By:  Rohan Deshpande

On Friday, September 4^th, The Gatton Academy hosted its annual Picnic with the President. This event is typically held behind Florence Schneider Hall but was relocated due to the construction. In the backyard of Bates Runner Hall, The Gatton Academy hosted a picnic for both students and parents, providing an opportunity to meet WKU’s very own President Dr. Gary A. Ransdell. Also present were various members of WKU’s faculty and staff. While the event was casual, speakers included President Ransdell and Director Lynette Breedlove. They discussed the relocation of the Academy, addressing common questions like the estimated conclusion of construction and how an increased student body will effect class scheduling. Food was provided by the WKU Catering Group, and the music selection was supplied by an unknown individual with excellent taste. In all, it was a casual event that provided parents and students alike to meet with President Ransdell and professors outside of a professional setting.

By:  Rohan Deshpande

If you have ever attended one of The Gatton Academy’s Preview Days, the Genome program should sound familiar. This program, also known as Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES), is one of the more interesting opportunities offered by the Academy. The Genome program is designed for those interested in microbiology. It gives both wet and dry lab experience, but the long hours and demanding course load can be challenging unless you are very interested in the topic. However, if you love virology and microbiology, this is probably the best experience you can get. The Genome program is a rare experience as it requires a real wet lab that can only be provided by university-level research complex.

The Genome program is listed in WKU’s class catalog as Biology 275. It counts as a biology elective and gives two credit hours. However, that number is misleading—Genome was the most time consuming of all my classes at Gatton. On paper, it was two hours in the afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, due to the nature of the class, one may come in far more often. The goal of the class is to isolate a novel bacteriophage. This process involves taking a soil sample, drawing out the phages in the soil, isolating a single type of phage, and extracting its genetic information. This requires growing phages on bacterial lawns, which is requires a different amount of time for each phage. Some plates are ready in 24 hours, others require more than 48. For this reason, I often found myself coming in almost every day to ensure proper phage growth. However, at the end of the class, you certainly feel a sense of accomplishment, as all the time and effort you spent pays off with finding your very own phage.

Naomi Rowland, Dr. Claire Rinehart, and Dr. Rodney King are excellent professors for this class. Mrs. Rowland, who started this past fall, has been Biotechnology Center Coordinator since 2009. Dr. Rinehart has been with Western Kentucky University’s Biology Department since 1988. Dr. King has been leading this program since its start at WKU and is the 2014 recipient of Kentucky Academy of Science Distinguished College or University Teacher Award. This class, while taxing, is an excellent opportunity for one interested in microbiology and virology and if you desire wet lab and research experience, I highly recommend the Genome program.

Before coming to Gatton, I had lived an academically deprived life. I was born and raised in a rural Wisconsin town with a population of about 2,500, so the scholastic opportunities were hard to come by. Up until 5^th grade, everybody had the same schedule because there were only six different classes per grade. However, in 7^th grade, my family moved to Oldham County, which marked a notable improvement in the quality of education, and I was grateful. In late November of my 8^th grade year, my older brother came home talking about this “Gatton place.” He applied, got in, and told me all about the experience. Based on his words of praise, I decided to apply and, fortunately, I was accepted. That day, my brother told me Gatton was an entirely different environment when compared to “regular” high school, and he was right.

My first year at the Academy was unlike anything I had experienced before. I had no parents to nag me and constant social interactions. I enjoyed staying up late talking to my peers about whatever came to mind; various conversation topics included our daily struggles with our classes, recent sports and video game standings, and anything else that caught our eye during the day. Although the courses were more difficult than my previous high school, I truly felt relaxed. If there was any school work or personal hardships I was going through, there was always someone to talk to. Looking back on my first year, I have no regrets and I hope the second year goes as smoothly as the first. I have never studied, traveled, or had as much fun as I did my first year at Gatton and I look forward to the sharing the experience with the next class.