 The NCSSM online Student Summer Symposium is an immersive, research-based, collaborative learning experience for rising seniors in the NCSSM online program. This summer residential program brings these students together for a week, engaging them in a problem-based, face-to-face learning experience that takes them beyond the bounds of their online classes. And each year, students will focus on a completely different contemporary problem. This year, students were divided into teams and worked with experienced NCSSM faculty on several facets of the topic. The symposium project, the theme this year is the Global Energy Crisis, and what we've been working on is each person is put into a different group, and there's three groups that represent three different parts of the world. The U.S. and Australia is one group, China and India is a second group, and then Nigeria and Sudan is a third group. And each of those groups study the problems that each country has with their energy and how the energy is running out. NASA simulation models were used to predict how the global climate is affected by the composition of the atmosphere. Mathematical applications related to the global energy crisis allowed for the extensive use of data analysis. Students also looked at the social, political, and economic influence of the global energy crisis as well as the potential political and diplomatic ways of solving these problems. The research is similar to what we did in AP Environmental Science, but more so. So it's really kind of giving me this opportunity to look deeper into a lot of topics where it's like, oh, I'm really interested in this, but oh, hey, we've got to move on to the next thing. I have learned a lot about India and China, because that's our group, India and China. I've learned all about their energy crisis, their power grids. I was researching alternative energy for Nigeria, and they had an experiment with seven little towns in Nigeria and see the wind speed monthly. And they were collecting data to see if the wind is powerful enough to install term binds. Through this program now, I really want to go to Africa after college or during one of my years in college and to visit and see how they're doing now, economic issue and oil crisis and how they're dealing with it. On a typical day, the teams work together within an aggressive academic schedule. Well, we get up, we breakfast, you know, then we go to class. And class is pretty intense, but depending on your teacher, it can be, you know, you can, you laugh, you have fun, you joke around, but you get a lot done. And you're learning in a very fun environment. And then from class, you'll do maybe some extra stuff that's related to class, but then after that, it's lunch, and then maybe a little more class, maybe something special, a school setup, like a lecture or something. And then you get time to yourself, dinner, and then stuff in there. This has been a lot of time working with me and the other faculty members in a traditional classroom and we brought in guest speakers. The guest speakers were primarily from local universities, scientists and graduate students who were working on developing some really innovative technology in the field of renewable energy. In addition to guest lecturers who address the current topic and the hours of academic sessions per day spent on research, students create web resources that show the results of their experience and demonstrate their problem-solving skills and ability to design 21st century communication models. By applying research skills within the context of a real-life contemporary problem, this in-depth exploration allows students to hone their skills as ethical thinkers and leaders. What I've taken away from this symposium is just all the teamwork aspects that have come out of working together with groups. You get to work with the kids that you work with all year. You can interact, have fun, and it's really cool because they give you free time, but it is strenuous. You have to work really hard, but it's still fun, overall. I think being in such an intense environment with people that you know, that's the best part. And I've made really good friends here and I know that I'm going to keep in touch with them.