each other! I forget what that one was called though.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone for your advice and thoughts. I have made notes and made my final choices using them. Do you know if it is first come, first serve as far as getting into the workshops?</p>
<p>My two favorites were Civil Engineering and Economics. I absolutely recommend both. Civil engineering was awesome... we built a catapult and had a competition, which was even better because my team won! We also got to weld some, and build straw bridges and such... it was so much fun! And I was surprised with economics. Everyone who took it lived it. I had a bag full of candy by the end, and actually learned a lot of interesting stuff.</p>
<p>All in all though, choose what interests you. I was lucky and got everything I signed up for, even the one with the simulators, because I sent the papers back quickly. So send the stuff back ASAP, and don't worry too much about it, it will be a wonderful experience no matter what workshops you get.</p>