Issue date: 6/18/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Beth Spencer Adam Allendorf, a rising senior at Colierville High, leads his classmates in singing "Jasmine," a traditional Asian song. All 21 students participate in The Governor's School for International Studies at The U of M.

Some high school students prefer to start the summer earning college credit instead of lounging poolside. 

The Governor's School for International Studies accepted 84 high school juniors and seniors from across the state to live and learn at The U of M for five weeks this summer.  The program focused on a variety of global issues, foreign culture and languages. Students also learn global political science, geography, anthropology and economics.

"We try to do some fun stuff to teach about cultures," said Robert Blanton, director of GSIS and associate professor of the department of political science. "They like it because they get a taste of college life."

The program accepts the "best and the brightest" students out of about 300 applicants each summer, he said.

GSIS is one of 12 Governor's Schools in Tennessee, said Hope Smith, assistant director of the program. Students can also apply to other schools for humanities, engineering, agricultural sciences, computational physics, art, emerging technologies, physics, scientific models and data analysis, prospective teachers and sciences.

"(The GSIS) has such a fantastic reputation," she said. "It's funded entirely by the state and University."

Students will leave the program with six hours of college credit, which are transferable to any college in Tennessee.

"The kids are a pleasure to teach," Blanton said. "They're really bright and engaged. It's really neat the way they bond together. We'll get emails from people who graduated 10 or 15 years ago and say how much The Governor's School meant to them."

The futures of students who attend the GSIS vary significantly, he said.

"I've known preschool teachers, doctors and pharmacists who came to The Governor's School," he said. "It's intriguing to me because they all go in different directions but still share that interest in international studies."

Various responses were given by a classroom of 21 GSIS students, when asked what the future held for them. International journalism, plastic surgery, law, international ambassador and pediatric oncology were among some of their answers.

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