The Governor’s Scholars Program (GSP) is a 5-week program where rising seniors from across the state of Kentucky live and learn together on one of the three chosen college campuses: Bellarmine University, Centre College , and Morehead State University. The program started with one campus and 230 scholars  in 1983, and has since expanded to over 1,000 scholars and three campuses. All scholars attend the program without charge thanks to Kentucky State Legislation and Private donors. Though the program opens doors for students academically, it is also known to have a tremendous impact in all other aspects of the participants’ lives. 

During their time at GSP, scholars have three different classes that they are required to attend: Focus Area, Seminar, and General Studies.

Focus Area: Courses that allow scholars to pursue a more in-depth understanding and knowledge of a topic that interests them. Some examples are Forensic Science, Philosophy, Dramatic Expression, Political and Legal Issues, Architecture, Historical Analysis, etc.

Seminar: Personal development seminars that help scholars focus on career goals, relationships, identity, and other personal matters.

General Studies: Classes that are led by faculty members on a topic of their choice. Service learning, community leadership, and resolution development are commonly focused on in these classes.

The Governor’s Scholars Program is truly a life-changing program, (I can say so from experience). I had the honor of attending GSP this summer at the Centre Campus. The impact that this experience had on my life is immeasurable, and I have made it my goal to share my love for the program and influence more juniors to apply than ever before.

Though my classes were not the highlight of my GSP experience, they still had a big impact on me. The class schedule was:

Monday: 9:45-11:30 am (Focus Area), 1:30-3:30 (Seminar)

Tuesday: 9:30-11:30 am (General Studies), 1:30-2:30 (General Studies), 6:45-8:00 (Focus Area)

Wednesday: 9:00-11:30 am (Focus Area), 1:30-4:30 (Focus Area)

Thursday: 9:30-11:30 am (General Studies), 1:30-2:30 (General Studies), 6:45-8:00 (Focus Area)

Friday: 9:00-11:30 (Focus Area), 1:20-2:30 (General Studies)

Focus Area 

The focus area that I selected was Political and Legal Issues. Throughout my time in the class, we discussed topics such as abortion, gun violence, and race. The learning environment that was created by my peers and our instructor made it easy for all scholars to state their opinions on these topics without fear of judgment. My class had the opportunity to visit the Capital Building. There, we got to meet with two state senators (Max Wise and Morgan McGarvey), who gave us a tour of the building and answered any questions that we had about state government. Through this class, I also had the opportunity to give back to the Danville community. Every week, we visited the Kentucky School for The Deaf and helped them paint the interior of the building. We took a sign language class led by the president of the school and were able to interact with the students and staff. Overall, I had a very enriching focus area experience, and the relationships that I built with the people in this class still stand today!

General Studies 

My favorite class by far was General Studies. The name that my instructor chose for the class was, “Is It Too Late Now To Say Sorry?”, which automatically led my peers and me to think that we were going to be taking a class all about Justin Beiber. We were wrong. The class turned out to be about apologies. Initially, the class did not sound appealing, but it ended up being the best class that I have ever taken in my life. We started by determining why humans feel the need to apologize in the first place and how they should do it. We read works by many different philosophers to create a basis for our judgment of apologies and human behavior, then studied famous apologies and judged them from a philosophical viewpoint. My instructor, Will Garcia, truly challenged every single student to think about things in ways that they never would have before the class. My absolute favorite activity that we did was a cancel culture trial. Our class was split into pairs, We were tasked with choosing a person that has either been canceled, or deserves to be canceled, and then either defending or prosecuting them. Every duo was also assigned another person to defend or prosecute, as chosen by another group. This class truly made me fall back in love with learning and changed my entire outlook on life.

Seminar 

All seminar classes were with the same group of people from our general studies. I very much enjoyed this because of how much I loved every single person in these classes. Each week in seminar, we covered a different topic. Some of the topics that we focused on were diversity, goal setting, and identity. Each seminar was led by a Resident Assistant (RA).  The RA that led my seminar created such a safe space that I felt I could share anything. I was able to learn a lot about myself and my peers in this class. The bond that we created as a seminar was unbreakable, which just made the last class we had together even harder (we all cried A LOT).

Although I enjoyed my classes, the activities outside of them made GSP a life-changing experience. At the beginning of the program, we were given a yellow calendar listing all of the activities offered. Some were “fundatory” but most were completely optional. Some of my favorite fundatory activities were Showcase, Community Arts Day, GSP Olympics, Convocations, and The Star Party. Each Friday, all scholars would gather in the auditorium for Showcase and watch performances by our peers. On week 4, my best friends and I performed the song “Hot and Heavy” by Lucy Dacus. We also attended sessions with guest speakers every week at convocation. We had a wide range of speakers, including our very own, Governor Andy Beshear.

My friends and I were dedicated to attending every single optional activity to make the most out of our GSP experience. One of our favorite things to do was attend the movies in the classic film series. We had the opportunity to watch the following films: CODA, Vertigo, Spirited Away, Casablanca, Parasite, The Sandlot, Dead Poets Society, Isle of Dogs, Singin’ in the Rain, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Dr. Strangelove, and Almost Famous. There were also a variety of clubs offered, including Taylor Swift club, creativity club, swing dancing club, new in TV club, karaoke club, and many more. Tennis club was probably my favorite club though. This club put on a doubles tournament and my doubles partner, Weston, and I got up at 6 am multiple times to go practice for the tournament. We ended up going 3-1.

The relationships that I formed at GSP were by far the best part. Throughout the program, I met students from almost every single county in Kentucky. This helped to broaden my knowledge of different parts of the state and changed my viewpoint of people from certain areas. Living in a community of like-minded people created a certain trust and connection that you can not find anywhere else. I felt that I was able to be authentically myself, and I lived every day without the fear of being judged. Though I made meaningful connections with many people at GSP, I am most thankful to have met my three best friends there: Laine, Matt, and Arantza. I can confidently say that my life would not be the same without them. There has not been a day that we haven’t talked since the beginning of GSP, and we see each other on a regular basis.

To say that this program was completely life-changing would be an understatement. I am very thankful that I was given this opportunity, despite being an alternate. I encourage every single junior to apply to the program.