whee!
What Was the Galileo Project, and Where Did it Go?
The Galileo Project was an alternative 9th grade created by concerned parents of Sonoma Country Day School (SCDS) 8th grade graduates. These parents found their children leaving the esteemed halls of this private day school and having no fitting private high school to attend. Thus the Galileo Project came to be. It was from the start a temporary matter. Sonoma Academy (the brand new private high school) would be operational by the time these children had incubated for another year. Due to the nature of the Galileo Project, it was necessary for only a short time, and it left behind very little documentation. Having served its purpose, it has faded into obscurity.
I chose Galileo because I was deathly afraid of high school, especially public schooling. I did not hide this fact. I wrote my entrance essay on why public school was not for me. I reasoned that a quiet, intelligent girl like myself would thrive in an environment with only 10 other students. I told them I would no longer be offered the chance to hide among my peers, but, truthfully, I did not believe my own words.
After the acceptance came the reality. I wondered what I had gotten myself into. One of our first assignments was to build the computers we would be using for the rest of the year. No Spanish teacher had been found, and I was told that French would have to do. I was handed what looked like a strange white lab coat and a white belt, and was told to get dressed for self-defense. The other 11 students (who quickly became the other 10, 9, and finally 8 students in my class) were not the ones I had imagined sharing this year with. My math book was replaced with a Geometry CD. My notes were to be transcribed on a handheld device. I was deprived of a desk, the usual rows of students, and hiding places.
As the year passed, however, I saw beyond the strangeness. I became adjusted to sitting in a circle and learning fallacies of logic rather than health. I found a personal Spanish tutor and enrolled in a junior college course. I completed my CD early, and was even a little disappointed when we moved from karate on to weight training, and eventually golf.
Where did the Galileo Project go? Our first trip was to New York City, and I was introduced to urban life. We walked everywhere. I met fashion designers and stockbrokers and Ellis Island. That winter we backpacked with Outward Bound across a snow-covered desert. With spring came Italy. I had my first taste of the language in a weeklong course in the tiny Tuscan town of Cortona. Next came the art of Florence, the canals of fading Venice, and the cathedral of Milan.
By the time the year had come to an end, a strange thing had happened: I was ready for high school. Enough of sitting in a circle, enough of babying: I couldn't wait to see the polar opposite. I planned my entrance to Healdsburg High School with as little dread as I could muster.
The Galileo Project was an alternative 9th grade created by concerned parents of Sonoma Country Day School (SCDS) 8th grade graduates. These parents found their children leaving the esteemed halls of this private day school and having no fitting private high school to attend. Thus the Galileo Project came to be. It was from the start a temporary matter. Sonoma Academy (the brand new private high school) would be operational by the time these children had incubated for another year. Due to the nature of the Galileo Project, it was necessary for only a short time, and it left behind very little documentation. Having served its purpose, it has faded into obscurity.
I chose Galileo because I was deathly afraid of high school, especially public schooling. I did not hide this fact. I wrote my entrance essay on why public school was not for me. I reasoned that a quiet, intelligent girl like myself would thrive in an environment with only 10 other students. I told them I would no longer be offered the chance to hide among my peers, but, truthfully, I did not believe my own words.
After the acceptance came the reality. I wondered what I had gotten myself into. One of our first assignments was to build the computers we would be using for the rest of the year. No Spanish teacher had been found, and I was told that French would have to do. I was handed what looked like a strange white lab coat and a white belt, and was told to get dressed for self-defense. The other 11 students (who quickly became the other 10, 9, and finally 8 students in my class) were not the ones I had imagined sharing this year with. My math book was replaced with a Geometry CD. My notes were to be transcribed on a handheld device. I was deprived of a desk, the usual rows of students, and hiding places.
As the year passed, however, I saw beyond the strangeness. I became adjusted to sitting in a circle and learning fallacies of logic rather than health. I found a personal Spanish tutor and enrolled in a junior college course. I completed my CD early, and was even a little disappointed when we moved from karate on to weight training, and eventually golf.
Where did the Galileo Project go? Our first trip was to New York City, and I was introduced to urban life. We walked everywhere. I met fashion designers and stockbrokers and Ellis Island. That winter we backpacked with Outward Bound across a snow-covered desert. With spring came Italy. I had my first taste of the language in a weeklong course in the tiny Tuscan town of Cortona. Next came the art of Florence, the canals of fading Venice, and the cathedral of Milan.
By the time the year had come to an end, a strange thing had happened: I was ready for high school. Enough of sitting in a circle, enough of babying: I couldn't wait to see the polar opposite. I planned my entrance to Healdsburg High School with as little dread as I could muster.