Frightening At First, Worth It In The End

By Megan Martin

Woodford County High School

 

            Walking into a group of 360 high school seniors who are all complete strangers to you can be pretty intimidating. Especially when you will be spending the next five weeks living with them.  All you can think about are first impressions. “Should I go and introduce myself? I hope they like me. Did I put enough deodorant on?”

            This was my experience on June 15 as I walked into the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program on the Bellarmine University campus in Louisville. The GSP is a five-week summer program where selected students from around the state gather on a college campus to further their learning. However, my experience featured so much more than just education. I learned more outside of the classroom than I could have ever learned inside.

            The program’s mission is to develop the future economic, educational and civic leaders of Kentucky. To achieve this mission scholars attend classes, do community service, and form an “intellectual community” with faculty, staff and other scholars.

That word “community” is central to the GSP experience. Over the five-week period, these 360 strangers began to build relationships and then great friendships until the campus began to feel like a huge family with brothers and sisters sharing one of the best experiences of their lives.

            Being put into a situation where I didn’t know anyone’s name or face was one of the best things that ever happened to me, even though I didn’t realize it at the time. For the first couple of days, I was nervous and occasionally shy, but then I realized that everyone was in the same boat, and we all needed to make friends. So I was forced to step outside my comfort zone and approach people I had never seen before. At first, it wasn’t easy and the conversations were sometimes awkward, but after those first couple of days, approaching people and making new friends felt like second nature. As a result of being thrown together with strangers, and reaching out and meeting new people, I formed friendships that are sure to be lifelong.

            The GSP taught me so many things in only five weeks, but there are some lessons I learned that will stay with me forever. The experience taught me to step outside of my comfort zone, and take risks. It may seem frightening at first, but the outcome is always worth it.

GSP Proved Me Wrong

By Mac Kern

North Laurel High School, London

 

The weather was just beginning to warm up. It was midway through April, the week after Spring Break. My mother greeted me as I walked in the door. After I removed my shoes and placed my backpack on the floor, she handed me an opened envelope. I immediately knew that it had something to do with the Governor’s Scholars Program. I didn’t even bother looking inside. “Did I get in?” I asked.

            Two months later, I stepped into Frazier Hall at Bellarmine University in Louisville.  As I stood in a long line to get my GSP t-shirt and have my ID picture taken, I wondered how order could possibly be maintained in this place. As I looked around, I noticed that my preconceived idea of GSP was quite wrong. I didn’t see anyone standing in line with an ACT Strategies Study Guide. No one was peering at “War and Peace” through thick-rimmed glasses.  Everyone looked like…me.

To be honest, I applied for GSP because I wanted scholarships. After talking to some other scholars, I found out that many of them were there for the same reason. Many of the top universities in the state offer considerable scholarships to Governor’s Scholars.  I didn’t actually expect to enjoy the program. I didn’t think that I would find scholars who were interested in rock music or watching football games.

What actually happened at GSP was something totally unexpected. After a few weeks, I felt like I’d known some of the scholars for years. I met people who were so much like myself it was scary. I was constantly surrounded by people that I enjoyed being with. Every spare moment was shared with others. Countless hours were spent simply sitting in the dorm lobby and chatting. Although I often thought of home, I could not have been happier to be a Governor’s Scholar.

I found myself spending a great deal of time with several particular people, but I never quit introducing myself to others. Even during the last week of GSP, I made friends with many scholars.

 At the first community meeting, when GSP Executive Director Aris Cedeño said that all the scholars would form a tight-knit community, I laughed a little. “That’s just not my thing” another scholar told me later.

We were both wrong. As the final day drew nearer, everyone drew closer. Everywhere I went people greeted me by name. I even found that I was slightly sad when I thought about going back home. One night, while talking to my mom on the phone, I commented, “I wish all the scholars here were in my graduating class.”

GSP broke down more barriers than anything I’ve ever been in involved in. I became more willing than ever to listen to others’ opinions. Some of my closest friends at GSP had opinions that were drastically different from my own. I learned not to stereotype. I met people from many different backgrounds. The biggest thing I took from GSP is the friendships I formed with students from all over the state.

Five weeks may not seem like a long time, but when you spend every waking moment with a group of people for five weeks, you get to know them pretty well. I spent five weeks in the GSP community, with the people who would become some of my greatest friends. When I look back to the first community meeting, and reflect on who I was just five weeks earlier, I laugh a little.

 I didn’t think there was any way that such a close community could be formed in such a short time. GSP proved me wrong.

Embracing Life

By Britta Hayes

Home-schooled, Lexington

“I don’t think the accomplishments are what make stronger people. It is the process and journey to get there that does,” said Aris Cedeño, executive director of the Governor’s Scholars Program.

I certainly have been transformed since the beginning of GSP.  I can still remember questioning whether I would even be able to make it through the program alive.  I saw GSP only as something to “get through.” I never expected to enjoy, learn, and grow as much as I have during these past five weeks on the Bellarmine University campus in Louisville.

My curriculum consisted of three main classes. Jami Dick, a resident advisor, led my seminar.  This class pushed me to listen to other people’s opinions and to accept the fact that their ideas may be different from mine.  My General Studies class, taught by Scott Vander Ploeg, was based on medieval times.  The class was surprisingly interesting and gave us a chance to explore that subject in a variety of fun ways.  My focus area was Journalism and Mass Media, taught by Jeanie Adams-Smith, and there I learned why journalists love their work. They get to meet a lot of interesting people and be in the middle of developing news. My major piece in the class was a profile on Aris Cedeño.  This gave me the opportunity to get to know Aris and the other people who run the program on a more personal level.

In my spare time, I danced.  I’m a ballroom and Latin dance instructor back home and continued to be while I was here.  Meg Caudill, the director of community events at Bellarmine, sponsored a Ballroom and Swing Dancing Club and was willing to let me teach the classes.  I was able to share my love of dancing with other scholars, and it was a great way to meet new people.

When I was not teaching, I attended the morning salsa classes that Terence Gaskins taught.  Each Friday at an event called Showcase, scholars were given an opportunity to perform their talents onstage. One Friday, I was privileged to be able to dance a salsa with Gaskins.  The scholars were shocked to see that our surprise guest was Aris Cedeño, the “scary” director of GSP, who is also a great salsa dancer.

During this short amount of time, I have formed lifelong relationships.  I feel like I have known these people my whole life.  It is hard to think that we are soon going to disperse back into reality.  I will miss the comfort, the safety, and the sense of belonging that I feel here.  This experience has opened my eyes on life and has shown me that I’m going to be okay, I can succeed, and I will be happy.

GSP has taught me to embrace life and to experience all that I can.  When I think about the times I’ve spent here, I can’t help but smile.  I think that is the greatest gift GSP has given to me.

4 Mattresses, 14 Pushups... Countless Relationships

By Tanner Greenwell

Bullitt Central High School

 

            I can’t describe the feeling that overcame me when I first became aware that I had been selected as a Governor’s Scholar.  I was unbelievably happy at first, but then I realized that since I was the only scholar chosen from my school, my best friend would not be going. 

            I didn’t know how to feel, but his optimistic attitude made it so much easier.  He was just excited for me that I was chosen.  He would always tell me that he was happy for me and that I would have the time of my life.  I would argue and tell him how I would be dying to come home the whole time.

What I didn’t realize before I began my five-week residency on the Bellarmine University campus was how quickly and strongly the bonds of friendship could form in the Governor’s Scholars Program. And it is no accident that it happens.

            The GSP is not solely an academic experience. It is the experience of building a community with the people that you meet there. It is the experience of forming relationships that can last a lifetime. I met people all of the time while I was there, but it took me a while to find my niche. A few of the guys on my hall and I became inseparable.  We would hang out all of the time.  We had a lot to talk about since we were all from different parts of the state; we would constantly compare each other’s hometowns. 

            During the last week of GSP, we decided that we didn’t want our days to end at the 11 p.m. curfew, when all students had to go to their rooms.  So one day we moved four mattresses into a two-person dorm room.  When our resident advisor found out, he wasn’t going to let us sleep five people in one room.  So eventually we cut a deal with him: If I could beat him in a handstand pushup contest, he would let us all stay in one room. 

            We would have these little physical strength contests in our hall every night and the winner would always be me or him. So he made me go first and I did 14; he barely got eight.  After that, we all crashed in the same room every night.  

            I really believe that staying in one room was a major benefit to our GSP experience.  Aris Cedeño, executive director of the GSP, once said that the most important thing that we do here is build relationships.  By the end of our five weeks at Bellarmine, we had learned almost everything about each other.  We behaved as though we had been friends our whole lives. 

            The most important thing that I took away from my experience at GSP is the friends I made.  I don’t mean friends like the people that I passed on the sidewalk and said hello to; I mean the people that I went to every activity with, the people that I ate every meal with, the people that stuffed four mattresses into a two-person dorm room so that we could stay up all night and hang out.               

            I walked away from the program with more than I ever expected I would.  I had figured that it would be like five weeks of academic prison, but I was completely wrong. Now I am glad to have been selected for the GSP, because it allowed me to build some of the most important relationships of my life.

When Words Don't Do Justice

By Molly Dean

Ballard High School, Louisville

 

There is so much to be said: so many relationships, feelings and opportunities that have been offered in this environment.

It seems to be much more of a utopian society than the real world which we have temporarily tried to block out. It's strange that I was intimidated by the idea of simply describing what this experience has been like for me.  Not in a bad way, simply a "where do I start?" way. 

I was one of about 360 students living on Bellarmine University’s campus in Louisville while participating in the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program. In all, more than 1,000 scholars from across the state flocked to three college campuses this summer, embarking on a journey unlike any other.  The five-week program is dedicated to enriching top high school students’ academic, civic, economic, and social knowledge.

The GSP environment is so hospitable to growth.  Its uniqueness lies in the way it differs from the classroom settings in which we have all grown up.  No grades, no external motivation, simply reliance on your own curiosity and ambition.  You learn because you are hungry to know more.  You wrestle with what is difficult because you like the challenge.  And you are better for it. 

My journalism studies here have been eye opening.  The media is relevant and unavoidable, holding so much potential. I am taking home a greater understanding of how I am affected by the merging of communications technology, and an awareness of my news sources and how I stay informed on a daily basis.  It has sparked a curiosity.  But we are all searching for the truth in our own ways, and it boils down to the source. 

As far as the GSP is concerned, I am finding that generally, it is whatever the scholar is willing to put into it, as are many things in life.  A good attitude and a thirst for knowledge can take you places you never imagined.  Students are so receptive to an instructor’s passion for what they do that the teacher typically makes the class.  The entire GSP faculty really is a powerhouse of academia.  I am surrounded by so many role models, it makes my head spin in the best way!   

I'm not sure I can justify the program with my words, but I can say with certainty that this has been a life-changing experience. I cannot pinpoint how I am different, but it has been a big transition.  And this is such a vital point in our lives, "on the verge of adulthood.”  We hear it every day; we feel the pressure to make important decisions, except it is usually just talk, babbling.  But this experience has had an impact in so many ways. 

For these few short weeks, the Governor’s Scholars Program brought to a halt the reality and imminence of our futures, if only to show us how much potential we all hold. 

The "Community"...It Will Grow On You

By Claire Cunningham

Notre Dame Academy, Park Hills

           

            During the first few days of the Kentucky Governor’s Scholar Program I would often entertain myself by interchanging the words community and cult.

Initially, I was intimidated by the administration’s forceful speeches on their utopian society. The mere thought of being called out during the weekly community meeting or, God forbid, being late, gave me nightmares.

I was not a happy scholar.

            To be frank, I had no genuine desire to participate in a five-week program focused on education, a program that would tear me away from my friends, my family, and my summer fun. In my mind GSP was a summer camp for nerds; kids who looked forward to exams, thrived on personal response essay tests, and had no personal social agenda for the summer.  I had built up in my own mind this sort of scholastic-based prison.

            In mid-June, when I arrived on the Bellarmine University campus in Louisville,  the atmosphere fell nothing short of my low expectations. The first day was chock full of painfully awkward introductions, forced smiles, and my own angry glances at my parents for forcing me to participate in this slave camp. The one glimmer of hope that I had was that my roommate didn’t seem like a reject and some of the girls on my floor had decent friend potential. But other than that, the situation looked bleak.

            Ironically, as the first week opened and I became familiar with my schedule, I only became more confused. The bizarre classes and early rising often caught me off guard and I felt like a little kid lost in a big and daunting grocery store. I found solace in my Focus Area of study.

            I have always enjoyed writing and my Focus Area, Journalism and Mass Media, allowed me to express my creativity. This class also gave me my first, honest to God, GSP friend, Casey Breese, a senior at Heath High School in Paducah. Finally, I had found someone who could keep up with my sassy and sarcastic remarks, liked the same music, and could make me laugh. It was refreshing to be around another person like myself. I hope that I was as comforting to him as he was to me.

            With one new friend under my belt and my confidence building, I began to reach out to girls on my floor. I came to find that my roommate was quite charming, and I began to enjoy our awkward run-ins as they bloomed into enjoyable conversations filled with shallow prattle, gossip, and even politics. Kelsey Day, my roommate from Harlan County, slowly but surely came out of her shell and became my ally. She was my friend to sit next to during the awful meetings, my friend to find at lunch, and my friend to pour my heart out to every night about friends, classes and boys.

            These new friends had more of an impact on my attitude than I was ever aware. Because I had these faces to look for at the next “mandatory fun” activity, friends to walk with to miscellaneous activities and just had people with whom I could connect and talk, my outlook on GSP soared.

            I had never realized up until this point how much I needed to be around people to feel whole. I had always thought myself to be an independent and free-thinking girl who wasn’t afraid to go anywhere alone. GSP humbled my inflated ego and taught me to appreciate the people that were kind-hearted enough to put up with me.

Yet that is what GSP is all about. This “intellectual program” was designed to draw in a diverse group of students from all over the state and allow them to forge friendships that can last a lifetime. I have never met teenagers quite like my fellow scholars. Not only were these kids fun and exciting, they were intelligent. They could hold their own in debates over politics, religion and society. I believe that this is what makes the program unique. Simply put, it is not a normal adolescent environment.

Now these abnormal surroundings have grown on me. Grown on me to the point that when I am thrust back into the real world I will most likely feel lost, similar to how I felt during the first few days of GSP. So if this cult or community is accepting scholars, let the hazing begin. 

Defining "It"

I arrived at the Governor’s Scholars Program on June 15 very much alone. Only three kids from my school were on my campus, and I knew only one other person of the 360 scholars on the Bellarmine University campus. Bellarmine was a large pond, and I was a tiny minnow. I was scared, worried, and altogether distraught.

            Then it started.

            What is “it”? It was a spontaneous eruption of friends and fun. It was the exposing of my inner being.  It was a life-altering change in my personality, in my people skills, and in my relationships. I met new people and soon had a group of friends that I could call on for help or advice. I attended classes and learned a variety of new things about journalism in my Mass Media class.

            It allowed me to meet some amazing individuals during my time at GSP. I joined a group of friends and soon we were spending all of our spare time hanging out and meeting other people. We laughed, we cried, we even spent long nights talking on the phone. The friends I met at GSP will truly be my friends for a lifetime.

            But the greatest instance of it for me was meeting Barbie.

I met Barbie at the Mattingly Center for Adults with Disabilities. Barbie needed help doing many everyday activities. She was restricted to a wheelchair, and she had to have someone push her in order to get around.

My General Studies class at GSP did biographies on the patients at the Mattingly Center, and my group was assigned to Barbie. Over three days we got to know Barbie very well, learning about her likes and dislikes, about her friends, and about what she wants to do with her life. Hearing her talk about her desire to get married and have two kids was enough to bring us to tears because we knew that without some kind of miracle, she would never get that opportunity. Barbie was kind, mischievous, and funny all at the same time.

 After visiting with Barbie and telling her story, we were filled with a desire to go back. Personally, I know I will go back to the Mattingly Center. I will go so that it can keep working.

            All in all, it made GSP one of the greatest experiences of my life. Now that I have unlocked it within me, I believe I am ready for the rest of my educational career. I know I can be more outgoing, more personable and friendly. I hope to meet more people in my life like the friends I have made at GSP – and like Barbie. This experience has transformed my life and prepared me for the real world. I left GSP with a new outlook, ready to challenge myself in my daily life.

All I have to do is bring it.