Rise and shine came early once again, fueling up with a good breakfast before campers dove into their final semilab sessions of the week. After days of building, testing, and experimenting, campers wrapped up their week-long projects, watching their studies come together into a beautiful close.
After SigmaBreak, campers headed to lectures, with a special highlight from guest speaker Jennifer Rexford, Princeton University's Provost and the Gordon Y.S. Wu Professor in Engineering. Before joining Princeton's faculty, she spent eight years at AT&T Labs–Research, and she is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Campers were lucky to learn directly from her on "How the Internet Works," getting an inside look at the infrastructure that powers our everyday digital lives.
Today's SigmaTournament turned to engineering and applied sciences, bringing another round of wins, losses, and ties. But the standings are far from settled — every team is still in the running for the tournament title, since tomorrow is Grand Unification, where all subjects combine into one final round worth the combined total of every day before it.
After dinner, campers spread out across a wide range of workshops, from glassblowing and building soft "living balloon animal" robots to constructing model planes and traditional Brazilian kites. Two Junior Instructor Challenges were also on offer, with campers running the show themselves: one dove into the science of blood sugar, giving campers a hands-on look at how their bodies process what they eat, while the other explored the science behind slime, ending with everyone teaming up to make one giant batch together.
Evening clubs brought Brain Ring, a fast-paced competition packed with intriguing questions and trivia facts. Campers had a blast battling it out, with Team 100% Humidity taking home the win!
Tomorrow is our last full day of camp, packed with group activities and campwide celebrations to send off the summer right!