Facing Challenges in Writing About Science and Thriving
By Eman Mareh
Working with FT3 at FIT team was really an interesting experience to me. This class had many parts: writing a 600- word article, a 300- article and two videos. We worked on a project about the effects of microgravity on the human body, the development of countermeasures and how those countermeasures could benefit people on Earth. Because this was a summer class, we had to to do our project in a short time period. When I started the first class, I was astonished by what I heard. I said is it possible for us to do all that in this short time. Especially for me it is a new experience in studying and also studying about science.
We learned new facts about space and space travelers’ health and what they experience before, during and after their space missions. One of the challenges I faced was trying to understand what the professor and classmates were taking about. I heard a lot of words without knowing their meanings because they are scientific terms. I went home and translated them and read more about the topic. I liked it and waned to learn more about it.
I have learned new media techniques as part of the media-making process by generating our project process in Facebook and twitter. I also had great opportunities such as meeting with our class guests Todd Halvorson, Senior Aerospace reporter at Florida Today/ USA Today, explaining how we create our project and make it ready for publication. The other guest was Capt. Winston Scott telling us about his NASA space flight experience. Everything he told was amazing but the greatest thing is when he showed us a picture of him with the planet Earth behind him. It was so touching. In addition, he told us facts about the astronauts suits: what is it made of, what inside it and how much it costs.
Our field trip to Kennedy Space Center made my experience more and more exciting. I have learned a lot and enjoyed it. We had a chance to interview Chris Cassidy, a NASA astronaut and Navy SEA while he was floating in the space shuttle. It was a surprising moment because I thought we will see him physically. I was nervous because I was the first one to ask him. All FT3 ar FIT team members asked him in turns. He was very cooperative and informative. It is really a once in a life experience for me. I also got inspired by the words of wisdom and advice from Robert Cabana at the end of the meeting. It was an unforgettable experience.
All these experiences motivated me to do the best I can in the further steps of the project. It also fulfilled my knowledge about this scientific topic.
