As we took the cow's eye in our hands, we were instructed to cut it carefully and with precision. My heart raced with excitement, but my partner hesitated: her hand was shaking nervously at the sight of this familiar organ in isolation. “You can cut the eye first; I’ll just watch for a minute,” she whispered apprehensively. Suddenly, the boy next to us (who jumped on the task without much hesitation) ended up cutting the eye without following the instructions. My partner shrieked as the juices from the boy’s mutilated cow eye landed all over her face and in her mouth!

This hilarious experience marked the beginning of nine incredible days of the Duke summer psychology program, which I participated in during the summer of 2023. The purpose of this program was to allow students to learn more about different concepts in neuroscience and human psychology. Beyond the academic enrichment, the program was beneficial in allowing students from all over the country to interact with each other and unite through their common interests in psychology. 

The Duke dormitories were a lot nicer than I had expected. Surprisingly, they had air conditioning in my room, and it was very clean and well-lit. My roommate happened to be a girl from Chicago, who was in the same grade as me. She was a student taking the business program, so we did not have many classes together. However, we still spent a lot of our breaks and meal times together, and we were able to share our different experiences. It was my first time sharing a room with a stranger, even if it was only for nine days. Despite my initial nerves of having a roommate, overall, I thought it was a fun time!

Every day we would get up at around 7 AM to begin getting ready for the day’s lectures, workshops, and activities. We would meet up at the main dining hall, known as Trinity Cafe, for a buffet breakfast, where we would get a chance to mingle with other people. Then, we would follow through with the schedule given for the day, which changed daily. My personal favorite activity that we did during the camp was the cow eye dissection. I had never known before that a cow eye was structurally and functionally similar to our own eyes. By dissecting it, I learned how all of the layers work together to produce images for the brain to process. It was a very cool, hands-on activity!

In the evening of the third day, the school organized a “Smores and Snores” activity for us, where we gathered around a firepit and had some fun roasting marshmallows. It was a nice opportunity to unwind with my roommate and all of the other fun people I met at camp! 

By the end of camp, everyone was very sad about having to leave, and we promised each other to keep in touch. In fact,one year later, most of us have kept in touch through messaging or calls. I would definitely recommend this program to those who are interested in learning more about a subject that you would like to major in. This program covers a lot of depth, and you will meet a lot of fun people with similar interests while you are there. Last but not least, you will also get to experience what it’s like to be a student on a college campus.