Governor’s School Alumni Day 2008
July 12, Salem College And Meredith College

Welcome Back, Alumni. It’s time to review the events of this years Alumni Day.  This year it was held on both Salem College and Meredith College campuses. Here are comments from this years attendees.

There were five of us from 2005, and we spent the day together and participated in an interview which will be featured in a program about Alumni Day and Governor's School for a UNC-CH radio broadcasting class. I'll definitely pass that along once I get more info about that or the broadcast audio itself. I loved being back--I'm still attached to the place, even though the faces come and go.

--Anna Diemer, GS East '05

It was a great day for me, too. I didn't get to attend and Area I class since we were registering attendees at the door. (Thanks, Kevin and Stephanie for helping out.) But I certainly enjoyed the long conversation between Heisenburg and Neils Bohr. And it's quite a pleasure just to be walking along the pathways of Salem College and Old Salem with a group of alumni. I have found over the years that it doesn't matter what year you attended, the common bond is there.

I hung around until dinner, which I shared with one of my best friends from GS. Then we went back to the FAC for the Orchestra Concert, took advantage of the ice cream being sold outside, and looked at all the
artwork in the hallways. Then we 'left,' by which I mean we spent two hours in the parking lot talking about science, business, politics, and history. There are no better people for a long conversation than GS alumni - we have learned to be tolerant of alternative viewpoints
and accepting of differences: you can have a discussion without it becoming an argument.

Thanks to all. It was great meeting you, seeing you, and becoming a GS student again, if only for a day.

---Jim Hart
 

I enjoyed exploring a DIFFERENT Area I yesterday, and was completely engaged as a student. The pure joy of learning and being with my peers was there once again. We have our work cut out for us in the upcoming year - I want us to see not one, two, or a handful of our "decade" classmates, but a plethora of alumni of all ages who have shared this unique experience.

--- Patrice Hawkins Sigmon  GS '71

I also would to take a moment to reflect on the day.  Being the only representative from the decade of the 1990's to attend today, it made me realize the importance there is in the work that we have all volunteered for here.  Sitting in my Area 1 class (Choral Music), going to the new and improved Mayberry, enjoying the seminar and the following reception was just what I needed after being away from Governor's School for 15 years, and I wished so badly my classmates could be there with me.  For the first time since, I got to relive a piece of the experience.....and I realized that I had forgotten how much I missed it.  As I was driving home, I realized that I had, in one day, experienced a summery of everything that is governor's school.  Though I was a bit lonely at first, in that I didn't really know anybody there, I soon made new friends and developed new relationships.  I was going to class and other activities with the brightest minds and sharing ideas and experiences, just as I did 15 years ago when I first arrived at GS.  It truly was a "Governor's Schooly" day (you had to be there to get that).  So, I left Salem College today with a renewed commitment to making the GSAA the best it can be, and I challenge all of you join in that commitment.  First, we as officers, directors, and alumni need to do everything we can to track down other alumni who we have had no contact with.  Then, I would like to see us grow alumni day so that next year, or soon after, Shirley Hall won't be able to hold all the people who attend. 

Never forget who we are....the best and brightest this state has to offer.  And we are family, bonded by the experience that is Governor's School.  Even though no one from my class was there today, I still felt like I had come home because I realized that I share a bond with each of you. 

So, let's get to work and make sure that our brother and sister alums know that we are here and want to stay connected with them, so that they might join us in the coming years, reliving the experience and feeling the bond we have.  Thank you to all who attended today, and thank you to the recent classes, 2004 - 2007, for making us "old timers" feel welcome.

---Kevin N. Mull

 

Rodney, Jim, Kevin & Stephanie:
 
It was a real pleasure to meet all of you today.  Thanks for taking this old lady under your collective wings and letting me hang out with you.  The lunch trek to Mayberry's will be an addition to my GS lore - your patience and kindness was really appreciated.  To those of you in this Forum who were unable to attend the festivities at Salem, I can only encourage you to try to make it next year.  I realized 3 things today - (1) Thomas Wolfe was right - you can't go home again but it never hurts to visit; (2) the Salem campus is designed for youth (I had truly forgotten just how many steps there are to everything!!); and (3) it doesn't matter if you were there 40 years ago, 4 years ago or 4 days - the rarified air of Governor's School is still the same - the faces change, but the feelings, the inspiration, the camaraderie are still there. That was worth everything to me today.  Governor's School was a defining event in my life, and I'm so proud to have been a part of it.   Everyone did a great job.  Kudos to you all and thank you.
 
---Diane Pruitt 1972

From the president...

I wanted to give a report on the events of the Annual Meeting, which was held at 10:30 in Shirley Auditorium.

Rodney welcomed all the students and gave a brief description of the efforts we have gone through this year to revise the Constitution. He introduced me, and I went into more detail about the reasons why the changes were needed (more participation, moving onto the internet, reaching out to more alumni). We had handed out 50 copies of the Constitution for the members to share, so I pointed out the changes that allowed us to move our work on-line. Rodney then asked for a vote on accepting the changes, which passed unanimously.

I then described the election process that we were undergoing, given that it had begun before the Constitution was ratified, and we asked for a second vote to retroactively accept the results of the election. This also passed unanimously.

Finally, we asked the 15 members of the Class of 2006 who were there to select a Class Rep/Director, which they did.

And that was it. Future Alumni Days will not have to deal with
business meetings - we will simply invite everyone to join one of our forums, stay involved, and keep in touch.

What this means for US is that we are now officially allowed to
conduct business on-line. And with the elections over on Tuesday, I think that we are ready to get started on this brave new experiment.

---Jim Hart, NCGSAA President

CONTACT US

If you have questions concerning Alumni Day, you can contact the GSAA through the following means:

Registration: You can check your membership status by looking up your own record in the Alumni Database.

Alumni Day is the one way that the Alumni Association raises money for the Governor’s School.  With that in mind, we did decide to waive any admission fee other than the Alumni Association membership fee that many of you paid last year.