The understanding of life

By Rylan Tuohy
Muhlenberg County School

Jared Holt never thought he would break a rule at the Governor’s Scholars Program. But when he was standing alone in his dormitory laundry room, he reached for his forbidden cell phone, while surrounded by rumbling machines that he couldn’t figure out.
Jared Holt had never before done laundry.
When he arrived at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Jared was one of nearly 1,100 high school seniors who had been accepted into the prestigious Kentucky’s Governor’s Scholars Program, a five-week college residency designed to encourage academic excellence and leadership skills.
But his five-week vacation from home also included some unexpected rules and responsibilities. Among the rules were mandatory attendance at classes and daily curfew. Cell phones were restricted to the dorm rooms. Among the responsibilities were personal hygiene and household chores often performed by parents, like housecleaning and laundry.
Now Jared is an intelligent fellow, now an incoming senior at Paducah Tilghman High School. And, like his fellow Governor’s Scholars, he completed a rigorous seven-month application process to be accepted into the program. To him, laundry was more of a challenge than a chore. So instead of learning how to do the laundry, he decided to hire someone else to do it for him.
It just happened that he had a friend who was attending GSP on the same campus. She had agreed to do his laundry for an “unknown amount,” but the night before his laundry was to be done, Jared’s phone beeped. The text he received was a set of detailed instructions on how to do laundry. His employee had quit.
Jared looked down at his stinky pile of clothes and thought perhaps he could make it until Family Day in two weeks. In fact, out of the 358 Governor’s Scholars on the Bellarmine campus, an estimated 70 percent of males who went home on Family Day had their parents do their laundry, according to an informal survey.
But Jared knew he couldn’t make it.
“I either need to get some Febreeze,” he said, “or tackle the laundry machine.”
He did the latter.
So here he was standing in the middle of the laundry room, his face reddened by frustration and the moist heat of laundry equipment, with his forbidden phone in hand. The text said separate lights and darks, but there was only one washing machine open, “So I just put them both in together,” he said.
After 45 minutes had passed, he found his laundry still dry.
He had forgotten one small detail – pulling out the knob.
Of course, Jared isn’t the only one who has suffered an embarrassing defeat in a battle with a couple of dumb machines. John Stigall, a fellow scholar from Heath High School in Paducah, mixed his new, self-made, tie-dyed shirts with his whites and ended up with rainbow-colored v-neck T-shirts. Alex Gardner, a staffer in the GSP office, found remnants of detergent all over his clean laundry. Turns out he had had poured the detergent directly onto his clothing. And Morgan Davenport, a Residential Advisor in the dorms at Bellarmine, recalled the time when she was a scholar in 2008, and one of the students persuaded another one that red items wouldn’t bleed onto white clothing if you stuck them in a mesh bag.
Pink was all the rage that year.
“Individual experience is important”, said Aris Cedeño, Executive Director of GSP. In this case, he said, parents may complain about the different colors of clothing that scholars bring home, but in GSP, every person leaves campus having a unique learning experience, not the same.
“What you learn here is all in the understanding of life,” he said. “Laundry included.”

Naptime in Cralle Theatre

By Lauren Tucker
Holmes High School

The lights are on in Cralle Theatre, the cold air always flowing. The rustle of people shuffling in their seats, the clinking of knitting needles and the occasional snore all seem too loud as sports journalist Billy Reed tells his audience about the 30 most important sports events in Kentucky history.
Reed’s audience was the 358 Kentucky high school seniors who were selected by the Governor’s Scholars Program for a five-week course in academic and personal achievement on the Bellarmine University campus. The scholars were polite, of course, but who could blame them for squirming through a long speech about sports history?
Brian Rich can. Entertainment was not the point, according to Rich, who is GSP’s associate campus director at Bellarmine. The convocation speakers provide another opportunity for scholars to expose themselves to a variety of subjects and perspectives, he said and the speakers enhance a lifetime of growing and learning.
“Don’t block yourself off at age 17,” Rich said, adding that it’s the scholars’ own loss if they don’t listen to what the speakers have to say.
GSP is all about growth and learning. Nearly 1,100 students go through the program staying at Bellarmine and two other GSP campuses at Centre College and Murray State University, and for many it is a life-changing in the process. The scholars take field trips around Kentucky, learning about their Focus Areas of study and incidentally gaining new pride in their state. Also, every scholar takes a seminar class where they discuss issues like discrimination, stereotypes, learning how to express their own opinions, while respecting the opinions of others. They practice breaking out of their comfort zones, and building meaningful relationships with other people despite their differences.
Bryan Rich said that learning civility and how to be friendly while discussing different opinions are among the most important skills that scholars learn.
It’s all a part of the GSP Experience that Rich and GSP Executive Director Aris Cedeño emphasize on Opening Day of the scholars’ five-week adventure. It encompasses academics, leadership, personal development, community service, and yes, it includes the convocation speakers.
“A goal of GSP is that every scholar goes home with a role model,” Aris Cedeño said, and many of those role models can come from the speakers.
So Bryan Rich is right. It is the scholars’ loss if they don’t listen to the speakers that GSP brings to the community. The speakers are vital to the GSP experience, and they are carefully chosen to enhance that experience. To be invited, each speaker must have a Kentucky connection and a sense of state pride. They each must be from a different field: science, journalism, college presidents, Kentucky board of education members, and so on. And although the GSP directors don’t look over the speeches, they are expected to contribute something valuable to the scholars’ experience.
This year, the first speaker on all three campuses was Tori Murden McClure, who lived and was educated in Louisville, was the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set the tone for the convocation series, speaking about living life as an adventure. She encouraged scholars to persevere and use their talents to make the world a better place.
The second speaker, former Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, was also a favorite. He opened a very candid Q&A with all the scholars. Answering one question, he said that one of the most important things a scholar can learn is that it is okay to be smart and to be yourself.
Billy Reed made the scholars think about some of the great achievements of Kentuckians in the history of sports, especially in the time of civil rights and integration. Aaron Thompson, professor at Eastern Kentucky University and a member of the Council on Post-Secondary Education talked realistically about how far a good education will get you.
Not only do scholars learn from the speeches, Rich said, but they also learn to be patient and experience new things without shutting themselves off from things they might not like.
Brian Rich first heard Tori Murden McClure speak when he was a Governor’s Scholar in 1996. On that day, she became his role model, and she still is. She inspired him when she said that what matters are not your accomplishments, but how you interact with the people in your life.
“The GSP Experience carries over to life outside GSP, he said. “It hasn’t gotten old for me, and it’s Year 14.”

Brain on wheels

By Connor Tracy
Mayfield High School

“I’m Elias Eells, I’m from Oldham County High School, and I’m training to bike across Iowa.”
It was the June 19, the first night of introductions in Elias’s dormitory hall and this quiet statement from a tall, skinny with glasses brought responses like, “What?” “Wow!” “Really?” The students, all incoming high school seniors who had been selected by the prestigious Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program for a five-week residency at Bellarmine University in Louisville.
So maybe they were expecting Elias to talk about his academic achievements. But a grueling bicycle ride across the state of Iowa? Really? They weren’t totally wrong, but there was this other side of him.
"Elias at first seemed introverted,” said Renee Laurent, a classmate from Caldwell County High School, “but as time went on, he became one of the most social people in our seminar"
Governor’s Scholars is an intensive course of academic and personal development that keeps the 358 scholars at Bellarmine busy seven days a week. So during their precious time off, most scholars spend their free time hanging with new friends, playing cards, throwing Frisbees or learning new things in the many clubs formed by GSP staff. Some scholars work out at Bellarmine’s sports training facility. The athletes come and go, but one fellow seems to be there constantly, riding a stationary bike back in the corner of the room. Elias Eells is almost a fixture there, riding for two to three hours per visit.
Elias expects to be inducted into Governor’s Scholars on July 23, Graduation Day. His big race in Iowa will begin on July 24. Elias is looking forward to catching up with his family, and the ride will be a perfect opportunity for this. This is his third year of being involved with the race, called Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. It’s a week-long trip that usually averages around 472 miles.
“RAGBRAI is like a community on wheels,” Elias said. “At the end of the ride everyone is dirty, sweaty, and tired, but they always come back…. “This is so wonderful, and the experience sticks with you.”
GSP Executive Director Aris Cedeño says, “The goal is every single scholar goes back home having a role model.” Many people wouldn’t expect to find this role model in a fellow student but Elias Eells demonstrates qualities that have inspired those who know him.
In addition to his dedication to sport, he is fully engaged in the GSP experience of intellectual growth and service to society. He currently has a 4.19 weighted grade point average and plans to take five AP classes in his senior year. His activities include the Louisville Youth Choir, Beta Club, National Honor Society, and Young Democrats.
But for now he is 100 percent bike rider, and he’d like to have company.
“I strongly encourage participation in RAGBRAI,” he said,” and I would love to see more folks from Kentucky out there.”
Well, maybe next year….

The truth about Captain Red Beard

By Dean Summers
Madisonville-North Hopkins

Behind the Beard: An Inside Look on an Outside Guy
For most people, the name Captain Red Beard might conjure up a vision of a gruff pirate or maybe a muscle-bound superhero.
How about Governor’s Scholar? Captain Red Beard’s secret identity is Michael Perry, a senior from DuPont Manual High School in Louisville. The drop of a hat or the hint of an audience can turn Michael into Captain Red Beard, the big, hairy jokester and intellectual wit who is becoming a legend on the Bellarmine University campus.
He’ll saunter into a crowd of people, and when they least expect it, BAM! He takes over the room and grabs all the attention. You cannot escape him. He will find you, make you laugh, and you will remember his name. How could you not? Captain Red Beard is not your average persona.
On June 19, the first day of the Governor’s Scholars Program on Bellarmine’s campus in Louisville, Red Beard was already inserting himself into random conversations and making awkward moments hilarious. He was unfazed by the fact everyone around him was a complete stranger.
GSP is a five-week summer residency offering academic courses and leadership training to nearly 1,100 Kentucky high school seniors on Bellarmine and two other Kentucky campuses, Centre College and Murray State University. The application process is highly competitive and rigorous, based on grades, extracurricular activities and public service. Only the best and the brightest from all over the state are accepted. Michael Perry is one of them.
With 358 scholars on the Bellarmine University campus, cliques start to form. Of course every school and workplace has them, and they are not always welcoming.
“Human nature tends to exclude others that are ‘not like me.’ Therefore cliques are not good in the long run,” said GSP Executive Director Aris Cedeño. “You must be accepting of others, and that is what GSP is all about, the community.”
Michael seems to break down those social barriers simply by force of his personality.
Interestingly, it was tragedy that brought him to the place he is now. When two of his cousins died, “It changed the dynamic of my family. It made me see people in a different light,” It impacted Michael in a way that he has used positively to approach people from every clique and bring them together through the joy of laugher.
It should be no surprise to discover that this complex individual has a deeper, intellectual side to him. Other than just being that “social, big hairy funny guy”, Michael says, “People could also see me intellectually and say, here’s someone who knows what he is talking about.”
In an odd pairing Michael’s roommate Tolu Odukoya is from his rival high school in Ashland. They have become fast friends at GSP.
“He’s very funny, very smart,” said Tolu. “We stay up talking about books, music, and cracking jokes. He’s a nice guy, he understands me, and knows what he wants.”
Michael enjoys reading, listening to music, and eating with friends. He’s also class president, a member of the quick-recall team, and performs discus and shot put for DuPont Manual’s track team.
Asked to describe himself, Michael immediately morphed into Captain Red Beard: “Jovial, jocular, and Jehovah’s witness. No, not really, I was just looking for another ‘J’ word.”
Respect the Red Beard.

The community birthday

By Anita Shanker
Western Hills High School

June 19: Move-In Day. My family and I spent the morning hauling luggage up to my new dorm room on Bellarmine University’s campus. The Governor’s Scholars Program had begun.
While we unpacked the gear that would sustain me for five weeks, I met my roommate. She seemed nice, but my terror at having to live with this stranger couldn’t be squelched with one meeting.
Later in the day, the crowd of mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and other assorted relatives and friends was gone. An uneasy silence fell over campus. All that was left was us scholars, 358 strangers huddling together in a strange place. My thoughts turned to my birthday, which would pass while I was here, without the laughter and hugs of family and friends.
I wasn’t really feeling sorry for myself. Acceptance to Governor’s Scholars, a summer residency program for high-achieving students entering their senior year of high school, was a great honor. I was just feeling a little lonely.
Despite GSP’s efforts to make scholars feel welcome, many others with summer birthdays shared my anxiety. But the staff makes sure that birthdays spent away from home are not birthdays forgotten. During Community Meetings every Monday morning, GSP Executive Director Aris Cedeño recognizes the week’s birthday-scholars and leading a brief but jolly song in their honor. For me, the recognition from over 350 people made my pulse pound, but it also made me feel akin to this crowd of scholars.
Kelly Ren, a scholar from Henry Clay High School in Lexington, had her birthday 11 days into the program. She didn’t make many friends during the first few days of GS, and her initial anticipation turned to fear. But she ended up having a great birthday. She took the initiative to make sure she had it all: cake, balloons, and pizza. Here, scholars are free to make decisions about their own happiness – to party or not to party, that is the question.
Sometimes parties aren’t possible. Isaac Potter of East Ridge High School in Lick Creek had his birthday on Opening Day, so he spent it hauling luggage with his family and making awkward introductions to strangers. He’s not bitter about the bad timing, but in retrospect that he wished his birthday had fallen later in the program so he could have spent it with all his new friends.
Noah Wiersema, of Central Hardin High School in Elizabethtown turned the bad birthday karma to his advantage: “It’s a great ice breaker. ‘Guess what? It’s my birthday.’”
Cedeño said that in his 20 years of experience with the program, only one scholar dropped out because she didn’t feel comfortable spending her birthday away from family. But, he added that GSP was a community.
“When one suffers, we all suffer. When one is happy, we all are happy,” he said. “We shouldn’t be afraid to spend holidays elsewhere – out of our comfort zones.”
Reflecting on the importance of his new friends and community, Dakota Waldecker, of Meade Co. High School in Brandenburg, said he felt disappointed because he couldn’t spend his birthday with his friends and family at first, but became excited after seeing the way the community treats birthday-scholars.
“Friends make a difference,” he said.”They make experiences meaningful.”

We are family

By Sam Rogers
Eastern High School, Louisville

Deep in the confines of Petrik Hall on Louisville’s Bellarmine University campus, there is a flurry of movement as a deadly conflict breaks out. A war zone is soon established in dorm room 309C as Tostito projectiles are launched amid shouts and squeals as the missiles fall short of their targets. Reporters and other observers scatter as debris descends around the room. Soon the floor is littered with the remains of broken chips, and the two combatants break out in hearty laughter at the thought of that last dreadful throw.
“That was not even close to my mouth!” said Governor’s Scholar Rachel Grey of Edmonson County High School.
“I’m sorry; you keep moving on me!” said fellow scholar and roommate, Nikki Marcum of North Laurel High School in London, Ky. The girls continue to laugh and talk with one another, interacting as if they had known each other their entire lives.
“I feel like Rachel could literally be my twin,” Nikki said.
Every year, over one thousand of the state’s best and brightest high school students are invited to spend five weeks of the summer on one of three college campuses around the state, as a part of the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program. In addition to Bellarmine, this year’s host campuses are Murray State University and Centre College.
“The GSP is one of the very few programs in the nation that addresses the needs of high achievers, where competition becomes non-existent,” said Aris Cedeño, Executive Director of the Program. “These scholars will return to their high schools and hometowns as the best ambassadors of the state of Kentucky.”
Lasting memories and deep friendships are invaluable side benefits of the program.
Nikki Marcum is a cross-country and track runner from Laurel County. Athletic, confident, calm, and optimistic, she still felt nervous about attending GSP this summer.
“I was anxious about being away, meeting new people, and the whole program in general,” she said.
Her newfound friend Rachel Grey, a musician from Edmonson County, shared the same insecurities regarding the five-week program.
“I was worried about not making friends,” she said. “And I knew I would miss my boyfriend.”
On June 19, Move-In Day at Bellarmine, Nikki and Rachel made their way to “nerd camp” with friends and families and loads of luggage. This would be the day they met.
“To be honest,” said Nikki. “The first time we met, I thought she was going to be snooty and conceited.” At this point, Rachel, miffed by this response, let out a shriek of shock and surprise, accompanied by yet another Tostito projectile in Nikki’s direction.
“I thought Nikki seemed really nice,” said Rachel, to Nikki’s laughs. By the end of the day, the two girls had bonded, and they have been inseparable ever since.
The two friends were not the only ones who arrived at Bellarmine on Move-In Day. The hilly campus was jammed with cars and sweaty parents as 358 scholars hauled their luggage up the steps to their dorms. By late afternoon, the campus fell quiet as 358 strangers sat in their rooms contemplating five week of loneliness. They came from all corners of the state, bringing with them different cultures, backgrounds, genders, races and ethnicities.
As Cedeño is fond of saying, they had become a community, one where scholars are encouraged to express their true selves regardless of background or differences.
For Nikki and Rachel that was easy. After nearly five weeks of living together, they act like sisters who have lived together for their entire lives. Nikki has recently taught Rachel how to spit the right way (“She was having trouble spitting out her toothpaste every morning. So I had to teach her how….” And Rachel has been keeping Nikki informed with random bits of wisdom (“Make sure to take off your mascara every night, or bacteria will eat through the make-up while you’re sleeping.”)
“I feel like Nikki could literally be my sister,” said Rachel. “We have the same sense of humor, and by the second week, we were comfortable enough to fight like sisters. She’s a good listener, and we care about each other.”
“Rachel is always going to be there for me, to talk or anything,” said Nikki. “And she’s not afraid to look dumb with me.”
Their closeness seemed to gravitate to the other girls on the floor. By the end of the first week, the girls of Petrik 3 had all become fast friends, uniting into one, big happy family. At the nightly hall meetings, the noise was deafening as the room filled with excited chatter, bags and boxes of food were passed around, and laughing girls danced to the music. Each of these girls comes from a completely different background, yet they have become the best of friends
“I have never been around a group of girls this nice,” said Rachel, munching on a Tostito chip.
“I love our floor!” said Nikki, opening a can of salsa.
The walls of Petrik 3 are lined with poster-size scrapbook pages. Each night, the girls, as well as their Resident Advisor Morgan Davenport, fill out one “page,” and hang it on a wall. Themes include Summer, Fall, Spring, Hollywood, Freshman Memories, and so on. These posters are representative not only of the many personalities of Petrik 3, but the spirit of community that is characteristic of GSP.
“This is my third year as a Hall Buddy,” said Jeanie Adams-Smith, who teaches Journalism as a GSP Focus Area. “And this is the best group I’ve ever had! The enthusiasm is great, and I’ve truly enjoyed these girls.”
The entire GSP community seems to have bonded, just as the girls of P3 have. Scholars here are encouraged to take an “intellectual risk,” and even if it fails, the whole community is urged to support the effort.
“At GSP, you become your real self, your real ‘you,’” said Cedeño.
“You throw in all of these different people, with different backgrounds, and your first thought is that it wouldn’t work,” said Nikki, as she and Rachel laughed and threw chips at each other. “But somehow, everybody meshed to form one big happy family.”

In times of trouble

By Rachel Puckett
John Hardin High School, Elizabethtown

The Governor’s Scholars Program at Bellarmine University is not “just another summer camp.”
It is designed to provide a select group of Kentucky’s top high school seniors with an intensive five-week academic and residential life experience on a college campus. Each student’s life is filled with activity, from dawn till dusk and beyond, seven days a week.
It’s a great honor and great opportunity, but it is demanding. It is stressful.
But for many scholars, the toughest part is being away from home for five weeks. GSP allows family visits on just one day during the program – Family Day. Beyond that, students are restricted to campus and their contact with family and friends is limited to phone calls from the dorm room. The daily advice and comfort of mom and dad, the smell of home-cooking, and the laughter of old friends are a thing of the past.
A scholar’s daily schedule can be quite demanding: Wake up, eat breakfast, go to class, eat lunch, go to class, eat dinner, go to seminar, go to bed. And repeat.
It’s part of the plan. The GSP encourages discipline and independence for success in academics and leadership. But sometimes the plan can fall apart.
For Kristen Dyer, a scholar from Cumberland County High School in Burkesville, that moment came suddenly and dreadfully when she saw a string of messages on her cell phone.
It was the evening of June 22, during the first week of GSP, and she was watching a movie at Cralle Auditorium when Louisville’s tornado sirens began to sound. Kristen and the other scholars in attendance were herded to safety in the basement of Cralle. When the severe storm eased, the scholars were shuttled back to their dorms.
When Kristen got back to her room she found 11 missed calls from her parents.
“I thought they were just worried about me because of the storms,” she said. That night, four tornado touchdowns were confirmed in Jefferson County.
Kristen called her parents, and they told her that her friend Alisha Wright had been killed in an auto accident outside of Burkesville. Kristen was devastated. She had grown up with Alisha, and they played on the same softball team. She was in shock. She felt guilty for being away from home when she needed to be with her family and friends.
“I felt like I should’ve been there the whole time, and it wasn’t real until I got there,” she said after returning from the funeral.
But then Kristen recalled the reaction of her new friends at Bellarmine – the girls in her hall and her Residential Advisor Susan Ahmadi. They came to her and quietly gathered around her in her time of grief.
“Even though they barely knew me, they all comforted and supported me,” she said. “I don’t think I’d still be here if it weren’t for them.”

The scholar-mom at GSP

By Brooke Powell
George Rogers Clark High School, Winchester

A day in the life of Kyauna Cargill begins early. Her alarm sounds at 4:30 a.m., long before the sun begins to rise. At 5 a.m. She wakes her 8-month-old daughter Jaeda, feeds and dresses her. Then it’s off to the bus stop. They board the bus together at 6 a.m., then Kyauna drops off Jaeda at daycare.
Now it’s 7:20 a.m. and her day has just begun. After a day of high school classes, Kyauna will drop off her child off at home, where her mother will take care of Jaeda while Kyauna works at Kentucky Fried Chicken until closing time, spending her breaks doing homework. If she’s lucky, she will be in bed by midnight.
As hard as it might sound, it was the life that Kyauna embraced as a teen mother who wants to go to school and make something of herself.
This summer, Kyauna got a little break in her daily grind – and a big break for her future plans – when she was accepted into Kentucky’s prestigious Governor’s Scholars Program. GSP offers outstanding high school seniors an intensive five-week campus residency to build their academic and leadership skills.
Kyauna’s life began to change on June 19, when she arrive at Bellarmine University in Louisville, one of GSP’s three host campuses. She was the only parent-scholar to be accepted into the program this year, and she found herself among others of similar talent and drive.
“The Governor’s Scholars Program allows the scholars to be surrounded by the same level of quality,” said Aris Cedeño, Executive Director of GSP.
“The GSP does not discriminate against parenthood.”
At age 17, Kyauna Cargill spends her days not only working at KFC and attending school at Westport TAPP, but she also cares and provides for her baby daughter, a tough life for anyone at any age.
But, she says, “I wouldn’t change being a mother.” She credits Louisville’s innovative Teen-Age Parent Program for giving her the opportunity to take all the classes she needs while knowing that her baby is in good hands. There were even times when Kyauna’s teachers offered to stay after school and watch Jaeda, so that Kyauna could finish some school work.
In a strange twist of life, the birth of Jaeda gave Kyauna the opportunity for her experience at Bellarmine University. Motherhood led Kyauna to TAPP and TAPP led her to the Governor’s Scholars.
Kyauna was very excited when she opened her acceptance letter from GSP, but she immediately began to worry about who was going to take care of Jaeda and more selfishly, she fretted about missing her daughter for five weeks. Her mother offered to care for Jaeda, but Kyuna still misses her baby.
“I’ve missed laughing at Jaeda while she drinks her bath water,” said Kyauna, “As well as reading to her at night.” But during these tough times, she finds comfort in talking to her mom, who sends her pictures. Kyauna has taken a picture of Jaeda every day since she born, and her mother is continuing the tradition.
Kyauna said she has realized through the GSP experience that she can still grow and achieve great things while caring for her daughter.
“I’ve learned that I can be a mom as well as person,” she said, “and I have GSP to thank for that.”

A different path to GSP

By Renee Laurent
Caldwell County High School

High school seniors from across the state of Kentucky have taken over Horrigan Hall this summer, making it the regular hang-out spot for Governor’s Scholars attending a five-week program on the Bellarmine University campus in Louisville.
Horrigan, which houses the bookstore, student activity center and a large café, was buzzing this summer as scholars swooped in during their rare moments of free time. Many would use the hall’s computer access to check their Facebook pages, while others would sit on the couches playing card games. Another group often formed in the middle of the room, laughing and playing pool.
They were all strangers when they arrived on campus June 19 to begin the Governor’s Scholars Program, a unique and intense educational and leadership course. Now they were playing together, teasing and laughing like lifelong friends. Of course many of them were selected because of their records of academic and social leadership.
In the midst of this group Travis Wilson hung out with his new buddies, a regular guy no different from all the other high school kids. Except Travis had never been to high school. He had taken a very different path, where social life was not necessarily a major factor.
At home in Burlington, Travis starts his mornings at 7:30, getting ready for a day of classes. But instead of jumping in his car to drive to school, he simply walks downstairs.
Travis’s home is his school, as it has been since 7th grade.
“It was a difficult decision that my parents and I made together – mostly for more college classes.” Travis said.
Families make the decision to homeschool for a lot of different reasons, including religious beliefs, family closeness and educational control, but for the Wilson family it was all about educational opportunity. By homeschooling, Travis had the flexibility to attend college classes at nearby Thomas More College in Crestview Hills.
At the end of his junior year Travis had earned 18 college credits, and he plans to graduate high school with 27, a solid head start on his college degree.
“The best part about being homeschooled is the time to focus on schoolwork,” he said, while admitting his days can be long at times “I had a college paper I had to do that I worked on from 8a.m. to 10p.m. with a one-hour break and breaks for meals.”
Travis was one of 11 homeschooled students selected by the prestigious Governor’s Scholars Program, which begins its selection process in Kentucky’s system of public and private high schools. For homeschoolers, parents and homeschool associations must take the extra step of making GSP officials aware if they have qualified students. Of more than 2,000 applicants less that 1,100 make the cut for the residency program at Bellarmine and two other campuses, Centre College and Murray State University.
The stereotype of a homeschool student is of a quiet and perhaps introverted person with not much of a social life. But scholars at Bellarmine get an entirely different picture when they see students like Travis or David Pagan a homeschooler from Paris, Ky., who’ll work on his newly acquired “moonwalk” in the middle of a dance circle. And then there’s GSP Residential Advisor and extreme extrovert Joseph Underwood, who is the campus “flash mob” leader at Bellarmine.
“Homeschooling has changed a lot in the last 10 to 15 years with the creation of homeschool associations” said Brian Rich, Associate Campus Director at Bellarmine University. In addition to providing enhanced educational and social opportunities, Rich said the associations are often the conduit for homeschool applicants to GSP.
In addition to his studies, Travis is a well-rounded young person who is involved in many community service activities including Lifeline Ministries, the 4-H Sharpshooters, and a political volunteering organization, which he started in his area. He also holds a weekend job at World Golf in Florence, and is an avid weightlifter and college sports fan.
“Travis never has a bad thing to say about anyone,” said new friend and General Studies classmate Katelyn Sandell, of Assumption High School in Louisville. “He is really nice and easy to get along with.”
For Travis, the transition to Governor’s Scholars was seamless, but he does miss the chance for “a little alone time,” — like he had at his home school.

Making Kentucky proud

By Ryan Kasey
Breckinridge County High School

It shouldn’t be surprising to hear that many students in the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program, scholars have accomplished great things. After all, these scholars survived a very competitive selection process designed to find Kentucky’s best of the best in academics and community service.
Despite their young age, this year’s scholars have auditioned for popular TV shows, won state championships, and brought home more awards than they have room to display. Most of these scholars are not the humble types.
Ethan Baker, an accomplished author and songwriter from Bowling Green, has the resume, but not the attitude.
Before finishing elementary school, he was already an award winning author, winning the Reading Rainbow state competition three years in a row. In first, second, and third grade, when most kids are learning to write cursive, Ethan was writing books that were getting state recognition.
Ethan said he got started writing because he always watched Reading Rainbow and wanted to be a part of it. Plus his mom was there pushing and inspiring him to write. Ethan wrote “The Summer Days” in first grade, “A Walk on the Beach” in second and “The Secret Life of Cows” in third.
Then that little kid grew up and his mom’s child prodigy wasn’t writing books anymore. For now.
Today Ethan is a senior at Bowling Green High School who is spending five weeks living and learning on the Bellarmine University campus in Louisville. He is one of only 1,074 candidates from around the state who was selected for participation in the unique experience called the Governor’s Scholars Program. The students were placed at Bellarmine and two sister campuses at Centre College and Murray State.
The program “addresses the needs of high achievers,” according to GSP Executive Director Aris Cedeño. And it’s no accident that Ethan Baker chose Creative Writing as his focus area of study.
Writing is not just his past. It’s his future as well.
Lately he has been trying his hand at songwriting. During his stay at Bellarmine, Ethan wrote a romantic song about causing a girl’s insomnia. Then he built up the courage to perform it as part of the GSP’s performance series, “Showcase.” Of course, it was a big hit with the girls on campus.
And it may inspire him to do more songwriting. But he is torn between songs and books.
“Songs would be easier,” Ethan said, “but books would make me feel more accomplished.” Being undecided about the future is just part of being a teenager – along with other issues like girls, grades and college.
But writing is sure be in there somewhere. In 10 years, that could be his new song on the Top 40 or that could be his new book in the window of Barnes and Noble. Whatever path he takes, Ethan Baker is an original and he will make Kentucky proud.
Which is kind of what Governor’s Scholars is all about.

Maggie’s new outfit

By: Chelsea Holleman
Beth Haven Christian School, Louisville

Of all the courses and extracurricular activities offered by the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program this summer, Maggie Wetzel’s favorite was dance.
To her delight the staff at GSP’s Bellarmine University campus seemed to find a zillion ways to dance. Their dance program included ballroom, salsa, hip-hop and Zumba, but the one that the scholars liked the most was the “surprise dance” announced suddenly and seemingly at random times throughout the five-week GSP program.
Maggie Wetzel was a huge fan of the surprise dances. She could often be seen quizzing a resident advisor with trick questions that might reveal plans for an upcoming dance. If Maggie got a tip about a dance, she would rapidly spread the word. Occasionally there were false alarms that led to a gaggle of girls showing up at a Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament in glittering ensembles, but just as often her tips led to a glow-stick-lit ballroom where Maggie and her friends danced the night away in stylish outfits.
For Maggie, the stylish outfit was the key to her evening. She was always looking for the perfect outfit – one that wouldn’t reveal her new insulin pump. She had been diagnosed with Type I diabetes on June 10, just 9 days before Opening Day at Bellarmine.
After the diagnosis, the 16-year-old Caldwell County High School senior stayed at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville until June 18. Maggie only had a few days to learn to manage her disease by herself before she would spend five weeks on campus in Louisville, hours away from her family in Princeton, Kentucky.
Now Maggie must check her blood sugar level at least seven times a day; she must check her blood both before and after she eats. She also has to keep track of how many carbs she eats so she can monitor how much insulin she should be receiving. Maggie is fortunate enough to have an insulin pump so she does not have to give herself injections. Her insulin pump is about the size of a deck of cards. She usually wears it under her arm, but the site where the insulin actually enters her body is near her hip. She is already managing her daily monitoring seamlessly, but an added chore that comes along with an insulin pump is changing the site where the insulin is administered every three days.
As one of a very select group of Kentucky high school seniors who were invited to GSP at Bellarmine and its sister campuses at Centre College and Murray State, Maggie seemed destined to achieve academic excellence and a solid future in whatever field she chose. The discovery of an ongoing and perhaps lifelong challenge of diabetes hasn’t changed a thing.
Sure, “It adds more work to meals, and makes eating a hassle,” she said, but she won’t let it slow her down. Maggie is now considering a career in medicine with a focus on pediatric endocrinology. And of course she will be rushing for a sorority in her freshman year of college, most likely at the University of Kentucky.
But her experience has led her to a new outlook on life.
“Up until now my life’s been fairly easy,” she said. “I feel like now I have a story to tell.”

Better late than heartbroken

By Jalyn Hill
Corbin High School

It was June 21, a typical summer day in Pendleton County, Kentucky. Kelsey Kuessner was spending the day at her dad’s house, relaxing and baking cupcakes. The aroma of freshly baked cake was wafting through the house when the phone rang.
It was the kind of call that can change a life.
“I answered the phone and as soon as I heard, ‘Hello I am from the Governor’s Scholars Program. Do you have a second?’ my heart dropped. I ran outside so I could hear better and said “I have as many seconds as you want!”
The voice on the other end of the line informed Kelsey that there was a spot for her in the Governor’s Scholars Program at Bellarmine University in Louisville. A dream that had recently been shattered had just been revived.
“When I got off the phone I had to call my mom, and I immediately started crying because I was so happy. Since the Bellarmine session had already begun, I had completely given up on getting accepted there. So I was extremely surprised and overjoyed when they said I could still come three days after it started.”
Kelsey Kuessner, a 17-year-old rising senior at Pendleton County High School, was one of 2,000 students who applied for the Governor’s Scholars Program, a five-week college residency experience for Kentucky’s top students. She was also one of 75 who were not originally accepted but listed as alternates.
“I was extremely upset when I didn’t get in at first,” said Kelsey.
She immediately began a quest to make sure her name wasn’t lost in the long list of alternates. She wrote letters, sent emails, and made lots of phone calls to the GSP. But her determinations didn’t stop there. She also recruited other people to write letters and make phone calls for her on a daily basis.
“I pretty much bugged the crap out of them,” laughed Kelsey. And her persistence paid off.
The prestigious Governor’s Scholars Program is very difficult to get into. It accepts around 1,100 scholars from the 2,000 students who apply each year. Scholars spend five weeks at one of three college campuses – Murray State University, Centre College, or Bellarmine University—taking an intensive course of study, seminars and extracurricular activities. It’s a chance for rising seniors to figure out who they are and what they want to become, and to get an opportunity for scholarships at Kentucky colleges. Many students are brokenhearted when they don’t make the cut.
“Some alternates are very persistent. They call or email me every day,” said Aris Cedeño, Executive Director of the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program.
Alternates are not ranked, Cedeño said, because they may be called up to fill the special needs of the program.
“If a boy drops, we must replace him with a boy,” Cedeño said. “If a boy from Southeastern Kentucky drops then we much replace him with a boy from Southeastern Kentucky.”
GSP is all about dynamics and diversity. But being a determined alternate will work in your favor because it shows the staff of the program how much you want to be there. This year the staff was very compassionate towards alternates. GSP is over-booked by 26 scholars.
Being accepted at the last minute may be stressful and a bit of a hassle but it didn’t faze Kelsey. She was almost on the road before the phone call ended.
“This experience is even more awesome than I thought it was going to be, “she said. “I’m so grateful for this opportunity and would probably still be heartbroken if I hadn’t received that phone call.”

The cold truth about GSP

By Matt Broering
Newport Central Catholic

This year the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program attracted 358 high school seniors from across the state for a five-week experience of learning and campus living at Bellarmine University in Louisville.
Selected for their academic records extracurricular activities, the scholars came from all corners of the state and had a wide variety of interests. There were farmers, city slickers, athletes, musicians, dancers, history buffs, math whizzes, astronomy geeks and just about anything else imaginable. But almost all of them had one thing in common.
Ice cream.
Specifically, that self-serve ice cream that oozed out of a noisy machine in the back of the cafeteria at Bellarmine. Vanilla, chocolate or twist, the incredibly addicting treat began to control the lives of otherwise intelligent people. Scholars would eat a meal, always saving room for a bowl of ice cream at the end. Sometimes, a scholar would have a salad for dinner to stay healthy, and follow the salad with a bowl of ice cream.
Scholars were even seen exercising on campus just for an excuse to eat more ice cream. Bellarmine University is set on top of a hill and many, many steps lead up to the cafeteria in Frazier Hall – a built-in exercise program.
The soft serve ice cream machine is not just a piece of cold equipment. To sugar-starved scholars it is much more than that. Some scholars have been seen talking to their ice cream serving friend, coaxing it to spill out the biggest, most delectable bowl possible.
Even the Executive Director of the Governor’s Scholars Program, Aris Cedeño, admits that there is something almost supernatural about the soft serve.
“It will give you the sugar you need to survive. It will sugar your life, your soul, and your mind. It is the soul of the cafeteria.”
Ice cream is normally a peaceful dessert, and the beloved soft serve machine in the Bellarmine cafeteria is a lover, not a fighter. But when things get tough on the machine, it can bite back. Four scholars, including this reporter, recently discovered that the hard way.
On July 8, 2011 a day which would go down in history, four scholars took their seats around a forsaken table in the cafeteria compete in the inaugural Bellarmine GSP Ice Cream challenge. Ashley Zepeda, of Martha Layne Collins High School in Shelbyville, Drew Wrinkle, of Heath High School in Paducah, Jacob Malmquist, of Bowling Green High School, and I geared up for the most grueling gastronomic challenge to date. Whichever scholar finished the most bowls of ice cream within the time limits would be crowned champion of the Bellarmine campus and gain world renown.
Malmquist was born ready for this day. “I’m pumped,” he said. “I’m ready to down some ice cream. The competition has merit, but they can’t hold me.”
Wrinkle felt much the same way: “I’m a little bloated after a day’s eating. Adrenaline will kick in and get me going. The competition is pretty weak today, and I have a second stomach in my left quadricep. I’ll eat one more bowl than my opponent.”
The first round was a breeze, with each scholar downing four bowls in less than five minutes. The second round proved too much for this reporter, who dropped out after eight bowls.
The third round, with a time limit of one minute, set the competition apart. Wrinkle and Malmquist finished three bowls in less than a minute, but Zepeda fell short. She finished her third bowl after time had elapsed, resulting in automatic disqualification.
Malmquist and Wrinkle both looked strong heading into the fourth round. Malmquist thought he had it in the bag, but Wrinkle came out strong, eating three bowls of ice cream in 20 seconds, setting a new GSP standard – and possibly a world record in that final round. Malmquist sensed the pressure and withdrew. Wrinkle was crowned GSP heavyweight ice cream champion of the world.
Despite such heroics by the best of the best in the Governor’s Scholars Program, the GSP can’t keep up with the students of Bellarmine, who pack away approximately 40 gallons of soft serve a week, according to Adam Dever, executive chef of the cafeteria.
Still, the ice cream machine remains a critical part of the GSP experience. Cedeño reminisced about a particularly nerve-racking GSP summer in 1993 at Northern Kentucky University.
“The ice cream machine saved our lives that year,” he said.

‘Nutty’ roommates make it work

By Katie Coldiron
Greenup County High School

By Governor’s Scholars standards 2011 has been a fairly quiet year for roommates. Hundreds of friendships have formed, lots of teenagers have bonded, and while some rooms may be messy, they are still in one piece.
That is no small accomplishment for a program that brings together nearly 1,100 high school seniors, pairs them up with complete strangers, makes them live together for five weeks in college dormatories, and asks them to follow strict rules while spending their days – literally 24/7 – building academic excellence and leadership skills.
Officials on the three Governor’s Scholars Program campuses, Bellarmine University in Louisville, Centre College and Murray State University, expect some nerves to be frayed. They take great pains to make sure roommates are different by geography, culture and personal background.
There may be some tension, particularly in the early days of the relationship, but it usually ends with successful results. As GSP Executive Director Aris Cedeño puts it, if a scholar is not uncomfortable at some point in the program, then the program is not effective.
“The goal is that you and each individual scholar leave with an individual experience,” Cedeño said.
One of those unique experiences took place in Petrik Hall on the Bellarmine campus where Abby Lissanu and Allyn Goatley found themselves placed together for all of their differences and for one important similarity: They each had a peanut allergy. In their case, GSP officials paired them to ensure that peanut products wouldn’t be introduced into their room.
Abby is from the smaller town of Somerset, while Allyn is from Bowling Green, the third largest city in Kentucky. Allyn describes herself as “extremely American,” while Abby’s parents are from Ethiopia. Their personalities are also quite different. Abby is polite, loves to entertain in the room, and reads quite a bit. Allyn loves dancing, the song E.T. by Katy Perry, and all things Asian. However, those differences don’t seem to create much friction.
“We kind of have different interests, but we agree on the core things,” Abby said.
Before they met, each girl experienced some anxiety about her future roommate. Allyn was the first to arrive at Petrik. “I came into the room before Abby, and my parents were joking that I might have a really outrageous roommate,” Allyn said. Before Abby met Allyn, she saw her army-green luggage, and immediately loved it. Allyn says it’s gray, but appreciates the compliment. The girls agree the experience has been good.
“We’re not as opposite as some roommates,” said Abby…. “Allyn is wonderful, and I’m envious of her proximity to Forever 21.”
“She’s just so bubbly all day, and very polite”, said Allyn.
And to think this new friendship was based on peanuts.
The girls hope to stay in touch, but they seem to be realistic about long-distance relationships. Abby hopes to attend an Ivy League school, while Allyn is looking at Centre College in Danville.
“I don’t go to Somerset that often,” Allyn joked.
Still, Cedeño speaks of community and the sense of belonging that Governor’s Scholars will always share. And social media like Facebook have made the world a much smaller place for the community called GSP.

Big Sis to the rescue

By Katie Cambron
Washington County High School

It’s 10:30 p.m. The aroma of freshly popped corn fills the hallway of Sienna 4A on the Bellarmine University campus in Louisville. Twenty young ladies, all rising high school seniors and Kentucky Governor’s Scholars, are gathered to discuss the activities of the upcoming day.
At the head of this meeting is their Resident Adviser Martha Hellman. It’s clear that she’s in charge, but not in an overbearing way.
The hall meetings on Sienna 4A, in one of Bellarmine’s newest dormatories, seem to resemble a nightly slumber party. There are snacks, friendship bracelets, and tons of chatter. All 20 hall members bond together and wind-down from a busy day. Everyone is comfortable and relaxed. This relaxing environment is all about Martha.
“Martha is a sisterly figure. She is not intimidating and is very easy to talk to”, said Kate Halsey, a student at Johnson Central High School in Johnson County.
The scholars are among 358 high school seniors who are spending five weeks on the Bellarmine campus for an intense course of studies and extracurricular activities designed to prepare them for a future of leadership. When they arrived on June 19, they felt alone in a strange place, surrounded by strangers.
Enter Martha.
She is a person the students can turn to for advice. As a 2007 scholar, she understands what the scholars are experiencing as they are discovering themselves and the world around them while participating in the program. Her door is always open. Likewise, Martha’s openness and understanding can be seen in all of the scholars on her hall. Each student seems to be ready to talk and especially to listen.
Martha became an RA to help create a community experience for scholars. Her hall has become more than a community. It’s a family, with Martha as the loveable big sister.
“Every scholar goes home having found a role model”, says Aris Cedeño, Executive Director and Academic Chair of the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program. For many of the Sienna 4A scholars, Martha is that role model.
“Martha is everything that young women our age aspire to be,” said Halsey, “academically successful, socially thriving, and understanding of others.”
Martha is one of 60 resident advisors hired by the Governor’s Scholasr Program for the 2011 summer experience at Bellarmine and its two sister campuses, Centre College and Murray State University.
The advisors are each responsible for a hall of approximately 20 scholars. They keep track of their students, keeping them safe, and making sure they get where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there. They also watch for signs of personal trouble of any kind.
The RA’s are also responsible for conducting a seminar class, in which a diverse group of scholars engage in respectful debate and discussion of issues relevant to them intellectually and emotionally. Many veterans of the GSP say the RA’s have the hardest jobs in the program.
So it’s interesting that the Resident Advisors also seem to be the most upbeat, approachable, comforting and yes, happy people on campus. Ask any scholar.
Now it’s 10:50 p.m. All that is left of the popcorn are a few unpopped kernels. In 10 minutes it will be lights out in Sienna 4A. As the scholars return to their dorm rooms, the chatter fades. There is a quiet comfort in the hall, knowing that Big Sister Martha is only a few doors away.

Double trouble at GSP

By Rachel Burba
Louisville Butler Traditional

Justin and Cody Epperson are not only brothers, but also best friends. In their home town of Somerset, Justin and Cody are always together. Theirs is a very special relationship, a closeness that few in the world may ever experience.
Justin and Cody Epperson are twins.
“We do everything together. We play football and basketball together and hang out with the same group of friends,” Cody said.
As special as that kind of closeness can be, it can also create special problems in a community like the Governor’s Scholars Program, which brings together top students from across Kentucky to give them each a unique learning experience away from home and family. Scholars live on a college campus for five weeks and participate in classes that provide both academic and personal growth.
Justin and Cody, upcoming seniors at Southwestern High School in the Pulaski County system, were both accepted into the Governor’s Scholars Program this year, a great accomplishment for such a competitive program. GSP officials immediately went into action to help the Epperson family make the most of the experience for both twins.
They notified the family to give them the choice of moving one student to Bellarmine University in Louisville and the other to one of the GSP’s sister campuses at Centre College or Murray State. Or they could send both students to any one of the campuses.
When twins decide to be on the same campus, GSP officials take care to assign them to different dorm halls and place them in different classes.
“The goal is for everyone to have an individual experience,” explained GSP Executive Director Aris Cedeño. He recalled the surprise on the face of a mother who had brought just one set of everything – from munchies to toiletries -- expecting that her children would naturally be placed in the same room. Cedeño said each twin should have a unique experience at GSP, an experience away from the comforts of home and family.
Each year, the GSP selects about 1,100 scholars from across the state, including between four and nine sets of twins. This year, GSP has 11 sets. It’s rare, but sometimes only one of the twins makes it into GSP, in some cases because only one applies. Other times, only one twin makes the cut in the highly competitive selection process.
Justin and Cody chose to stay together and were placed on the Bellarmine University campus in Louisville, which has the most GSP twins this year, with 11 – three pairs and five individuals. Centre College has eight twins and Murray State has four.
Cody said his family chose to stay at one campus because “It was easier for the family with only one moving day and one family day.” Families and friends have one designated visiting day during the program.
Despite all the efforts by GSP officials to give the twins unique experiences, Justin and Cody just seemed to gravitate to each other whenever they had a chance. In their free time they worked out together and hung out with the same group of friends.
Just like they do at home.
“It has not hurt my experience at all,” Cody insisted. “I’d be doing the same thing whether he was here or not.”
Oh, well. It’s probably just a twin thing.

The Shy Guy

By Hope Bradford
Lloyd Memorial High School

This was a nerve-racking day for 358 Kentucky high school juniors.
It was Sunday, June 19th, and they had just arrived at Bellarmine University for a five-week program called the Governor’s Scholars. All the students had one thing in common: They were hand-picked for the program, based on scholarship and leadership skills; and they were all surrounded by people they didn’t know.
For the extroverts among them, the awkward beginnings were just another opportunity to socialize, to make new friends and find out about places in Kentucky that they had never seen. For the introverts, however, the experience of being surrounded by strangers was daunting – even frightening.
One of the shy ones was scholar Stephen Price of Shelbyville. He is the kind of guy who likes to keep to himself and read, his favorite pastime. He has always considered himself to be shy.
He wasn’t alone. Many of the kids at the annual Governors Scholars Program arrived at Bellarmine and the two other GSP host campuses at Centre College and Murray State, fully expecting to be left alone. It’s not easy in a program that demands dorm-style living, college courses and endless group activities.
The degree to which they are shy varies of course. For some, it’s just too much. In the past, there have been scholars so shy that they had to leave the program, according to Aris Cedeño, Executive Director and Academic Dean of GSP. In recent years, however, the number of scholars who have dropped out due to extreme shyness has decreased. Cedeño believes that cell phones have helped shy students keep in touch with home and get support from friends and family. Strict campus rules limit the use of cell phones to dorm rooms, but still have plenty of time to call home at the end of the day or during a break. The rise of social networks like Facebook also help scholars feel more connected to their hometowns.
Stephen attends Cornerstone Christian Academy in Shelbyville, a fairly small school where he knows just about everyone, but he only considers a few of his classmates to be his close friends. Stephen found out about and applied for GSP at the persistence of his guidance counselor.
When he found out he was accepted, Stephen, being the shy guy he is, figured he’d keep to himself and read often. While he does find time for reading, he has actually found himself making new friends as well. He met his first friend, Logan Hurley, a South Laurel High School senior from East Bernstadt, on the first day of GSP while eating dinner with his new classmates. And to his surprise, he gradually began making even more friends. It’s not an extremely large group, for sure, but it’s bigger than he had expected.
Stephen is also a part of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Club as well as the Office Staff Fan Club. These clubs have helped him meet new people who share the same interests and he has become more comfortable making friends. He doesn’t even mind looking up from his books or to greet stranger that he encounters.
“I’m more willing to exchange words with people I pass by on the sidewalk,” Stephen said. But really, he still considers himself to be a shy guy.