Five Allen County-Scottsville High School seniors----Isaiah Burciaga, Preston Clarke, Cameron Cook, Madeline Payne, and Carly Wheat---spent five weeks during the summer break taking part in the Governors Scholars Program (GSP). Looking back, each senior enjoyed a unique, insightful, learning experience.
“It was one of the best times I have ever had during summer,” Burciaga said of his five weeks at Morehead State University. “I learned about getting out of my comfort zone, about talking to people and making friends. It also helped me to kind of decide what I want to do with my life.”
GSP students participate in a focus class and a general studies class---with both classes and a seminar experience challenging students in a variety of ways.
“In my biology focus area, we talked about stress and how it affects the human body,” Burciaga explained. “In my general studies class, we did a hands-on project in which we made boats our of rain barrels. Our teacher gave us these big barrels that were used to store Coke. He told us to make rain barrels out of them. But some of us had the idea to make boats instead. So we took 2 x 4’s and planks and put them with the barrels and made two boats. One day, we floated them on Eagle Lake near the campus. This taught us about teamwork.”
Preston Clarke spent his GSP experience in Louisville on the campus of Bellarmine University.
“One of the best things about GSP is that you are thrown into a campus and, in my case, I didn’t know anyone of the 400 people,” Clarke said. “Just the knowledge that they were going through the same experience as I was opened my eyes. Getting to know people was the best thing I got out of GSP. I feel like that making connections and the friendships I made will last for years.”
Clarke’s focus area revolved around math but the class was not a traditional math environment.
“In my focus area of Modes of Mathematical Thinking, we did statistics and probability,” Clarke said. “It wasn’t like traditional math class. We did a lot of games and hands-on. We looked at football and statists. In my general studies, we talked about STEM---science, technology, engineering, and math. I really enjoyed it. We had a lot of discussion and hands on. It was a well-rounded class.”
Cameron Cook was approximately 225 miles to the southwest of Louisville on the campus of Murray State University.
“We came from all four corners of the state, from Pikeville to the Covington area to Paducah,” Cook noted. “We each brought something unique to the table and really got along. I’m still talking to these people today. I made many close friends.”
Philosophy was Cook’s focus area while his general studies topic centered on the use of the Internet.
“I discovered that there are a lot of people that have different mindsets and different opinions on things,” Cook said. “That was refreshing. We did a lot of readings from Plato, Aristotle and Socrates. We discovered a lot of different outlooks and questions, questions that we never did find answers to. It taught me how to think deeper, beyond just what is there. My general studies topic was about the public and private life on the Internet. We talked a lot about different things like whether marketers should be able target you by looking at the things you might search for on the Internet. It was an interesting class.”
Madeline Payne was at Morehead State in northeast Kentucky. Her focus area was International Relations, a class taught by a professor from the Ukraine.
“My professor has worked at the United Nations so I learned a lot about international relations and a lot from the people in the class,” Payne explained. “It was a really diverse class. Many of the kids knew several different languages. GSP was a diverse environment and I learned a lot about different people. I hope that some of the ideas I learned I can bring back here because a lot of the kids here aren’t exposed to diversity.”
In her general studies area, Payne’s group talked about a “unique” topic---but a topic that’s truly about a reality of life.
“The class was on death and dying,” Payne noted. “It was an interesting class. We went to a Hospice and watched some interesting documentaries.”
Senior Carly Wheat attended Morehead State. Wheat explained that getting past the first day was tough but the overall experience will help her as she concludes high school and heads to college and beyond.
“Opening day was really scary because you didn’t know anybody,” Wheat admitted, quickly adding “Being with that many people that are so intellectually different than me and extremely smart was very eye-opening. It caused all of us to have open minds and listen to people more in depth than we do at home. It will help me going forward.”
Wheat’s main classes centered on Physical Science and culture/religion---classes that not only led to knowledge on different topics but the building of friendships.
“We pretty much blew up things for five weeks,” Wheat joked. “We built rockets and that was pretty cool. In general studies, we talked about Hinduism and Islam and then in our seminar class we debated and talked about all sorts of different things. It was a crazy experience meeting so many different people and making lifelong friends in the process.”
Each of the students talked about their GSP summer leading to friendships being established that are expected to last a lifetime. Cook explained that, in his case, learning to adjust to the removal of modern technology was a springboard to relationships established.
“We weren’t allowed to have our cell phones all day,” Cook said. “I was without a phone from 7:30 in the morning to 11 at night. It taught me that people are probably thinking the same thing about me as I think about them. But, we can find a way to get along, especially with the face-to-face interaction. I made many close friends that would not have been made if the outside world wasn’t kept away. I think if I have had my phone, I wouldn’t made as many friends since I would have been worried about what was happening here (in Scottsville) instead of my GSP world.”
The AC-S seniors were selected to participate in the state GSP program after a lengthy process. First, the five were chosen as District Governor’s Scholars in January after beginning the application process midway through the fall of 2014. Their application materials were then forwarded for review by a GSP statewide selection committee. The committee reviews seven areas before making a final decision in April on the GSP state scholars.