Here at the Governor's Honors Academy, safety is our number one priority. Last night, staff secured the dormitories in a precautionary lockdown procedure in response to a prank phone call received at around 8:15 pm. The hysterical caller, though difficult to hear, was attempting to contact her son at the Academy. The situation was investigated by GHA administrators all night, and the lockdown is no longer in effect. After contacting students' parents this morning to quash any rumors that might be floating around (thanks a lot, Facebook!), our staff is now concentrating on finding the culprit of the prank. Of course, things are back to normal this morning, and students are all safely in their intensive classes!
Speaking of classes, they're going great. On Wednesday night, Margie Dillenburg, Chief Operations Officer for the non-profit organization Invisible Children, spoke with students about the organization and how they can get involved (check back later today for more in-depth coverage of this event by guest blogger and GHA faculty member Heather Taylor). Margie was available to answer students' questions after her presentation, but so many students were enthusiastic about her work that she stuck around on Thursday to speak with several classes and seminars.
By now, classes are really delving into their coursework. A flash of yellow from First Amendment Torch can be spotted any time, and Jay Libby's photography students and their ubiquitous cameras seem to be taking over the campus. Meanwhile, students in Nicole Sheets's writing classes have been participating in engaging writing exercises, Molly Bassett's "Handmade in a Material World" class is making adorable felt creatures (I want to make one!), and Heather Taylor's students are doing...something.
Students in Nicole Sheets's writing classes worked on an exercise based on Michael Ondaatje's poem "Sweet Like a Crow."
Projects from Molly Bassett's "Handmade in a Material World" class
Heather Taylor's Modern Crossroads class prepares for the GHA final performance.
Thursday night was the second of three Open House nights in which students had another opportunity to see what their peers are learning every day. Activities ranged from belly-dancing in Rachel McGuire's Arabic class to writing and performing a monologue with John Shirley to a discussion on the media's influence on society in Dan Hollis's class.
Khristian was too embarrassed to belly-dance at first...
...but he soon got up his courage to shake like the rest of the class!
Students taking John Shirley's Open House course got to act out characters dreamed up by their fellow classmates.
Students attended two 1-hour sessions last night. In between classes, they met on the lawn to meet with RAs and take attendance.
Tonight, students will participate in the long-standing GHA tradition known as Sandy Sowell's Game Show Mania. Students are divided into teams based on their RA and will compete in a pop culture trivia competition for glorious prizes and even better bragging rights. Teams Red, Blue, and Green are stacking up well, but my favorite for the win is clearly Team Yellow, aka THE GOLD RUSH, given their agile reflexes and unbridled enthusiasm. Check back tomorrow for pictures from the event! We'll also announce the winner, but really, everyone already knows what team that's going to be (cough, YELLOW, cough).
--Lauren the Intern
