A Month Away From Home IS Cleansing Of The SOUL
First, thank GOD my friends are back at LJ. On to the post.
Well, I've been away from home for the entirety of July. I left the first for Fairmont State, to attend Governor's Honors Academy for three weeks. I had high hopes for this adventure in itself, but what I expected to pales in comparison what I found. Let me start by saying that spending three weeks with 100+ smart people of my own age range is probably the most amazing thing I've ever experienced. I couldn't tell you of all the highly intellectual conversations I participated in, nor could I explain to you the multitude of friends I became very close with. I can tell in turn some of the events that happened though.
My intensive class with taught by a brilliant man by the name of Mike Burr. This man made me think, he challenged us to look at everyday things in ways that we had never dared before. He forced us to play brutal games of chess to enhance our critical thinking skills. I, previously, had never enjoyed chess so much in my life. He made us build an egg drop apparatus using solely toothpicks and elmer's glue. I labored to create a parachute of sorts, out of dried sheets of glue. My egg aparatus dropped like a rock, but I did learn one thing from it: how not to make an egg apparatus. He taught us that even though you may lose, it doesn't mean you aren't a winner.
My broad-based class was with a man by the name of Gordon Nunn. It was a course on African music and dance. I learned two African songs on both hand drums and stick drums as well as the dances that corrosponded. I also was part of the creative process of a song that Gordon was writing on Taiko Drums. The class was positively brilliant. Everyone in the class was musically inclined and I enjoyed every second spent in the drum room as well as on the stage.
I had a wonderful siminar leader, Elizabeth Savage, who might have made me question things more than any other instructer I came in contact with. We read many philosophical things in her class and discussed them all as a group. I looked forward to seminar. Again, I can not explain how amazing it was to be in rooms full of brilliant people my age.
The friends I made, I could talk about for days and days with no end to the fabulous stories and the wild adventures we had together. Among my absolute favorites are Ky Donahoo, TJ Meadows, Mark Skaggs, Alec Pancheko, Justin Wymer, Isaac Sheets, Rosie Russo, Kari Meeks, Stephanie Welsh, Alex Ulanov, Janney, Stephen Stolzenburg, and so many more that there just isn't the time or possibility to recount them all. Everyone was just so amazing. I'm at a loss for words and I coulld tell all these stories about things that happened between us, but it would just be a waste to type it all because no matter how hard I tried to relay to you what went down and how it happened, I could never tell it to the magnitude that it was.
I wish I could go back. I wish that I could be with this group of people all the time.
Booth scholars was this past week. It was fine, senior year and all. I feel like I know very little of the younger classes. And I think I'm okaywith it. I spent the entire week having fun but in a bit of an emo mood due to the fact that I miss GHA terribly.
I finished Harry Potter 7. I lost count of how many times I cried. I'm reading it again now.
Peace
Well, I've been away from home for the entirety of July. I left the first for Fairmont State, to attend Governor's Honors Academy for three weeks. I had high hopes for this adventure in itself, but what I expected to pales in comparison what I found. Let me start by saying that spending three weeks with 100+ smart people of my own age range is probably the most amazing thing I've ever experienced. I couldn't tell you of all the highly intellectual conversations I participated in, nor could I explain to you the multitude of friends I became very close with. I can tell in turn some of the events that happened though.
My intensive class with taught by a brilliant man by the name of Mike Burr. This man made me think, he challenged us to look at everyday things in ways that we had never dared before. He forced us to play brutal games of chess to enhance our critical thinking skills. I, previously, had never enjoyed chess so much in my life. He made us build an egg drop apparatus using solely toothpicks and elmer's glue. I labored to create a parachute of sorts, out of dried sheets of glue. My egg aparatus dropped like a rock, but I did learn one thing from it: how not to make an egg apparatus. He taught us that even though you may lose, it doesn't mean you aren't a winner.
My broad-based class was with a man by the name of Gordon Nunn. It was a course on African music and dance. I learned two African songs on both hand drums and stick drums as well as the dances that corrosponded. I also was part of the creative process of a song that Gordon was writing on Taiko Drums. The class was positively brilliant. Everyone in the class was musically inclined and I enjoyed every second spent in the drum room as well as on the stage.
I had a wonderful siminar leader, Elizabeth Savage, who might have made me question things more than any other instructer I came in contact with. We read many philosophical things in her class and discussed them all as a group. I looked forward to seminar. Again, I can not explain how amazing it was to be in rooms full of brilliant people my age.
The friends I made, I could talk about for days and days with no end to the fabulous stories and the wild adventures we had together. Among my absolute favorites are Ky Donahoo, TJ Meadows, Mark Skaggs, Alec Pancheko, Justin Wymer, Isaac Sheets, Rosie Russo, Kari Meeks, Stephanie Welsh, Alex Ulanov, Janney, Stephen Stolzenburg, and so many more that there just isn't the time or possibility to recount them all. Everyone was just so amazing. I'm at a loss for words and I coulld tell all these stories about things that happened between us, but it would just be a waste to type it all because no matter how hard I tried to relay to you what went down and how it happened, I could never tell it to the magnitude that it was.
I wish I could go back. I wish that I could be with this group of people all the time.
Booth scholars was this past week. It was fine, senior year and all. I feel like I know very little of the younger classes. And I think I'm okaywith it. I spent the entire week having fun but in a bit of an emo mood due to the fact that I miss GHA terribly.
I finished Harry Potter 7. I lost count of how many times I cried. I'm reading it again now.
Peace