Absolutely unbelievable, life changing experience – first thing that comes to my mind when I think about S3! I have participated twice in the school and I must to say that both times were extraordinary. S3 is not a simple science camp, it’s special: there you can not only immerse yourself in interesting and challenging projects and learn lots of new things but also what I really love about S3 is that you get the opportunity to meet like – minded people and spend your free time with peers coming from various countries, who are all diverse but at the same time united by passion for science. The advice and interesting chats with the most amazing project/swapshop leaders, organizers and incredible lecturers as well as various adventures and new friends make S3 truly unique. I’m happy I got an opportunity to participate!

--Karolina Guzauskaite, 11th grade
Kaunas University of Technology Gymnasium, Lithuania

The Summer School of Science 2019 exceeded all of my expectations. Ten days flew by like a second. Ten days of learning, working, enjoying good food and knowledge, talking, playing games, experimenting... In just ten days I feel like a different person. Coming in the first day you never know what to expect, meeting all these different people from different cultural backgrounds, it's overwhelming yet at the end, you come out with friends for life. It was wonderful seeing how everyone united for science. Meeting like-minded science enthusiast and talking for hours on end. Silent times when everyone was fully focused on the task at hand. Challenging moments when we had to work as a team and come up with ideas. Eating pizza with all the project leaders. Feeling like a super cool scientist. Late-night lectures from scientists in every field. Having conversations with these scientists. Laughing, singing, dancing. In ten days I feel like I have a better understanding of the world I live in, I feel even more motivated to pursue science. It was a perfect blend of hard work and fun. I wish I could do it all over again.

--Eloise Habek, 10th grade
XV gymnasium Zagreb, Croatia

It's been the first time for me to participate in such international science camp and I can tell you that I wasn't the only one. At the beginning it was a bit difficult to get used to the strict working schedule and to the absolutely high-level work; at least 8 hours of work on the specific project each day, not much freetime. However, it turned out to be super cool and was easy to handle the amount and quality of work as we've made more and more progress in our projects, and as we've become good friends and teammates. We also had to hold some presentations based on our projects both midway and at the end, which sounds challenging and is, but I think we can be really satisfied with and can be proud of those presentations indeed. We've always had some activities in the evening, either social activities (International evening, treasure hunt or pub quiz) or lectures on fascinating topics held by prominent scientists. All in all, the knowledge and experience I've gained, the whole environment and the working progress made me even more motivated to become a scientist and gave me a brand-new mindset. If interested, give it a go, it'll pay back multiple times.

--Sólyom Könye, 9th grade
Óbudai Árpád Secondary school, Hungary

Summer School of Science lets people from all different backgrounds and come together and enjoy their shared enthusiasm for experimentation, learning and discovery. It provides the opportunity to discuss science at several levels of expertise, from well-established experts to peers with common ambitions and aspirations. We got immersed in challenging but satisfying projects that gave us insight into what being a scientist is really like, even if only for what felt like a really short time. To say I feel glad and grateful to have participated would be an understatement, as S3 is an experience I would recommend to anyone interest in science, the world over!

--Laura Busak, 11th grade
V gymnasium Zagreb, Croatia

I think there are no right words to express how much I liked S3. For 10 days I was surrounded by science and by people who love it as I do. Everything was organised perfectly to experience what being a scientist is like and how cool that is (even if it is a hard and sometimes weary work). In addition to all of the really interesting projects and lectures, I had the opportunity to know many brilliant and nice people, both students and project leaders. Maybe you think that 10 days is a bit too much but I can assure you that everyone I met there would have been enthusiastic to stay there more than those 10 days. It has been an awesome experience and I think that everyone interested in science would like it at least as much as I did.

--Francesco Bondini, 10th grade
Calabrese-Levi, Italy

This amazing experience has given me a totally new perspective of science and the world. Meeting new people with different cultural backgrounds and totally diverse histories and lifestyles has been one of the best parts of the program. We didn’t only have the chance to immerse ourselves in the Croatian culture by eating its typical food, learning about the country’s history and discovering these little details you can only learn from someone who is Croatian but also share our distinct cultural opinions about life. All the projects, swapshops and workshops were incredible. Their high level made us learn a lot and discover lots of new interesting fields. We also had the opportunity to talk with lots of magnificent people with who we discussed science and life topics which by the way was a gratifying experience. All I can say is this Summer School has given me a valuable learning that will accompany me all my life.

--Aina Baleta Riera, 11th grade
Escola Mestral, Spain

I love the Summer School of Science for giving me the experience of working, talking and making friends with enthusiastic people interested in science and life in general. The friendly and calm atmosphere made it easy to work on the project without even realizing how much we were actually getting done. Project leaders were amazing and open for conversation so we could get helpful insight into what's it like working in science. In any case, a great idea and I'm glad I was there.

-- Vito Menjak, 10th grade
Vocational high school Samobor, Croatia

The Summer School of Science is a great place to gather new experiences. I got to know a lot of awesome people and the project work was very interesting. If you go to the Summer School of Science, you will get to know the work of a scientist and, for me just as important, the philosophy of science itself. I can only recommend participating in this wonderful project.

-- Philipp Matern, 10th grade
Hebel-Gymnasium Schwetzingen, Germany

Summer School of Science 2019 allowed me to work, share ideas and expand scientific knowledge with my like-minded peers and established scientists from different cultural backgrounds. During those ten days, I taught that science is a way of thinking, more than just a body of knowledge. The School showed me how important is to question our surrounding, but also helped me formulate an answer. You are completely occupied with your challenging, but an exciting project which gives you an insight into all the steps which will lead you to a final result! We were encouraged to improve public speaking skills while giving presentations. It was intriguing to change the field in swapshop or just take in facts given in an evening lecture. I can say this experience was accompanied by a pleasant atmosphere, laughter and becoming aware of power hidden in humans' minds!

-- Nora Marčetić, 9th grade
V gymnasium Zagreb, Croatia

During Summer School of Science, I can say I learnt a lot of interesting things in a way that was fun and new to me. The lectures where fun, really well organized and the subjects were never boring. They were all attractive and amazing in their own ways. What I really liked is that the projects really focus on not just doing the project once and that’s it, instead I have really learnt the basics and the theory of how things work, and that way I could do my project again and again. I think this was also not just the Summer School of Science, but one of culture as well. Where else would I have learnt how to play Italian card game Briscola, how to say English words with Italian accents, learnt the little difference in pronunciation of some words between Serbian and Croatian language, learnt a couple of Spanish words, etc? I have met a lot of people with different backgrounds and from different countries with different cultures. They are all people who share the same passion for science and knowledge as me and us connecting through science felt like the best experience for me.

-- Emilija Jović, 10th grade
Požarevac Grammar School, Serbia

Summer School of Science was my first study experience in a foreign country and with other ‘strangers’ form all over Europe. But in the following 10 days these ‘strangers’ became friends and classmates, because we were joint by science. I really liked how this common passion has created such strong bonds among boys and girls from all over the world.

-- Niccolò Pasetto, 10th grade
Paolo Lioy High School, Italy

This Summer School was the best experience in my life! I was given the opportunity to learn about science and things related to it. I’ve met many excellent people both students and lecturers/swapshop leaders who gave me a lot of useful advice which will help me in my future career. I gained knowledge and a lot of friends during this school, everything was so well organised (with perfect ratio of hard work and fun/free time). I hope that in the future this school will grow and become more popular and that, one day,I will come back to it: either as a lecturer, swapshop leader or something else.

-- Tin Kocijan, 12th grade
Prva Gimnazija Varazdin, Croatia

S3 was the best experience of my life! I learned a lot of things and met some very interesting, kind and friendly people. At the Summer school of science there is something new to learn every day and you can share your ideas with the other participants of the camp. In S3 you do not only learn things when you do your project, but also during the free time and the interview. All the project leaders do their best to be friendly and to answer to your question even if it is not about the project. After this camp my interest in science increased, and I if I could I would come to the S3 camp ten more times.

-- Raffaele Masotti, 9th grade
Calabrese Levi, Italy

Summer School of Science was one of the most interesting experiences in my life! It gave me opportunity to work with so many inspiring and enthusiastic people who love science as much as I do. It is not only a place to study science or work on projects, but a place where you feel free to discuss your ideas with others and ask questions. I got so many useful pieces of advice and a lot of new ideas came to me while talking to project leaders and colleagues. Even though our days were quite busy, we always stayed hanging together until late night hours. The atmosphere was always friendly and I enjoyed every second of my time there. My day-to-day life disappeared for ten days and I felt as if I entered a completely new world.

-- Andrea Belamarić, 11th grade
V gymnasium Zagreb, Croatia

I think the coolest thing about S3 is the opportunity to escape day-to-day life for 10 days and enter a micro-universe filled solely with highly ambitious, interesting, clever and funny people, participants and project leaders alike, with whom you'll enjoy working on a project with and with whom you'll surely stay in contact with even after the school has ended. Working on a project there is amazing because it gives you a perfect blend of theoretical and practical knowledge on a subject you may not have known a lot about before, but it also lets you meet people whose interests are similar to yours and it permits you to ask and test out whatever questions and ideas might come to mind, no matter how silly you think they are.

-- Irma Komljenovic, 10th grade
Secondary school Petrinja, Croatia

I applied to the Summer School of Science, because I felt like I was short of ideas that I could work on at home and it was the best choice I could make. This summer school could get a bunch of motivated students even more motivated which is an incredible achievement. I got a lot of new ideas and skills that I could start working on and mastering. Furthermore if I need help I can always ask for it from the other students or from my project leader. The summer school has changed my way of thinking on science and teamwork which will be definitely useful for me in the future as well as all the friends I gained there.

-- Péter Levente Szabó, 9th grade
Budapesti Fazekas Mihály Gyakorlógimnázium, Hungary

Summer School of Science gave me the opportunity to work so closely with so many successful scientists in such an early age, which is such a great and rare opportunity. Learning from them about science is great, but It's also wonderful to hear them talk about life, success and failures, and realize what are the things that really make somebody a leader in also a lot about teamwork and other cultures which were brought together based on common interests. It was great to meet so many, I could say, global peers who are all so ambitious and wellrounded, possibly future leaders in science and I think that friendships and connections are a valuable thing the school brought us, and it will probably be a while before we realize the full impact it had on us.

-- Tamara Tica, 11th grade
Grammar School Jovan Ducic, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Summer School of Science is a place where enthusiasm meets knowledge and creativity.There is no better feeling then feeling of freedom to ask, discover and learn while being accompanied with people of the same kind. S3 impressed me one more time.
What makes us think light is a wave? Dora, Martina, Jovan and Tomislav got the chance to play with laser and discover some of the phenomena in physical optics; like diffraction, interference and polarization and get a sense of how laws that govern those phenomena can be applied to calculate some cool stuff like distance between bits on a CD or between erythrocytes on coating.

--Tea Mužić, Swapshop leader
University of Copenhagen, Denmark