Summer may be just around the corner, but school is not out for 77 of the brightest young minds in North Dakota. Some of the top high school students from across the state are taking part in the 24th annual Governor’s School on the campus of NDSU.
The six-week program is state-sponsored and funded and has been hosted at NDSU each summer since 1990. From June 2 to July 12, high school sophomores and juniors will live on campus to learn directly from NDSU faculty in areas such as laboratory science, mathematics, information technology, English and visual arts, which alternates each year with performing arts. The students learn through classroom experiences, discussion groups, labs and field trips.
“Governor’s School gives them the necessary skills to perform well in the college setting, learning how to achieve academically,” said Lonnie Hass, the program’s longtime director and senior lecturer in NDSU’s mathematics department.
For students, Governor’s School provides academic experiences they usually do not get elsewhere. Whether it is performing experiments in a world-class laboratory, producing a magazine from scratch, exhibiting artwork in a public gallery or learning how to use mathematical computer software, students learn through a variety of interactive projects.
This year’s program introduces a focus on engineering. Hass said students will study composite materials, such as how a golf club shaft gets its lightness and strength.
Students will travel to Minneapolis to tour 3M and visit the Science Museum, Valleyfair and Art Institute. Other weekend activities include a canoe trip.
Governor’s School students also take part in service-learning activities. This year students will collect food for Walk for Hunger.
“Alumni who have graduated from the program have moved onto college and are now reaching important milestones – positioned within universities and business communities,” Hass said. “They’ve had a good start from the state of North Dakota.”
For more information, visit www.ndsu.edu/govschool or contact Hass at 701-231-6727 or ndsu.govschool@ndsu.edu.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.