terriko

Python's in as a mentoring organization again this year, and I'm running the show again this year. Exciting and exhausting!

In an attempt to cut down on the student questions that go directly to me, I made a flow chart of "what to do next" :



(there's also a more accessible version posted at the bottom of our ideas page)

I am amused to tell you all that it's already cut down significantly on the amount of "what do I do next?" emails I've gotten as an org admin compared to this time last year. I'm not sure if it's because it's more eye-catching or better placed or what makes it more effective, since those instructions could be found in the section for students before. We'll see its magical powers hold once the student application period opens, though!

FYI: Google summer of code emails from midterms are being re-sent right now due to a bug in melange. It's safe to ignore these. These ARE NOT typoed final evaluation emails: final evaluations close in an hour and Google will be sending those emails on Oct 1st.

(Edit: Apparently the final eval emails went out early too, so you may have the correct emails now, a few days early by Google's original schedule. Congrats and condolences to all!)

Congratulations to all 36 of Python's students and our many mentors; everyone passed midterms and will be continuing for the second half of the summer!

The midterms wrapped up while I was still recovering from surgery, so I've only just this week started going through the midterm reports submitted by students and mentors. It's a real treat to hear stories from students about how helpful their mentors and communities have been, how they've been able to bring perspective to hard problems and help students reshape their ideas and learn. The mentors have told stories about students who were clever, thought deeply about problems, and willing to adapt to work better with their communities.

I'm really looking forwards to seeing what our students produce in the second half of the summer! If you're curious, don't forget that you can check out the aggregated blogs from all of Python's GSoC students. And students, don't forget that though we took some time off so everyone could work on midterms, we're now in week 8, which means you should have another blog post up by Monday, August 12.