At 8:20 on Nov. 9 potential applicants for the Massanutten Regional Governor’s School left HHS from the main office and journeyed over to Mount Jackson, Virginia (an hour long drive) to tour the school and finalize their application decisions. Students from Page County, Rockingham County and Shenandoah County attend the school for two years (junior and senior year). They take their math, science, and english courses over at the school for half of the day and come back to their high schools to finish the day with other required electives or courses and extracurricular activities.

Sophomore Jack O’Brien heard about the MRGS field trip from an informational meeting about the trip.

“There was a meeting in the auditorium a week ago and I heard about it and it sounded really cool, so I went on the field trip to learn more about it,” O’Brien said.

Sophomore Randee Rose Joven went on the trip through a friend’s remarks about the benefits of the school.

“I didn’t really get to go to the meeting of Governor’s School and my friend told me about it and they said it’s good for getting into college and before I applied I wanted to find out more about it, like what it was and stuff because I didn’t go to the meeting,” Joven said.

The field trip was a very informational based trip that gave students a chance to visit the actual school grounds, see students in classes, and speak to instructors.

“[The field trip] wasn’t anything hands on. It was more informational, like what it’s about, how they learn stuff and what they do. But, at the end the people were really nice.” Joven said.

Both students had favorite parts of the trip and recommend it to future sophomores and both plan to apply to the school.

“[My favorite part of the trip was] probably just hanging out with a bunch of people I knew. [I enjoyed the trip because] there were a lot of people I knew there and it was cool. [I would] definitely [recommend it to future applicants],” said O’Brien.

“My favorite part of the trip was the last part where a couple of the students who are in it, like some juniors and seniors, shared their experiences and the pros and cons of it. It was really cool because I was like ‘oh, yeah, I can relate to that’. They reassured me that I wasn’t not smart enough to be in it. The trip is free and I did it just to learn about it. If you don’t want it, then don’t take the application, but definitely [take the trip] if you heard about it, and you want to get in to good colleges. The one guy said it was really good for getting into UVA.” Joven said.