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

New Blog

Hi fellow NC Governor’s School alumni.  I have started this blog as a resource for those of us who are standing up for NCGS.  This page will soon include links to articles and websites about Governor’s School and the opposition to the program, as well as information about legal issues concerning NCGS and statements by alumni describing their experiences in the program.

If you would like to contribute to this blog, email your work to save.ncgs@gmail.com. Statements about Governor’s School experiences should be concise, logical, and positive.