Each year, a select group of juniors are chosen to attend the Massanutten Regional Governor’s School (Gov School) through an application process. Gov School is a secondary high school with a focus on environmental science, where students from Harrisonburg City, Rockingham County, Page County, and Shenandoah County attend for half of every school day. 

The Gov School applications are due in the spring of the student’s sophomore year, and applicants must include their academic experience, recommendations from teachers, and multiple essays about challenges that need solutions. Junior Quinn Webb was one of the juniors from HHS to be accepted this past year, and the application process went smoothly for her.

“I think it was a lot less stressful than I thought it would be, but the essays were not really like anything I’d written about before, so that was definitely new,” Webb said.

A lot of the juniors this year applied because they enjoyed the idea of the project-based learning style that Gov School offers. Junior Valentina Pimentel Yoder was fond of this alternate approach to school.

“I was interested in the other style of learning, and it’s really different than typical school,” Pimentel Yoder said. 

The academic subjects that are taught at Gov School are environmental science, agroecology, English, math, and an independent research course, where each student has an opportunity to conduct their own year-long research projects. Last year, senior Sophie Kauffman conducted an environmental science research project, and she plans on staying in that same realm of study again this year. 

“So for research, you get to hear from other seniors about their projects, which can be a source of inspiration, and then the teachers kind of help you narrow down topics that you’re interested in. And then eventually you land on a topic, and you start by doing some background literature and research to get you started, and then you form your own project,” Kauffman said.

Research topics can be about almost anything, with past projects ranging from creating nonprofit organizations to baking bread to urban forestry. This year, students are beginning the research process by brainstorming topics and gathering background information. Pimentel Yoder has already narrowed down her topic for her research project. 

“I’ve decided to focus on a physical therapy type research project. I’m not 100 percent sure on all the questions and everything I’m going to be doing yet, but something to do with sports injury recovery,” Pimentel Yoder said.

Even though the students consider this course to be difficult at times, many of them have appreciated this opportunity. Kauffman specifically enjoys the personalization that the process offers.

“It really helps you go after what you’re interested in and challenge yourself to learn a lot about a topic. Just learning individually, instead of having a teacher supervise everything, you learn for yourself, which is rewarding,” Kauffman said.

Gov School also provides an experience not available to students who only attend one school, because students at Gov School get to know other students from different high schools. Junior Lily Bartley believes that getting to know new people has been beneficial to her learning experience.

“It’s made me enjoy school a lot more because I get to interact with the diverse group of people and a variety of different people every day, and I think that’s helped me socially, and I think just made me more excited to be at school,” Bartley said. 

For returning seniors, this aspect of Gov School has also been impactful in ways outside of school, according to Senior Sophie Kauffman.

“I’ve got to know some more people from Spotswood and Broadway, which is cool because we see them around at sporting events or other places around town, and so it’s fun to have people you know from other schools that you can work on projects with and even see outside of school,” Kauffman said. 

With the experience of working with others, conducting research and meeting new people, the opportunities that Gov School provides to its students make a difference to them and to their education, according to many of the students. 

“I think it’s definitely been beneficial. I’m really glad that I applied. It’s definitely, I feel at least for me, a lot better for how I learn,” Webb said.