Dailey, who graduated from Dirigo High School in June as valedictorian, was one of only two students from Maine who received a prestigious grant to attend the annual science honors program from June 26 through July 20.

The other student was Kelsey Burke, a graduate of John Bapst High School in Bangor.

Dailey, who was one of 122 recent high school graduates from virtually every state and many foreign countries who attended the program, plans to attend Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the fall to study chemical engineering.

“Science and math have always made sense to me,” she said.

The camp offered students a chance to hear professors, researchers, international science experts and corporate leaders speak about science topics from alternative energy sources to the many aspects of astronomy — both within the Milky Way galaxy and outside of it.

“I was really excited and really scared. (Kelsey and I) flew in not knowing anyone,” the seventeen-year-old said.

But it didn’t take long to meet other students who also loved the sciences. Some of the international students were from South America so she got a chance to brush up on her Spanish.

Dailey plans to keep in touch with many of the friends she made during her month-long adventure, particularly those from Maine, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Washington and Ecuador.

Each day brought something new, she said.

She searched for hydrogen clouds through one of the largest radio telescopes in the world, learned the connection between the Japanese folding craft of origami and mathematics and visited several of the museums at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Her picture was taken with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

She was one of the campers who spent hours in the bunker of a radio telescope, learning to find other worlds in the universe.

“It was fascinating,” she said.

One of her favorite activities was hiking and camping under a tent and a canopy of stars.

“The staff would tell us what time to get on a bus, what to wear and give us a hint. The trips were always really fun. I’m glad it was a surprise,” she said.

Getting lost during one of the hikes was probably the most fun of all.

“The trail ended and we had no idea where we were. We pitched our tents. A huge storm had happened a few days before and trees were down so we couldn’t find our campsite,” she said.

She plans to rough it again with a backpack and tent. That was her first time.

Daily is only sorry that she can’t take part in the science camp a second time. But she plans to return to Barton, W.V., for the annual reunion.

“There were so many people there with varied common interests in some aspect of science. We would skip across the field, we were so happy,” she said.

Dailey is the daughter of Mary and Kim Dailey.

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