By Alli Spawr
Managing Editor
[dropcap]F[/dropcap]or most students, summertime is a time to relax and take a break from school work, but for rising senior Molly Weybright and rising junior Anna Bachman, they will be doing just the opposite.
Weybright and Bachman will both be attending N.C. Governor’s School, a five-week program from June 16-July 20 where students from across the state study topics that they are most interested in.
“You basically go and learn about whatever topic you applied for. It’s like school but I don’t have homework, grades or tests,” Weybright said.
Weybright applied to study natural science at the school and hopes to broaden her knowledge in that area but also to increase her interest so that her time there will influence her career path.
“I just want to expand my knowledge of the topic I’m studying and meet new people that are interested in the same things,” Weybright said. “I think I want to do something in the science field. I’m looking at biomedical engineering right now, but I definitely think I want to be something scientific.”
While at Governor’s School, students will study the topic of their choice and other areas as well.
“There’s the area one study, which is natural science for me, but there’s also an area two and three I’ll study while I’m there. Area two is making connections between all the area one’s like English, math and social sciences,” Weybright said. “Then area three is like looking at area one and two studies and how they incorporate in your own personal life.”
Students applied for Governor’s School in the fall, filling out an application with all their extracurricular activities, awards, class rank and GPA. Then, depending on the size of the school, each school could nominate applicants to be considered at the Governor’s School level. However, the superintendent of each county can choose one applicant each year to be automatically accepted. This year Weybright was selected by Superintendent Dr. Sue Burgess.
“If you get nominated by the school but not the Superintendent’s choice, they send your application to the Governor’s School level and you compete with all the other students from the state, you just have to wait a lot longer to find out and it’s a lot more competitive,” Weybright said. “I tried to be as well rounded as I could throughout high school. I didn’t focus on just academics or just sports. I focused a lot on leadership roles in the school and showing dedication with dance, which I’ve done for fifteen years.”
Unlike Weybright, Bachman will be attending Governor’s School for her musical talents. Her dedication to the choir in the past, along with her audition, helped her become accepted into the program.
“I’ve been in the choir since seventh grade, I was in the middle school choir and now I’m in the high school choir,” Bachman said. “Over the summers I’ve done the past two sessions at St. Thomas Choir School in New York City.”
Like other applicants, she had to fill out the application in the fall and also travel to audition, where she was asked to sight read and sing.
“I had to write about a piece of music or a musician that has influenced me and include the other general stuff like extracurricular activities, but I think the audition definitely was the most important part of the application process,” Bachman said.
While at the program, Bachman will spend half of her time focusing on chorus and music and the other half she will attend lectures for things other than music.
Bachman said “I hope to meet more people that have the same interest as I do, expand my knowledge of other genres of music, get input from other directors, and just have a good time.”
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