The Governor’s Scholars Program is a 5-week summer residential program for outstanding high school students in Kentucky. The Program’s mission is to enhance Kentucky’s next generation of civic and economic leaders. In order to participate in the Program, students must compete in their high schools and then compete on a state-wide level. Selection for the program is highly competitive, with an application process similar to that of prestigious colleges and universities. In addition to an academic profile that includes difficulty of course load, GPA, and at least one standardized test score, the application requires an outline of all extracurricular activities, a history of volunteer service, and a list of job positions held. All public colleges in Kentucky offer full 4 year tuition for scholars who attended this program.

GSP was an academic utopia where I could share and learn a variety of ideas. The sense of community made me feel welcome and created an environment where making new friends was quite natural.

As a Scholar, I pursued “Business and accounting”, where I studied this topic in depth along with my team, stressing the development of ideas within “Business and accounting” and its interrelatedness to other content areas in the program. The courses were meant to provide broad, interdisciplinary, intellectual exposure and enrichment rather than narrow, disciplinary training. We were encouraged to try a Focus Area course in which we had very little prior experience.

In the program, our group studied the stock market and invested in various companies. Upon completion of the simulation, groups presented their culminating reports that included analysis of profits, losses, and stock potential in companies.

My experiences in this program challenged me to think out of the box, change the status quo, be the driver for the change, be a leader, and realize dreams to build a bright future. At GSP, I learned that a recipe of strong leadership and relentless drive for hard work is needed for sweet success.