By Yasmine Omri (YES 2017-2018, Tunisia, hosted by Aspect in Wausau, WI) 

I had the absolute honor to be a YES student in Wausau, Wisconsin for the 2017-2018 academic year. My YES year was a chapter of personal growth and self-discovery where I left my comfort zone to explore different fields - something that surely expanded my vision of the world. Coming home was only the beginning of a new journey where I embrace my interests and challenge myself.

To carry on my love for science, I participated in the 12th edition of the United States Invitational for Young Physicists Tournament (USIYPT) with my high school team, the Pioneer High School of Ariana. USIYPT is an annual physics and debate competition that challenges high schoolers from around the globe with four undergraduate level problems. USIYPT brings these students together for two days to discuss and evaluate their theoretical and experimental solutions to the problems in rounds called “Physics Fights” and a poster session.

The 2019 edition of the tournament took place on the 26th and 27th of January in Rye, New York and involved twelve teams. The problems asked us to investigate extraterrestrial rainbows, Faraday’s homopolar generator, the intermediate axis theorem, and pneumatic tube mail systems.

Our team consisted of twelve students and two teacher-supervisors. Together, we dedicated months to analyzing the problems, developing theoretical and experimental models, evaluating and adjusting the work, preparing presentations, as well as looking for sponsors.

Getting introduced to scientific research was truly a rewarding and enlightening process. The way we tackled physical concepts was completely different from the traditional classroom approach. It was both challenging and exciting to explore and build our own theories about topics we merely heard about at first. Yet, the sleepless nights, extensive work hours, exhaustion, and frustration were all compensated by the cheers, relief, and rewarding feeling of looking back together, as a team, and realizing we made it! 

After all that preparation, we packed and headed to the airport for our flight, went through the registration and security process, waited for hours in the gate and boarding line, only to find out that our flight was cancelled due to extreme weather conditions. The travel delays made us miss the first day of the competition and thus, only compete on the 27th of January.

Despite the delay, we managed to gather enough strength and motivation from the hours of work we put into the projects and won the Clifford Swartz Trophy, the Bibilashvili Award for Excellence in Physics, and two Best Poster recognitions.

The amount of knowledge we gained from USIYP, from the bright minds we met at Rye, the fruitful conversations, the critics, and the professors is indescribable. I now have unlimited respect for researchers, for the terrific work, determination, patience, and time they devote to collective progress. Needless to say, it truly is never too late to try something new, to push yourself out of your limits, and embark on new adventures. Finally, I would like to shout out my team without whom, none of this would have been possible. It has been a pleasure and an honor to work and represent Tunisia with you!