"Without the possibility of failure, our successes wouldn't be quite so sweet."

The ten-week projects that my students identify, plan, research and present are peaks and valleys of exhilaration and frustration. There is every opportunity to run aground on failed equipment, no-show guests, and flagging student enthusiasm. That said, they remain minor triumphs of teaching and learning for us both.

I was heartened to read of a similar experience at the college level with nine-week undergraduate research projects. This professors sense of terror and pride are wonderfully familiar to me; especially as we kick off a second quarter and a new project season:

...my students and I try to complete original research projects in just nine weeks. Each year we gasp in despair as protocols fail, and about two-thirds of the way into the program, we all declare that there is no possible way to get our projects finished. We inevitably encounter lots of twists and turns, and with each one a new opportunity for something to go wrong arises : What if the rats don't catch on to the training protocol? What if a vendor sends us inactive chemicals? What if a piece of our equipment breaks down? What if a student gets sick during an intense protocol week? What if we're totally off base with our hypotheses?

...After all the long hours in the lab and doubt about the viability of the projects, I arrive at the conference exhausted, but then I look around and my fatigue dissipates immediately. I see the students all dressed up, looking like the professionals they soon will become. I see their pride as they deliver their presentations. I see the smiles on their parents' faces as they hear my words of praise about their son's or daughter's hard work over the summer. I see faculty members treating their student researchers like junior colleagues. I see what just may be the purest form of education I have ever encountered in over two decades of being a professor.

...Without the possibility of failure, our successes wouldn't be quite so sweet.