My first TRIP experience + Get to know me! by Kaiden Ramessur

Hello everyone! My name is Kaiden Ramessur, and I’m a sophomore at George School, which is both a boarding school and a day school. (I’m personally NOT a boarder). I live in the USA right now, in Newtown Pennsylvania, with my younger sister and parents. 
If you guys want to know me, I should describe myself. I would say that I am energetic, creative, and always ready to learn & help others. I really love fantasy books, DND, video games, and (of course) science! I have tried coding and writing, and while I enjoy both, I think a job in the sciences is what I want to do. A fun fact about me is that I’ve lived in England, the USA, and Hong Kong, China! 
Other than TRIP, I’ve done an INSPIRIT programme course, which teaches you how to use Artificial Intelligence to help sort data and further science without letting it do the thinking. It was a great experience and played a large role in applying to TRIP.
​For my future career choice, there are a few options that stick out to me, however I honestly do not know what to do. Astrobiology (the study of extraplanetary life / the origins of life) sticks out to me as interesting, and it fits my interests of biology, primordial life, and astronomy. I am confident that TRIP will help me choose my career choice and be an amazing experience.

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Anyways, I think going over my first day is going to be very important for any potential applicants or even for myself in the future, so I can see my own growth:
I was the first person in, and only Dr. Valdez, Dr. Austria, and Dr. Nick were there, along with Sabina, who is an alumni of the TRIP programme who is now a TA. My first impression of TRIP was that it was a lot less intimidating and a lot more welcoming than my initial expectations would have me to believe. I could immediately tell that this was an environment where I could feel supported and ask for help at any time, which made me feel a lot more ready for the programme. While the activities in the first day were mostly introductory, they were crucial to making the most out of the programme by laying strong foundations of expectations, equipment usage, and communication basics. I found the class length to be long enough to be able to use our time productively and get a lot done, but not too long to feel overbearing. 

Overall, I would say that I was surprised with how personal and caring the instructors all were, and how the programme was a lot more accessible then I personally believed it to be. My biggest struggle was probably when we made our own solutions for the kickoff experiment, only because I was unfamiliar with the process beforehand, but this was something I had prepared for using the resources provided by TRIP prior to the class.
I would like to recommend TRIP for any potential applicants that are reading this and are interested. Even though we have only had one day, it provided a great look into the future of the programme and will help you choose a career, further your love of science, and get to work with amazing people just like you!

I hope you feel that you know me just a little bit more!
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– Kaiden Ramessur