Following the short drive to Berry College’s campus, I was filled with excitement and nervousness. I was about to spend four weeks in a college dorm surrounded by 650 other students that I had never met before. 

Georgia’s Governor’s Honors Program is a residential summer program where gifted and talented students are allowed to develop their interests in a non-traditional classroom setting along with peers who mirror their passions. 

When I placed that blue lanyard around my neck before our opening convocation, I had no idea that I was sitting amongst so many people that would become like family to me.

For the first half of my day, I attended classes in my major, math. I chose three mini-classes within my major to study specific math topics. In one of my classes, we studied Graph Theory and created our own graphs and attempted to solve riddles using these graphs. In another one of my classes, we studied Game Theory and analyzed casino games. In my final class, we studied the history of mathematics dating back to the first evidence of written numbers and calculations. 

We designed our own games, created paper calculators, translated ancient calculations into modern notation, and were even given the opportunity to spend three weeks to do any project of our choice. 

My partner and I wrote a program that created a cellular automata to analyze music, which basically made a graph that wrote music in color. At GHP, I was allowed to explore my own interests within mathematics and study topics that I would never be given the opportunity to study in a traditional school setting. 

Outside of my major, I participated in a minor called Mind, Body, and Soul where we did yoga and zumba to release stress and remain active. During the day, I met people from all over the state with interests in all types of areas. My hall was filled with people from almost every major. 

I met a new person everyday, and many of them became some of my closest friends. I watched them perform their passions – from reading a personal slam poem to acting and dancing on stage. We were told that each of us would experience the “GHP Magic” in different ways, and for me, it was the connections I made and the demonstrations of passion and knowledge I saw on a daily basis. The lifetime bond I have with these people is something I will always be grateful for. The Governor’s Honors Program was an unforgettable experience that I was blessed to attend.