The end of the summer which is why I last posted 8/4

The final weeks of class (there are only ten in the summer, as opposed to a normal semester which has more like 14) were crazy, full of projects, papers and tests.  While many classes were ramping down, 15.064, our probability and statistics class, seemed to grow in the amount of our time it took up.  It had  the problem set that was due latest in the term, our only official final exam, and a final project.  The final project was a paper helicopter drop to see which team could get the best combination of hang time and accuracy.  For photos and video of our drop, see Steven's blog post here :-)

In 15.066, our Optimization class, teams presented their final projects where they had to both formulate and solve a complex problem of their choice.  Team 7, my team, presented a real world application of how to distribute oil, given that a company just found a new well, but Team 1 presented something more tasty: how Friendly's Ice Cream should distribute ice cream and other food supplies to their franchises.  To appease us all, they brought in snacks for the class.  David was one of the servers (as well as a presenter).

I picked the black raspberry and chocolate chip cookie dough  combo cup - now that's what I call breakfast!

In our leadership class, 15.317 (all classes that begin with the #15 are offered through Sloan), we had an art session of sorts and drew out what each of the teams wanted to leave behind from our summer work and experiences and also what lessons we had learned and skills we wanted to  bring forward.  Each group had a mix of serious and silly.

Artwork!  Drawing was one thing we didn't do much of this summer

Excited about the end of term, and curious about what other teams had drawn, most of us were out of our seats for the presentations

Finally, done with the stats exam and leadership summer wrap-up (leadership is a class we'll be checking in with throughout the two years), we gave out certificates with superlatives and nicknames for each person and then had a celebratory lunch outside of Redbones BBQ.  It hit the spot and the setting under the trees was really nice.  It kept threatening to rain, but we were able to stay dry.

End of the summer - we made it!

As lunch ended we all dispersed almost hesitatingly, kind of feeling like, what are we going to do now?  What is this free time that is now available to us?  A number of people were going home, a number of people were getting married over break actually and a bunch of people were staying in Boston.  I'll be eager to hear stories when we all reconvene in a few weeks.