Difference between revisions of "Governor's School"

Revision as of 20:11, 7 August 2008

I am attending the Pennsylvania Governor's Schools of Excellence in Information, Society & Technology in the summer of 2008 at Drexel in Philadelphia.

Governor's Schools

The Governor's Schools are free summer programs paid for by the PA state government for high school students. They have them in a variety of topics at a variety of colleges in the state. Tuition as well as room and board are paid for by the state - at no cost to the student.

Why I want to attend

I've always loved technology. (I think this website can attest!) I am at the crossroads now with GridView. Over the past month I had to learn how to manage a Linux server and tune it for performance. I'm still not at 100%.

But I am also interested in the social effects of technology. I ordered an XO Laptop (with my own $$) to play with its user interface and think about the impact it will have on the developing world.

I also like meeting with people in my age group who share my passion. This program will bring together the top 50 soon-to-be-high-school-seniors for an intensive 5 week program. I can't wait for it to start!

What do you expect to get out of our program academically and socially?

• Academically: Advanced MySQL, proper project management techniques, moderate to advanced Linux server administration, or something totally different!
• Socially: Meeting people who share my interests and spending time with them on projects and making contacts for future work

What are some of your hobbies

• Computers: primarily web design, PHP, MySQL, project management
• Walking
• Hanging out with friends in a productive way (Tecker 911)
• Successfully completing beautiful, intelligent design work

Application

• Narrative Statement
• Extracurricular Resume
• Social Issue-Technological Solution: Wikis

Essays

• A Jumble of Thoughts on Web 2.0

ITP

• ITP Ideas
• Thoughts on Training from School Dist. Tech Chief

Classes

from http://pgse.cis.drexel.edu/pgsit/index.html

Core

• Object-Oriented System Analysis and Design
• Information Ethics
• Database Design and Management
• Interaction Design
• Project Management
• Networking and Distributed Computing
• System Development

Electives

• Advanced Networking and Distributed Computing
• Digital Media
• Advanced Software Development
• Developing Data-Intensive Systems for the World Wide Web
• Developing Interactive Systems
• Linux System Administration
• Developing Interactive, Animated Web Graphics
• Managing Semi-structured Data: XML and Related Technologies
• Information and Society: Security, Privacy, Access and Freedom

What I Learned/Review

Gov School was a great experience. The classes were passable; there were some that I liked and others which I did not. Some of the teachers were good, while others were not. "But that's how it is in college," I was told. So it was good experience.

Living in Myers Hall was lots of fun. You could just keep your door open and someone would stop by wanting to talk or go somewhere. The rules were very onerous, for example, we could only travel outside Myers Hall with a buddy, and then only in a small specified area, and only from 4-7PM. There were a lot of activities that they made us attend. I liked some of them like Dorney Park, but not others like the Phillies Game. Perhaps I had approached them with the wrong aptitude, perhaps I did not like being forced to attend.

Still I met a lot