By Rachel Rackov, Junior, Dickinson Trinity High School
It’s is finally summer! What to do next…how about go back to school for six more weeks. Not just any school though, a “program for scholastically motivated North Dakota high school sophomores and juniors.” This wasn’t every child’s dream this summer. It was more than fifty kid’s dreams, but only fifty brilliant scholar’s reality. I happened to be one of those privileged fifty.
We all arrived the week of June 4 ready to learn more about our chosen discipline science, engineering, architecture/architecture landscape (ALA), information technology, or mathematics. Little did we know that this would be the summer that changed our view on the future.
In the past years they have had more disciplines (English and Visual or Preforming Arts), but this year, due to some unfortunate budget cuts, only stem scholars were allowed. I got accepted into the mathematics discipline along with six other amazing scholars.
Everyone knows that stereotypical nerd and I thought everyone at Governor’s Schools was going to be like that, but they weren’t. All the scholars were well rounded students from around North Dakota. I was grateful to be considered part of this great group of scholars.
On the very first day our Director, Dr. Jeff Boyer, taught us the five p’s that we all had to follow in order to stay in the program. We were constantly reminded that we had made it into the program now we had to prove that we deserve to stay in the program.
Prompt: “Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable.” This saying created an impossible paradox, but if you don’t over think it, it is helpful tip to act professional. It was explained every day.
Present: Full attention to the person you’re having a conversation with. That means not being on your phone and maintaining eye contact.
Persistent: Never give up “Do or do not there is no try.” –Yoda
Personable: This means to be amicable and conversable. Being your best self and letting that person shine through all the time.
Principled: Getting things done promptly. Personally, I find this one the hardest to do because I was a huge procrastinator. During Governor’s School procrastinating wasn’t an option for me, everything has to get done. At Governor’s School there is no such thing as an incomplete, there is only pass or fail.
Every Monday night we had an Residence Assistance (RA) program. We did something that the RA’s were passionate about. The first one, and perhaps the most memorable one for me, was ultimate Frisbee. We were randomly placed in four different teams of seven (one kid was not there yet) and no one really knew anybody except for their roommate or if someone was from their school. The RA was Brady and he looks like Josh Duhamel, approximately twenty years younger and extremely competitive. Brady is the most passionate person, for Frisbee Golf, that I have ever met. He got invited to play in the World Championships for Frisbee Golfing, but he turned it down because he wanted to RA Governor’s School. When I first heard that he turned that down I thought it was crazy; why would anyone give up a world championship to RA some teenagers at a nerd summer camp. By the end I realized that this isn’t a summer camp at all, and we aren’t just some teenagers. This is a school designed “for scholastically motivated North Dakota high school sophomores and juniors.”
We all came to Governor’s School with the hope to learn more about our discipline, but we all took back something much greater than that. We learned there is no limit to what we will achieve. All of us got out of our comfort zone and did things we never thought we could do. Such as, writing a thirty-page research paper or giving a presentation on what you have been doing the whole six weeks, in front of both peers and families. Since we went out of our comfort zone, we now know that we are capable of more than what we think we can do. At every possible moment our directors and professors told us how blindingly bright our future is. I have no doubt that the scholars I graduated with are already on their way to doing great things.
This summer has taught me about what I am capable of. I was introduced to Math that I have never thought of before. Infinity! We learned how you can count to infinity through integers, but you can’t count the infinity between 0 and 1 (look up Hotel Infinity if you wish to learn more). We also learned a lot about Cryptography, which is the securing of messages. I am not sure what career I want to go into yet, but I do know that whatever I choose will be math related.
I met scholars who were as passionate about math homework as I was. Honestly, I thought I was the only one who got excited when homework was passed out. I know this all sounds insane to some people, but if you are one of those students who find this interesting and are a sophomore or junior this year, I believe you are a great fit for this program. This was the best summer of my life and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for all of us.