GHA Day 13 - Game Show Mania

As this clairvoyant intern predicted, the YELLOW TEAM emerged victorious from last night's Game Show Mania by at least 2,000 points. All teams demonstrated fantastic amounts of enthusiasm and knowledge of pop culture, but the yellow team's early lead was too much for red, blue, and green to keep up with. Nevertheless, everyone had an awesome time cheering on their teammates and participating in the game, which included everything from fill-in-the-blank questions to song identifications to dance-offs to an extremely short-lived hula hoop contest.

Despite being excellent supervisors, the RAs all seem to lack hula-hooping skills.

Two RAs on each team served as team captains and began the first round, playing at first for 100-point questions and then moving on to 200-point questions that contestants answered for the rest of the night. At the start, red team captains Krystal Robinson and John Fredeking gained a slight advantage for the red team, but that was soon overcome in the second round by a quick-wristed yellow team, who dominated the buzzer throughout most of the night.

RAs represented their teams proudly at the start of the game show.

But the yellow team was not just in it to win it. Demonstrating creativity and spirit, the team marched into the theater carrying a sign emblazoned with "575 nm" - the wavelength of yellow light. Meanwhile, the red team won an interactive dance competition in which all teams had to compete to see who could dance the YMCA the best.

However, the road to victory was not all smiles and puppies for team yellow. During an interactive pictionary challenge, groups had to choose two artists and two guessers to go on stage. Each team had two words to portray, and they had to guess in 60 seconds or less; their two scores were added up to determine a final score. Although the yellow team started out fine, their second artist slipped up, using letters to portray the word "size," causing the judges to add 30 seconds to their score and effectively eliminating them from competition. The winning group, the Green Team, completed their two challenges in only 16 seconds!

Another challenge!

At the end of the game show, the lightning round again served as an opportunity for the yellow team to show its prowess when 500-point song identification questions were at stake. Still, everyone got the chance to dance! Everyone also got the chance to celebrate; at the end of the night, all teams were excited to receive their prize.

The yellow team celebrates its victory.

Remember to check gha2010.com for more pictures. Tomorrow we'll be posting updates and pictures from today's geo-caching activities and ice cream social!

A Note from the Dean

Hello to all –

We had a very busy day yesterday at GHA. Last evening, while the students were experiencing Open House class sessions, a phone call came into one of our contact numbers we believe now was a hoax. As I stated at the Opening Ceremony, we take the care of our students – your children – very seriously, and we had to treat the call as fact.

We followed procedures and ran a drill to make sure all students were safe, sound, and where they needed to be. At 10:00 PM we “locked down” the dormitories according to the safe schools policies and procedures. Now this lock down sounds severe, but in reality the students were ensconsced in their air-conditioned suites about 45 minutes earlier than normal – with their cell phones, computers, and ipods.

The female students were informed the procedure was a drill and fifteen minutes later were informed by their RAs the drill was over, and they were safe. Because the phone call indicated a male student was involved, the boys dormitory was pulled for a meeting stating what was happening and asking any student with any issues to please see the staff.

The boys were then sent to their suites for the evening.

In the lobby standing guard for the night were the Director of the Governor’s Schools Sherry Keffer, Resident Director & Associate Dean Thomas Knotts, Associate Dean Robbie Brown and me. As we had hoped, the phone call was a prank. Although we are very tired this morning (also a bit grumpy and totally miffed), we are pleased at how all students and staff responded to the situation. The GHA family are all safe and sound today.

Tonight the students are gearing up for the Sandy Sowell Game Show and tomorrow will be geo-caching on campus. We continue to move forward with events, classes and activities. Think good thoughts for cooler weather!

--Dean Saralyn Dague

GHA Day 11-12

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

GHA Day 10

Hello! As we speak, the GHA office is buzzing with activity; Director of Governor's Schools Sherry Keffer is in to sign certificates for the Favorite Educator Luncheon this Sunday, several RAs are busy organizing activity time for this afternoon, Resident Director Thomas Knotts is dancing to the Spanish music blasting from Dean Saralyn Dague's laptop, and last night's speaker Dr. Phil Plait is kicking back on the couch discussing the heat wave with Assistant Dean Robbie Brown and Saralyn. All in all, it's shaping up to be a pretty productive day, unlike last Friday...

Resident Director Thomas Knotts and RA Steve Robison snooze in the office during class time.

In a style that meshed humor with science and critical thinking, Dr. Phil Plait from Boulder, CO began his talk by debunking a popular myth: that eggs can only stand on end on the first day of spring. Students entered the Steinman Theater to see 4 eggs standing on end onstage (in the middle of summer!), proving Dr. Plaits years of research that the myth is completely false.

Plait then transitioned to a discussion on asteroids, comets, and why Hollywood can't seem to understand the physics behind either. Students learned that bad astronomy often makes for good entertainment, but not good science.

After the presentation, both students and faculty asked Dr. Plait interesting, probing questions that ranged from how to calculate the weight of an asteroid to what principles are involved in asteroid-destroying technology.

We got to touch an asteroid!

At the end of the Q&A period, students in Hank Hampton's intensive course "Thirdrail Therapy" helped Thomas announce a special activity time offering for today. As administrators were making announcements, a "fight" broke out between students supporting Germany and those supporting Spain in today's semifinal World Cup match. We'll see later today which group will win the bragging rights!

GHA Day 9

Good morning GHA fans! As we move towards the halfway point, students are really delving into their coursework with field trips and projects...

RA Nikki Garcia works on blowing up a raft for Patrick Raney's Conservation Biology class's field trip down the Buffalo River.

On the other hand, this means that faculty have begun cutthroat battles for computer lab time, and this intern is caught in the crossfire. Nevertheless, judging from the pictures from Sunday night's baseball game, students seemed to enjoy last week's activities.

Last night, students encountered another individual who overcame tremendous obstacles in his life: Moshe Baran, a Holocaust survivor and member of the partisan resistance movement that fought Nazis and disrupted German war efforts from European forests during World War II. Now a speaker for the Holocaust Center of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, Baran told his story through a documentary, maps, and his own account of his life before, during, and after the war. A native of Poland and only 19 when the war began, Baran worked at a Nazi labor camp and lived in a Jewish ghetto. In 1942, he escaped the ghetto to fight for the resistance movement along with 30,000-40,000 other Jews.

Students were eager to learn about Baran's extraordinary life and asked intriguing questions about both his own experience and cultural and political attitudes during the war. Prompted by student questions, he discussed what America was like when he first arrived here in 1950. He said of the contrast between America and Poland at the time, "To me...it was amazing that people of different races and ethnic groups could live together and not kill each other."

Baran ended his talk by relating his experience with connections to contemporary politics and cultural issues. Having both experienced the Holocaust in Europe and witnessed segregation in the United States during the 1950s, he emphasized the importance of tolerance. His final words of advice for our students? "Language can heal, and language can kill," a message that anyone, young or old, can appreciate.

Tonight, Dr. Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, will be giving a lecture on science. Stay tuned for more updates!

Food on the Run: Reflections on Dining at WV GHA 2010

Guest blog by Assistant Academic Dean Robbie Brown

As you know, on 7/3/10, GHA embarked on a day long trip to Charleston and back. This trip required us to be able to feed a traveling party of 212 people three meals without the use of our usual dining location, Bethany College Commons.

The day began with breakfast being served in the main lobbies of Campbell Village 1 & 2. Students and staff had the choice of fruit, cereal and milk, and/or donuts. As a long time cereal eater, this food critic is happy to report that the cereal selection provided was much wider than the normal cafeteria selection, including my personal favorite Lucky Charms. The milk was iced to a perfect temperature and a variety of juices and water for provided for drinks.

The highlight of the day came at lunch time as students enjoyed a picnic style lunch on the grounds of the State Capital complex in Charleston. Lunch items included ham and swiss sandwiches, chicken, turkey, and veggie wraps, carrots and celery, chips, fruit, cookies, and West Virginia's own pepperoni rolls. Bethany Dining Services once again hit a high note by providing not only the normal condiments such as mayo, but also providing packets of ranch dressing to enhance the lunch time dining experience. Upon seeing the packets of ranch I immediately declared "Bonus Ranch Day" and personally ensured that every student and staff member knew how lucky they were to be provided with ranch dressing.

Dinner was served upon arriving home to the Bethany campus old-fashioned BBQ style. Students enjoyed yet another meal in the great outdoors and were treated to BBQ chicken, pulled-pork sandwiches, baked beans, watermelon, and all the familiar BBQ foods and treats.

After enjoying dinner and some outdoor games, students were treated to an outdoor movie on the Bethany Quad. Rest assured that no GHA event passes without the proper foods to enhance the overall experience. In this instance, Bethany student workers and our very own faculty member, Heather Taylor, popped popcorn for students to enjoy during the movie. After the popcorn was popped and bagged, I donned an Outdoor Food (ODF) delivery container and delivered the fresh popcorn to the eagerly awaiting students on the lawn. This process continued throughout the movie as we ran out of movie before we ran out of popcorn for the students. As the night progressed, I became very adept at tossing popcorn to specific students in the audience. I may now be ready to take my new found skill and apply it to a food vendor position at a professional baseball stadium.

Overall, Bethany Dining Services did an excellent job of providing yummy meals to our large group as we traveled the state, and GHA 2010 is most appreciative.

-Robbie Brown

Guest Blog: Week One Wrap-Up

Week one is finally under our belts and we seem to be moving in the right direction. Saturday, our merry band of GHAers took five busses to the state capital of Charleston to tour the Capitol Building and visit the newly renovated West Virginia State Museum.

There was a somber feel to the Capitol Building 24 hours after the memorial service for Senator Robert Byrd. Students passed by the statue of the late Senator still draped with flowers and surrounded by memorial tributes. One day earlier dignitaries were on-site to memorialize a political icon for the state. I wondered as the students filed through who among them might one day work in these buildings serving as a state legislator.

I wanted steer them all to Building 5 of the complex where the offices for the State Department of Education & the Arts is housed. The generous support the Secretary of Education, Kay Goodwin, and the Director of the Governor Schools, Sherry Keffer, takes place in Building 5 to make GHA happen.

The West Virginia State Museum was a wonderful surprise with the main lobby filled with the interesting combination of antique motorcycles and beautiful handmade quilts. I highly recommend a visit to walk through the years of history for West Virginia. I stumbled upon a replica of the July 4th, 1848 Commencement Program from Bethany College, my alma mater and our host institution.

Apparently the group was exhausted from the Friday night salsa dancing activity and slept the entire trip down. I realized at the 2-hour mark how quiet bus 5 was and realized they were all mostly asleep from the afternoon tours. Moving 215 people anywhere is tough, but fortunately we have a great group of gullivers who travelled very well. We took a break on Saturday and watched a movie under the stars, ate popcorn and relaxed. A drive-in theater without the cars – something most of the students don’t have a point of reference for.

We celebrated this Fourth of July with a Washington WildThings baseball game, a cookout, and fireworks following the game (all of this AFTER classes, of course!). The students must have been a good luck charm, as the WildThings came back from trailing 8-3 in only one inning to take victory. We hope you all had a safe and fun July 4th!

In their telltale blue t-shirts, GHA students enjoyed themselves at the Washington WildThings baseball game on the Fourth of July.

-Dean Saralyn Dague

GHA Days 6-7

Happy Fourth of July! As we speak, the RA staff is working hard at decorating the dorms so that when students return from activity time today, they'll be surprised at the array of red, white, and blue that awaits them. But that's not the only celebration in store! Tonight students will again don their GHA t-shirts as we travel off-campus to enjoy America's favorite pastime: baseball.

On Friday, Salsa Magic instructors took the stage in Benedum Commons to show everyone some basic samba, merengue, and, of course, salsa moves. After learning basic steps as a large group, students paired off to learn more complicated combinations (and step on each other's toes!). After each dance, instructors Lee Smith and Kat Aguilar invited brave pairs onstage to demonstrate their skills to the crowd.

At the end of the session, the most confident bailarines got to strut their stuff onstage in a competition for free passes to a salsa convention in Washington D.C., where participants will get to meet and learn from some of the best salsa dancers in the world! Even students with two left feet got to enjoy the salsa at a salsa bar that included traditional tomato salsa, black bean and corn salsa, fruit salsa, and guacamole.

During the first lesson, students divided into two groups to learn their parts.

RAs John and Nikki impressed students and faculty alike with their enthusiastic dance moves.

Students watch their instructors intently for the next steps.

After an exhausting night of dancing, students woke up early the next morning to travel to Charleston to tour the Capitol building and the new West Virginia State Museum. After the recent death of beloved Senator Robert C. Byrd, students, faculty, and staff were all moved by the sight of his statue surrounded by flowers in the Capitol building.

After seeing the dome, students were led through the chambers of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Then, they crossed the street to spend some time in the State Museum and Cultural Center.

In the State Museum, students were fascinated by the telephone operating board.

By 3pm, students boarded the buses for the drive back to Bethany, where they were greeted with a picnic dinner and a Media Monster inflatable movie screen on the green. When the sun went down, GHA enjoyed an outdoor viewing of "Clash of the Titans" while Assistant Academic Dean Robbie Brown passed out bags of popcorn.

Check back tomorrow for updates on the winner of tonight's baseball game!

--Lauren