Comments on: RIP Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Sciences (PGSS)

By: Janet Hurwitz

Janet Hurwitz — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:30:08 +0000

We have formed an Alumni Association for PGSS. Please go to http://www.pgssalumni.org and sign in!

By: Ben Campbell

Ben Campbell — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:56:31 +0000

PGSS alumni and friends, we are trying to bring back PGSS and need help. Please go to http://www.savepgss.org

We are also putting together an alumni testimonials and a contact database and need help tracking people down. email savepgss@gmail.com to submit your info or get more information. Thanks!

Ben, PGSS 97

By: Chelsea

Chelsea — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:49:00 +0000

To Kevin Cantu–I’m a high school student in Omaha, Nebraska. I ran into the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Teaching on my quest for ways to get into education reform; what are these Nebraska/Iowa equivalents of which you speak? Please reach me at kit1792kat@hotmail.com. Thank you.

By: Kevin Cantu

Kevin Cantu — Sun, 17 May 2009 17:40:17 +0000

That is a shame. Opportunities like that in Nebraska and Iowa made all the difference for me, too.

By: Daniel Collis-Puro

Daniel Collis-Puro — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:05:59 +0000

I went to a similar program in Vermont – http://www.giv.org/display.php?name=scitech_landing – and it definitely changed the direction of my life for the better, though it took a few years for what I’d learned to sink in.

My high school didn’t have any AP classes until the year after I graduated, so the exposure to a broad range of college-level science with other smart people had a huge impact on my hungry young mind. MORE of these programs, not less!

By: David Anderson

David Anderson — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:16:46 +0000

This is a real shame. I taught Computer Science at PGSS in ’87 and ’88 (talk about showing my age!). It was wonderful to teach young people who were so eager to learn, so excited by being exposed to material they’d never seen before. I found teaching at PGSS much more rewarding than teaching undergrads at CMU.

By: Mark Murphy

Mark Murphy — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:39:38 +0000

Le sad indeed!

I’m a PGSS alum (’85, showing my age). PGSS quite literally saved my life — I was phenomenally depressed pre-PGSS, coming from a school district where academic achievement was not exactly welcome. I envisioned a meaningless life, with nobody to like or love, because I had the temerity to think and use words like “temerity”. At PGSS I found others who didn’t feel having or using a brain was the kiss of social death. While teenagers can be teenagers, the level intellectual playing field eliminated that as a bone of contention. I even fell in love for the first time.

Coming out of PGSS, I was far calmer about my life’s potential as I put up with my senior year at high school. The rest, as they say, is history. Disturbingly ancient history, at that…

I didn’t catch wind of the program’s cancellation prior to your post. I actually returned to PA, after a dozen post-undergrad years, so I’d've at least made some effort to keep the program around had I realized it was in jeopardy.

Le seriously sad.

By: Mark Schoneveld

Mark Schoneveld — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:42:44 +0000

Man, I know – what a bummer! I did my best to pass along the petition to counter this move through all my media channels, to no avail. I didn’t go to Gov School but lots of friends and family did. It’s a real loss to the citizens of Pennsylvania, and the world!