2008 GS Students, East and West: Lucy Milner has asked me to post this
opportunity to enter any projects that you have done to the North
Carolina Student Academy of Science competition. Your project will be
evaluated by professionals in your field, and you will be competing for
some great rewards. Projects must be in the areas of science,
technology, engineering, or mathematics. This is a great opportunity to
have your work recognized. Get the details in this Letter from
Dr.
Steve Warshaw. ---Jim Hart, GSAA President
Write Your Legislators!
If you have just returned from Governor's School,
the GSAA asks that you write your state legislators and tell them what you thought of the
program. Every year, Governor's School has to prove its value to the people who fund it, the
state government. Your letters go a long way to convincing them that GS is worth keeping.
You can find out who represents you at
The
General Assembly Home Page. Look on the right for the Who Represents Me lookup, find
out who your representatives are, and write them. It's the best thing you can do for the
Governor's School, so please, write them today.
Looking
for Fresh Content
Attention all alumni, we are
looking for new, fresh content for the NCGSAlumni site. We
are looking for digital photos and even digital videos. We are looking
for your stories and memories. We are looking for success stories,
and we are looking for your article on what Governor's School meant to
you. Please contact Sam Sanders
(Art 71) to learn how to submit your material.
Update Your Information
in the Alumni Database
Help us keep in touch with you! Please update your
contact information in our Alumni Database. Everyone is in
there, whether you joined the GSAA or not. From 1963 to now, you can find long-lost friends,
and help them find you!
About
GSAA...
The
North Carolina Governor’s School Alumni Association is a service
organization comprised of people who once attended the NC Governor’s
School. It is not a non-profit organization, and it is not a registered
political action committee, though it does have as its core goal to
support the Governor’s School through contributions and raising public
awareness.
What Does the GSAA
Do?
The
purpose of the GSAA is threefold:
1. To promote and
raise public awareness of the Governor’s School.
North
Carolina’s Governor’s School is the oldest Governor’s School in the
nation. It is a part of our statewide heritage. Today, there are over 50
governor’s schools in over 35 states, many of which were modeled on the
North Carolina concept. Despite that heritage, many people in our own
state have never heard of the Governor’s School, and many who have heard
of it do not know what it is. Particularly, many members of the
Legislature have never heard of it. So part of our goal is to make our
state aware of the Governor’s School and to focus attention on this
excellent program among the legislators who provide the funding for the
School. We do this through letter-writing campaigns and by promoting GS
among high-school guidance counselors. Several attempts at wider-ranging
media coverage have gone nowhere, as GS is simply not controversial enough
to attract the attention of the papers and television.
2. To provide
funding for the Governor’s School’s student activities.
Due
to the shrinking budget for GS, many programs related to student
activities were cut from the budget in the mid-1980’s. These programs,
while not essential to the mission of the School, were considered
essential to the sanity of the students and faculty. Simple things, like
music for parties, social events, ice cream and lemonade, and gas for the
bus would not be available if the GSAA did not make a donation each year.
Even with our support, the funding for these events has been scant for the
past few years. So a large portion of our proceeds goes to this. In a way,
the students from each class are given the opportunity to provide support
for the class that will follow after. Without this support, the social
interaction of GS would dwindle, and along with it the opportunities for
students to make new friends and interact with their peers. The GSAA
believes that this social growth is equally as important as the
intellectual growth that GS fosters.
3. To provide a
forum through which alumni can stay connected.
This
is primarily accomplished via our web site, and secondarily via our annual
Alumni gathering. Our goal with the web site is to keep track of all GS alumni
and make contact with those who have been lost over the years. We want to
provide a place where all alumni can come and make contact with one
another, find long-lost friends, connect with their classmates, and stay
informed on the news about Governor’s School. Since we get very little
media attention, the web site is probably the only place to get news about
GS. On Alumni Day, we try to provide the alumni with an annual return
to Governor’s School, so that they can re-experience the atmosphere that
changed their perceptions of themselves and their environment. For many,
GS was a life-changing experience. Through alumni gatherings, we attempt to
let alumni experience that again.
Along
with these primary goals, the GSAA also selects the members of the GS
Foundation Board and assist with setting policy for the Governor’s
School via their permanent position on the Department of Public
Instruction’s GS Board of Governors.
Read more at
GSAA
Membership page.
GSAA
News
Check out the GSAA News!
Attention
All GS Alumni!
The GSAA was founded in 1986. However, the school itself
began in 1963. Therefore, there are thousands of potential GSAA members with
whom we have lost contact. If you are one of these members, please let us
know where you are by e-mailing
us or updating the Alumni Database with your new
contact information. Please include the year and school you attended, your Area I, and
your maiden name.
NCGSAlumni.org
offers:
-
Links
to the Yahoo discussion groups to communicate your
comments to other alumni readers.
-
Photo album
-
Memories: stories and
flashbacks of Governor's School
-
Links to websites managed by
the state and alumni
-
Email addresses of alumni
-
Forms to submit your contact
information or website URL's
-
Current news from staff and
alumni.
-
GSAA organization information
-
Campus visitor information
-
Downloadable files
For detailed information on Governor's School
of North Carolina, take a look here.