Anthony Meena, 17, a junior at St. Xavier High School in Louisville was a bit timid about coming to the Governor’s Scholars Program this summer. There was the college-style classes, the strict schedule and being away from family and friends for 5 weeks, but there was also something else. Something that only a scholar from a high school like Meena’s could understand.
Meena attends an all boys high school. And for the first time since grade school, he would be sitting in a class next to – yes- girls.
Though he wasn’t completely incapable of talking to girls, he was a bit slower than most other scholars who attend public schools. It was just harder for Meena to begin forming new friendships with members of the same and opposite sexes. His training may have come in grade school, when he was with both boys and girls. It wasn’t until high school that he sat in classrooms with boys and only boys.
“You got used to going to an all boys school,” said Meena, who is now going into his senior year at St. Xavier. “My first few days reminded me of grade school – having classes with girls.”
For the past 26 years, GSP has brought thousands of high-achieving juniors from all over Kentucky together for an academic experience of a lifetime.
Breaking out of a comfort zone is a large part of the experience at the Governor’s Scholars Program. The academic-oriented summer camp is 5 intensive weeks of classes, dorm life, issue seminars and field trips. There is not a great deal of down time for a scholar and the time spent with their classmates can be long.
Anthony wasn’t anywhere near the worst case of all-boy-school-itis when it came to ta
lking to girls at GSP. It was a rare sight to see any of them even looking at girls. Slowly through the course of the program, these boys are tossed into so many situations, including a dance, that great strides are made towards having the courage to speak to girls. Some have even gone as far as flirting, an action they couldn’t have even dreamed of doing just a few weeks ago.Boys and girls are given opportunities to interact in classes, especially their seminar class. Scholars from different schools, regions, races, and genders are placed into the seminar classes and talk about their opinions on various topics, which often places people in the class in uncomfortable positions. Regardless, seminar according to staff members, always gets the highest evaluation marks for the best part of the GSP experience.
The environment may be uncomfortable at first, but by the end of the third week, it’s rare to see someone who doesn’t seem like they’ve adapted.
“It wasn’t that hard to adapt,” said Meena, “The atmosphere is a lot different from my high school, but I like it.”
Being able to adjust to this environment is necessary and difficult, especially for the boys in this situation. Every year since 1994, girls have outnumbered boys in the Governor’s Scholars Program by a sixty-to-forty ratio.
For Meena, that is a little bit of a positive.