Lisseth Gavilán
Intern: June 2005
Being one of the 2005 summer students and working
with the Hubble Heritage team is a thrilling and
rewarding opportunity. That is why I came to Baltimore
all the way from Northfield, Minnesota, where I
had just finished my sophomore year and declared
a major in physics with a concentration in educational
studies at Carleton College. While at Carleton,
I work for the community service organization (called
ACT) where I am in charge of publicity and its website.
Despite the fact that Peru, my home country, has
underdeveloped technologies in public universities
and schools, science has always surrounded me. Both
my parents majored in electronic engineering, yet
my mother publishes Peruvian history books and my
father is a high school math teacher. My parents'
love of science had always been contagious and,
for instance, I had my dad talking about Maxwell's
equations since I was in middle school. My opportunities
to have science classes in middle school were limited
though.
After receiving a scholarship to attend a British
high school in Lima, Markham College, I was able
to fulfill this initial curiosity. My interest in
the physical sciences developed further since I
entered the International Baccalaureate diploma
programme there. This programme required taking
three advanced (called higher-level) courses. I
had my first go at science classes there and chose
chemistry, physics and mathematics. I realized that
I was into astrophysics and optics while taking
the special options offered in IB higher-level physics.
Apart from what I learned during the
IB I was also very excited by one of the extracurricular
clubs I was part of, the Duke of Edinburgh's international
award. For that activity, we had to lead and plan
intense hikes to the Peruvian Andes. A classmate
also carried a telescope from the school and at
night, having a clear sky, we could get remarkable
sights of the dense Milky Way and southern sky constellations.
I discovered how fascinating sky watching could
be. This is one of the factors that led me to join
the physics and astronomy department at Carleton,
where I was admitted as a Kellogg international
scholar.
Last year I organized lessons for
the Math and Science Girl Scout day, preparing materials
on the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn. After
the summer with the Heritage team I will be working
on a special project leading to the enhancement
of the Goodsell observatory’s website and
learning tools at Carleton.
Apart from hikes and science, I enjoy visiting
my family, music, poetry and photography. I plan
to pursue a PhD after I obtain my BA, either in
Science Education or Physics. I also hope to bring
back some of these skills to my home country, where
the communication of science to the public has been
overlooked for a long time.
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