Kyle Hollars (right) and Sage Park (left) sit together, enjoying their spare time on Governor's School campus.
It was freshman year when Kyle Hollars first heard about Governor’s School in Mrs. Scoggins class. The program caught his attention, but he was too young to apply. Three years later, Hollars acknowledges he was apprehensive at first.
“I was a little bit worried because it was like, ‘Oh that's 4 weeks, that's my whole summer’, but then I got there and I was like this needs to be longer, like 8 weeks,” said Hollars.
He had taken all the Spanish classes offered at Watauga High School and already had Mrs. Scroggins’s recommendation. After that he had to get sent an application, get nominated, and then write three essays and get another teacher recommendation. After being accepted for Spanish, on July 16, he went out to Winston Salem State’s campus and that was the start of his impactful experience. Students from all over the state came with different passions but shared the same love of learning.
“It felt like everyone was on the same page because everyone was motivated and wanted to be there,” Hollars said. “[Everyone] was just really passionate about what they were doing. There was nobody who felt like ‘Oh, I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to do this’. They were all really into it and up to try new things.”
The day started at 8 a.m. in the morning. At times Hollars would go on a run with the running club, or eat breakfast with friends. Then he’d head off to his classes, taught by professors from WSSU.
“It's like a college environment so you have three classes in a day. Area 1- Spanish, math, English, whatever, and then there's area 2- philosophy type. We would joke about it and call it ‘existential crisis class’ because it really messed with your head,” said Hollars. “Area 3 is group therapy: feelings and social issues and unpacking the reasons that you feel the way you do about different issues.”
Many students from Watauga High School go to Governor’s School, but because the program offers so much, Hollars was able to connect with new people who had different interests and backgrounds. The school is nothing like the stereotypical summer school, where students spend their time peering up at the ticking clock, wasting away at their vacation. Throughout the day, there were many extracurricular activities in which students could participate in and cultivate new friendships and outlooks on life.
“After class there were optional lectures and stuff so you were never bored. I went for Spanish, but I went to all the optional math lectures,” Hollars said.
Although this experience came to be academically enriching for him, the emotional aspect had a greater effect on Hollars.
“Personally, I think that had a bigger impact on me [emotionally] than it did academically,” Hollars said. “I got a lot more confident because I got to see who I was outside of the people I’m normally around, and I was outside the expectations of my parents. I got to be 100% there and that was really helpful for me”
Hollars plans to head into the field of engineering after high school. Now that he has taken Spanish to a much higher level, he realized how important it is for him to keep pursuing.
“I was not planning to completely abandon [Spanish], but I didn’t really think about incorporating it into my career as much,” Hollars said. “After Governor’s School I realized that's definitely something I want to keep doing.”
The overall influence came out to be much more significant on Hollars and has led him to become more self-aware. This unforgettable experience is one Hollars would highly recommend to anyone interested. As Hollars looks back at his time there always comes a great sense of nostalgia.
“One of my favorite memories was when there was this impromptu jazz concert and dance outside,” Hollars said. “At 8 to 10 p.m. a bunch of the instrumental music kids started playing jazz and then everyone was dancing and it was just a little party that came out of nowhere. That was really fun. There was always something to do. Even if you were just having down time, we watched movies and did things together.”
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