Contact: Melissa Reifert
July 13, 2007

MECC Concludes another Successful Governor’s School

Mountain Empire Community College’s 2007 Governor’s School recently concluded, capping off another successful session of the annual program, held for three weeks each summer on campus.  The 42 students who attended this year participated in one of five different strands available at Governor’s School including Drama, Geographic Information Systems, Natural History of Southwest Virginia, Robotics, and Small Business and Marketing. 

Participants had the opportunity to visit James Madison and Virginia Tech Universities, where they were given departmental tours associated with each of the strands, in addition to general information and campus tours.  A number of other field trips were conducted by Governor’s School strands to destinations such as Barter Theatre, the Guest River Gorge, Joy Manufacturing, Mountain Rose Winery, Natural Tunnel, the Powell River Project, Scott County Lavender, Tuck Engineering, WCYB-TV 5, and the Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy.

On the final day of the school, members of each strand held presentations and unveiled displays to parents and other guests in attendance.  Drama students also performed “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” 

Faculty for this year’s strands included Dr. Joel Bailey, Dr. Carol Burkhart, Dr. Wendell Fowler, Mr. Jake Gilly, Ms. Jane Jones, Ms. Susan Peacock, and Ms. Melanie Salyers.  Teaching assistants were Erin Dalton, Regina Hilton, Stacy Kiser, A.J. Orndorff, Arcus Redden, and Evan Reynolds.  For information about next summer’s Governor’s School, email coordinator Karen Carter at kcarter@me.vccs.edu.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) students at Governor’s School 2007 took a field trip to the Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy.  This trip was one of many that Governor’s School students took during the three week summer program at Mountain Empire Community College.  A total of 42 students attended this year’s school, participating in one of five different strands including GIS, Drama, Natural History of Southwest Virginia, Robotics, and Small Business and Marketing.

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