Harper Lee Dies at 89

“There's a lot of ugly things in this world, son. I wish I could keep 'em all away from you. That's never possible.” -Harper Lee

It's sad to hear that Harper Lee has passed away. To Kill A Mockingbird was the first American "classic" that I read. It was arguably one of the best required readings I've encountered in an English course. Lee's book taught me so much about history, society, and personal morality. It taught me about the ugly things in this world in a very age-appropriate manner, and Lee was able to provide us a character who was courageous enough to challenge that ugliness even when he knows that he has no chance of succeeding and inspire an audience of readers to be the same.

There's a an inexplicable beauty to literature when it makes you like the story and the message so much that you feel a true connection with the author. I felt that connection with Harper Lee. And even though she is no longer alive, that connection will always be.

AJAS: Starting the Party

Today, I, along with some of my peers: Ashish Chowdary, Chandru Sundarrajan, Aditya Vaidya and Anagha Krishnan, arrived in Washington DC for the American Junior Academy of Science (AJAS) Research Symposium as part of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference. We were invited to this conference as Lifetime Fellows of AJAS because of our success at the TJAS Research Competition this past October where we each won first place in our respective categories.

Over the next few days, we will present our research projects to scientists and academics, visit a national research institute like the NASA Goddard Space Research Center or the National Institute of Health, take a bus tour of the rest of the District of Columbia, meet other students doing research from all over the country, and most of all, have a blast!

It's going to be a very hectic couple of days, but we're super pumped to show off all of the hard work that we've put in to our individual projects.