By Jaleia Hatchett The hours between 3-5pm every Tuesday and Thursday are a time every scholar looks forward to in their weeks at GSP. Whether it's just to walk around with friends or buy a sweet treat to bring back to the dorm room (or RA), extended perimeter time is a chance for us to explore some of downtown Danville and visit places we might not get the chance to again. After signing out in the Campus Center, scholars are allowed to wander up and down main street where many local Danville businesses reside.
There are many restaurants, bakeries and shops that scholars frequently visit. One business that never failed to have a line out its door was The Hub. The upbeat, modern appeal of the cafe intrigued many scholars the first week, but the delicious menu items have kept them coming every time after. The Hub has graciously offered scholars everything from coffees and smoothies, to sandwiches and bagels, always serving efficiently and eagerly. In addition to The Hub, other popular locations- Burke’s Bakery, Dry Stack, Daniel’s Poke and Ramen, etc- all welcomed a number of scholars each week with nothing but enthusiasm. Another local Danville business, Permanent Jewelry by Jess, even offered scholars a discount for permanent bracelets and anklets. Of course, many took advantage of this, coming back to campus with new jewelry and even hair tinsel from Bran’s Boutique. All in all, extended perimeter time at GSP has been beneficial in many ways. Outside of getting a chance to simply spend money on whatever a scholar may want at that given time, valuable lessons are also learned in supporting small and local businesses. The hope is that scholars are encouraged to go back home at the end of these five weeks, and recognize how much they can support the businesses around them. By Amelia Lanier On the evening of Sunday, July 16th, yellow balloons adorned the front of Cowan, upbeat music filled the space outside, and students tossed smiley face patterned bouncy balls. On this evening, scholars were participating in Happiness Day, an event organized and thrown by the psychology focus area as a way to inform and encourage scholars in regards to their mental wellbeing and overall happiness.
During the past weeks, the psychology focus area has been reading You, Happier, a book that focuses on using research based in neuroscience to teach the reader how to become a happier and more fulfilled person. Scholar Nate Fairchild--who is part of the psycology focus area--explained that lately, the class has been examining what the best way to share what they have been learning with the rest of GSP, and eventually landed on hosting Happiness Day. As Nate explained it, “By doing actions you enjoy, you can help keep your brain happy. Our goal was to throw an event that everyone could enjoy, and so that they could have those experiences.” To do this, Happiness Day offered a wide range of activities, including, dancing, spikeball, a tattoo station, coloring, a puzzle station, as well as what scholars were anticipating most of all: free stuff. The night also included more informational aspects, including posters about different brain types, and infographics on how scholars could continue to be happier. Nate, who was worried that the dance the night before would put a damper on the turnout, was satisfied with how successful Happiness Day turned out. He also didn’t expect the coloring and puzzle stations, which scholars enjoyed, to be so popular, because it would require sitting down to do something. Scholar Allison Davis, on the other hand, appreciated the value of these “chill and happy” activities. She expanded on this idea, stating that Happiness Day was “not just a dark, sweaty place,” and that here, she could actually connect with more people. For Allison, Happiness Day was an opportunity to keep meeting more people, strengthen the relationships she has already made, and continue to community build. Allison especially loved the environment of Happiness Day, as well the yellow sticky man she got as a freebie. She even went as far to recommend that future GSP sessions hold similar events on a weekly basis. For the past month, every person at GSP has been working to build a community, and we have succeeded. We have put ourselves out there, met as many people as we possibly could, and played even more card games. These interactions have turned into connections, and maybe even a few lifelong friends. Happiness day was a time to celebrate the community we have formed here--a community that, even once we all leave in a few days, will never truly dissipate. By Gabriel Reed Scholars, RAs, faculty, and even Joey know about the meme page. The question everyone has… Who runs it? Well now, we have answers. It is not just one person, but a dream meme team!
Over the past 4½ weeks, 4 scholars have worked together to make the magical meme montage on Instagram. It is their GSP mission to capture all the amazing moments through memes. Via a snapchat group, they make, send, review, and discuss memes before posting them on the Instagram account. They have been among us in secret this entire time. You may have seen them at the soccer field, the gym, yoga, swing dancing, pickleball, and maybe in your focus area. Three play soccer. Three participate in Y-Club, three participate in Regional Youth Leadership, two are in dramatic expression, two from Kenton County, one from Campell County, and one from Hardin County. Here is the process. First, one of them makes a meme or a scholar may send one in. Second, the meme is sent into a group chat where it is discussed, reviewed, and approved. Finally, the meme is posted on the account for all the GSP community to see. According to the team, it is “very tedious work.” Maybe that’s why few dare to eat lunch with them. This is the dream meme team… Bella Saalfeld is a scholar from Independence, KY, who attends Holy Cross High School, and her focus area is philosophy. She is the team captain and the censor police. She did lose quite a bit of sleep making memes, but she loved running the meme page. “I thought it added to the experience by getting an insight into lots of different things around campus,” she said. Sam Krebs is a scholar from Wilder, KY, who attends Newport Central Catholic, and his focus area is dramatic expression. In a description of the meme page, Sam said, “I felt like I was in a kitchen cooking up fresh memes while also strategically picking captions and choosing when to post. There’s a lot more psychology to running the meme page than you think.” He loved running the page because it always kept him on his toes. Ava Addington is a scholar from Elizabethtown, KY, who attends Elizabethtown HS, and her focus area is also dramatic expression. “For me,” she said, “I was more of an observer as well as a creator on the meme page, but seeing everyone’s creativity and humor gave me more insight about those people and really brought people together, which I think is a prime GSP motive.” Lastly, me. I am from Independence, KY, and I also attend Holy Cross High School, and my focus area is journalism. The meme page is one of my favorite parts of my unique GSP experience. I love how the meme page brought everyone together, and it represents everything GSP stands for. Yes, we are the 4 that have run the meme page over the past weeks, and I am honored to have the opportunity to reveal who we are. It was so funny hearing people talking about the meme page, but know one knew it was us. Our snap group is named, “The Meme Team.” That is where the magic happens. “There were so many different experiences that made a community even closer with the page and the fact that most people loved the content,” Ava said. Our favorite memes were the Northside memes. “The Northside memes were an attempt to make people think that we lived in Yerkes when in reality that was the only dorm we weren’t in,” Sam said. As a journalist, it is important to give credit where credit is due. Bella has been the lead through the entire process. She is the go-to guy. She has done most of the work and the meme page would not exist without her. So if you are going to thank anyone for capturing every funny moment, thank her. By Gabriel Reed When walking into our usual Monday morning community meeting, you could tell that it was no ordinary community meeting. There were flags on the stage, Brian was not in his sweats (or sandals), and an excitement filled the air. Brian said that we had a special guest, and immediately everyone had a feeling of who it could be. 30 minutes later, Centre GSP had the honor to host 1995 Governor’s Scholar and 63rd Governor of Kentucky Andy Beshear. Beshear is the first GSP alumni to serve as Governor. According to him, it was one of the pivotal moments of his life, and he would not be where he is now without his GSP experience. “I came to GSP as one person, and left as another.” Beshear went on to speak about how he made lifelong friends, and that he still uses those connections. Of course, his focus area was social, political, and economic issues. But through his speech, we learned about more than his time at GSP, including that he has apparently been banned from Russia, a consequence from a European war he would have never thought would happen in his lifetime. He also told us that he has never been more optimistic about Kentucky’s future, that we have the chance to build the Kentucky that we dream of, and that he hopes one day, “no one will make fun of our accents ever again!” Today, Kentucky is becoming the EV capital of the world, jobs are coming to the people, and the Brent-Spence bridge is finally being replaced (as a northern Kentucky inhabitant, this is incredible and much, much needed). Yet, in order to continue this progress the governor said, “We need you… No pressure, but the future of the commonwealth is on your shoulders.” It is important that Kentucky does not lose its young people… It's not where you go, but what you do where you go. Scholars then had the opportunity to ask the governor questions. One scholar asked for advice for first time voters, which is especially important in a time of political polarization. Beshear emphasized the extreme importance of voting, telling us to, “ask, “who will make the tough decisions in difficult periods of time.” Another scholar asked, “A question that we get asked a lot is what inspires us. Being Governor during some of our worst tornadoes and flooding, and a global pandemic, what inspires you to keep going even in times of hardship?” Beshear responded that he is a person who doesn’t like bullies, and he believes in the importance of standing between the people and big corporations. He told us that even in GSP, it is important that we stand up to our bullies to provide opportunity for all. And if we follow his advice, Kentucky can be our collective legacy and it will last much further than Beshear. Today, our country seems more divided than ever. “Aren’t y’all sick of it?” We need to talk to people. We need to connect. We need to get things done. In this country, everyone should have opportunity regardless of circumstance. That is the American dream, and we as scholars can make that ideal possible in our commonwealth. Remember, we’re not young leaders, just leaders. By Kaylin Lafferty When I picture 4th of July, I remember home-cooked (frozen) pies, watching my dad fight with the grill, talking around the table, chasing fireflies, setting off fireworks from our backyard, and staying up late to watch the skyline from inside. These are the memories and the moments that make the holiday special. But for me, and for every scholar, things were different this year. This week we faced a challenge that was not academic, as would be expected from a nerd camp, but emotional: we’re spending 4th of July without our families, many of us for the first time, right on the heels of family day. Given that, It’s only natural that our celebration with the GSP community would be bittersweet, - which it was - but looking around at the celebration, I saw us rely on the friendships we made to get us through the homesickness and have a fun, patriotic holiday. Getting ready for the celebration, there were a lot of people wearing red, white, and blue, but what surprised me most was the sheer amount of 4th of July themed hats of both the bucket and cowboy variety. There were people who went all out with their outfits and then, of course, there was Bryan, who showed them all up. Even before the celebration started, there was a general mood of anticipation and excitement when the party could have easily fallen flat as a lackluster substitute for our family celebrations. When it came time for the celebration, we gathered outside to find a s’mores bar, temporary tattoos, face painting, board games, spikeball, and of course - our 4th of July cookout in Cowan. The AC might have been out, but so many scholars were outside having fun it didn’t have the effect that it could have. Scholars also found refuge in Vahlkamp while watching Top Gun, the inspiration for the hall decorations of third floor Yerkes. But however we spent the day, we were all ready at 9:00 to go see the fireworks. This is where our community was the strongest. When we settled down for the fireworks, we shared blankets and snacks with our friend groups and when we realized we could see approximately 5% of the fireworks over the trees, we spent our time talking and taking pictures with our friends. And some of us set up games with cards or a beach ball to pass the time. After the finale, which sounded lovely, we were escorted back to the dorms and though the first thing I did when I got back was call my parents, spending 4th of July with GSP was the perfect example of how close this community is becoming and how important these experiences are. Because now when I picture 4th of July, I’ll remember the food, the family, the fireworks, and that one summer at GSP. By Summer Smith
Some scholars went above and beyond in their performances by adding choreography in addition to singing. This made for a truly entertaining experience. The environment in the Karaoke Club was very inviting. Everyone was so supportive and engaged in each act. Even if you don’t plan on performing, I’d definitely recommend showing up for the next Karaoke Club meeting. I promise you won’t be bored! |
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