College Admissions Essay

As I hugged my friends goodbye, tears streaming down my face, we promised to reunite. I was loath to leave them and a summer full of new experiences behind. The summer of 2006, I attended the Governor’s School of North Carolina in social science. When I first arrived, biting my lip, my stomach in knots, I did not know what to expect. I had never been away from home for two weeks, much less six. I was going to be surrounded by almost 400 people whom I had never met. As much as I tried to be brave, I cried when my parents left. But the few tears that escaped my eyes then were nothing compared to the bawling I would do when I had to leave Governor’s School six weeks later with many new friends and a few new ideas about life.

Within a few days, my class compiled a list of over two hundred topics to discuss, including censorship, genocide, and the War in Iraq. I was amazed at the insight of my classmates. At my high school, most of the students do not care about current issues. But here, everyone was aware of current events, and everyone had opinions on them, usually strong ones. I was excited to be intellectually challenged, to be able to participate in discussions where everyone’s point had logic behind it, where students took the debate seriously.

While I had high hopes for the summer, I also felt in over my head. In school I tended to be on the quiet side, usually preferring to quietly absorb the material instead of speaking out in class. At Governor’s School however, I was encouraged to speak up. One of my instructors commented on a journal entry I wrote for class in which I confessed my tendency to be less vocal. She urged me to contribute even if my opinion was not fully formed or if the explanation behind my words was not complete. I began to feel more comfortable sharing my ideas. We discussed controversial topics and were forced to question our beliefs. While my beliefs did not change as a result of these discussions, I became more comfortable with them as a part of who I am. I also became less shy outside of class, introducing myself to someone new each day or saying hello to someone I met the previous day. By the end, I had fallen in love with Governor’s School.

After our final assembly, “I’ll miss you!” and “You better keep in touch!” were common exchanges heard through the mass of tearful hugging students. Looking around, I thought about my days there. I had grown from someone who sometimes preferred sitting on the sidelines in class and out, watching others act before her, to someone wanting a more active role. After six weeks, the program ended, but I what I gained from the experience, my new ideas and my new comfort with the person I am, will stay with me forever.

- Mollie Mayfield
GSE Social Science ‘06

Personal Experience

I would like to echo many of the sentiments that have been posted already and say that what is gained from this experience goes deeper than politics and beliefs, conservative and liberal, views and opinions; it is the knowledge that you can have your own opinions and they will be respected by all. The knowledge that for once in your life at least you will be accepted, completely, for who you are. That you will learn, both in the classroom and out, and those lessons will stay with you forever. And those lessons, like most other things at Governor’s school, can be applied to everything, universally, and will stay with you for the rest of your life.

- Emylee McIntosh
GSW English ‘07

Personal Experience

Attending North Carolina’s Governor’s School East during the summer of 2006, impacted my ideas, values, goals, and aspirations. Growing up in Clinton has been an amazing experience, and I would not change a thing about it. However, this small town can seem almost like a box at times- one that protects you from the rest of the world. Governor’s School presented me with the challenge to question things I had never questioned before. I actually became stronger in the things I truly believed, but also formed new opinions as well. I watched documentaries, read books, and listened to speakers who helped me build on the ideas I already had for what I want to do with my future. I realized where my true passions lie, and gained methods to attain them. I met individuals who taught me the real reasons for the necessity that we are all unique in our own way. So many of my peers and I had completely different beliefs and opinions on many things. We respected and appreciated each other even when we did not agree. I realized that in order to learn more about myself, I have to learn more about those around me. Learning was extremely fun at Governor’s School. My curiosity was sparked, and the flame continues to burn. I now have an aspiration to learn and serve others 24/7, whenever and wherever I can. Stepping out of my comfort zone (in the way I think and the way I act) is the only way to grow as a person. Growing as a person became my goal, through GSE 2006.

- Olivia Shipp
GSE Instrumental Music ‘06

College Admissions Essay

The day that I moved into my dorm at Meredith College for Governor’s School, I was accompanied by 399 strangers. Though I was enthusiastic about the program, I had no idea that these people would later become the best friends I would ever have. Furthermore, I did not know that the person I would get to know the most at Governor’s School would be myself.

Accepted for choral music, I was the only student from my school to attend Governor’s School in 2005. The program offered me the chance to learn in a college environment—my peers and I stayed in dorms, ate cafeteria food, and did our own laundry. Classes were held in the morning, and in the evenings we saw films and heard speakers that challenged our minds.

All students took classes in philosophy and personal ethics. I found myself drawn into the discussions about ideologies, religions, and politics, stretching my mind by thinking about thought itself. I was constantly challenged to ponder the profound questions of human life: Why are we here? What is the nature of human nature? Is there a God? Who exactly am I?

Our instructors sought to pry open our minds, often playing the devil’s advocate to introduce different perspectives. In class discussion, fellow students not only challenged each other’s ideas, but also shared their personal experiences and opinions. Being at Governor’s School was like living in a bubble—I was given the opportunity to examine and criticize the outside world in an environment that would not ostracize others for their beliefs.

In addition to my philosophy classes, I attended chorus rehearsal twice a day. Governor’s School East’s advanced ensemble of women studied and performed works written in the twentieth century by composers such as Randall Thompson, Eleanor Daley, and Charles Ives. My musicianship flourished as a result of this rigorous study, but my mind was also opened to new types of music and other arts from the concerts and performances that I attended. I discovered the beauty of abstract art. I wondered at what point noise became music, listening to John Cage’s 4’33”. Governor’s School helped me to redefine art and beauty in my mind.

For the first time in my life, Governor’s School allowed my mind and my personality to be free. My experience that summer changed my life forever, making me more confident in my own beliefs and changing the way that I think. Surrounded by scores of intelligent high school students, I found that a love of high-minded discussion and a thirst for knowledge had been sparked in me. Not only did I become a better musician, I also became a better citizen, more aware of the world. Governor’s School taught me the things that one is not taught in high school—to be open-minded and respect others’ values, and to fully know and believe in one’s self.

- Anna Diemer
GSE Choral Music ‘05

Excerpt of Poem by Alumnus

Before I quivered, appreciated the fetal position
more than your typical seventeen-year-old. Now!
I act on stage! I’ve played open mics! I present my Art
boldly with neither pretense nor fear.
I’ve done what I have done!
I have been shown what it is to be yourself
I have been reformed and
I have minds fresh and new clamoring inside my head.
They knew me more than I did myself, there;
they validated my creativity
my idiosyncrasies
my tiny flaws
and my colossal ones.
There were times:
I had to stand for what I thought to be true and
that standing, my friend, has made all the difference.
I am more me than I have ever been and more proud of that…

- Jon O’Neill
GSW Visual Art ‘07

College Admissions Essay

Initially, Governor’s School was a battle. Four hundred selected North Carolina students lined up in formation at the entrance to Vann Dorm that sweltering day in June, armed with presumptions and ready to fire competitively into the ranks of their peers upon command. There was no advice to be relayed that would be considered substantial preparation for the journey ahead. How could one articulate the unavoidable intellectual response waiting to be awoken inside each and every one of those young scholars? Standing among them, I looked down at my shoes hesitantly and waited for the initial shot.

We, the academic militia, quickly realized that this encounter would not be just another notch in our sixteen-year-old belts of achievement. Governor’s School was a longer, complicated process abundant in skirmishes of conflicting values and ambushes of epiphanies. Many of us were fledglings to a challenge, but that soon changed. Our minds were bent, pushed past capacity until they were sparking, about to blow…and yet still, we hungered to learn more. I was free to express myself intellectually and creatively without fearing repercussions, and for once in my life, I did not experience a need to be “the best.”

Governor’s School revealed itself to be a revolution: of personal identity, thought, social interaction; and one that cannot be undone no matter how many obstacles we stumble upon. We stood in formation once more on July 28th, tears streaming from our eyes at the finality of fleeting moments. After the minivans were packed and the dusty gravel cloud looming over the parking lot swirled away, my comrades were MIA. After the auditorium doors slammed shut, the snap reverberated in my ears, along with the realization that I would soon retreat to another mediocre eighteen weeks of normal high school. “After the first death, there is no other,” as Dylan Thomas recollects, and I am fully aware that the old Lexi died to the chorus of goodbyes and sniffling. I was reborn the next day, barely awake in my bed and contemplating the incredible impact six weeks could claim over a person.

Before GSE, I was frightened to reveal skepticism towards fact. I was petrified of being open with myself, as well as with others, due to the harsh truth that ignorant responses to certain ideas often translate cruelly. In the nurturing, loving environment that was Governor’s School, I blossomed into a complete person easily acknowledging what I lack, excelling at my strengths, and being at peace with my personal identity. Governor’s School is the most significant chapter of my life thus far, containing a metamorphosis and a climatic descent to reality, but this section lacks resolution. I am beginning to pen a new chapter now, one in which I am unafraid to think as I desire; one in which I am forever lustful to learn.

- Lexi Cribbs
GSE English ‘07

Personal Experience

1. I think what was most important to me about it was the social freedom. Suddenly all the crushing social pressure that I’d been used to was gone, and I could be and do and say things that I never would have at home. And doing all that stuff made me realize that who I was wasn’t who I wanted to be. I changed enormously during and after Governor’s School; I wouldn’t be who I am today without it – I wouldn’t be as happy as I am today without it. I really want other people to have the opportunity to have an experience like that (I know mine wasn’t unique).

2. I know one of the reasons that GS frequently comes under fire is that it brings up so many controversial topics, but I think that’s one of the most important things about it. It educates its students by exposing them to different ideas and arguments and _it allows them to make up their own minds. We had to think about things critically and decide what we felt about them – no one told us. Who make better citizens, people who blindly swallow any propaganda (from any source) they hear, or people who demand to hear all the reasons, all the consequences, all the viewpoints, before deciding what they think is best? Not only that, but trying to avoid controversial issues isn’t going to help anything. It just makes people less prepared to deal with them and less prepared, if possible, to fix them. To be honest, while I loved the English class I took at GSW, and while I thought Area II was interesting, Area III was, I think, the most important class I took there by so wide a margin I can’t even think of a phrase strong enough to describe it. I can still quote from discussions in that class, four and a half years later.

3. This is a minor thing, perhaps, particularly from an ideological standpoint. But I imagine it isn’t so minor to individual people who attended Governor’s School. One of the things that was most important to me about it was the people there – both the variety of people there and the way so many of us seemed to fit together so well. We learned so much from each other, and we got to know such amazing people. I met my best friend at Governor’s School, and my life would be so much poorer if he were not in it.

-Anne Marie Salloum
GSW English ‘03