By:  Seth Marksberry

On October 14^th every junior at Gatton took the PSAT, an exam similar to the SAT. Students are required to take the PSAT (or NMSQT) in order to qualify for the National Merit Scholarship. Gatton consistently has many students qualify for the top award of National Merit Finalist, along with many semifinalists and honorable mentions. As a result, our students take the test very seriously. Many reported using preparatory books and online resources in hope of attaining the highest score they can.

In all of the excitement of the juniors taking their PSAT, many seniors were enjoying the benefits of their high scores on last year’s test. The cutoff for semifinalists this year was a score of 210 out of 240. Each semifinalist is required to take a regular SAT in order to become a finalist. Tagging along with some of these prospective finalists (I had tests of my own to take that day), I could see their sense of excitement and anxiety about the test. This SAT was the last standardized test many of them will have to take in their high school career, so I’m sure it will be a relief no matter what score comes back.

By: Seth Marksberry

During the latter half of this past summer, forty-eight of our current seniors embarked on a trip that has worked its way into Gatton tradition: the Harlaxton Experience. During this trip, which lasts three weeks, students are given the opportunity to take English 200.

English 200 is an introductory literature course. Over the duration of the class, students are introduced to pieces written by some of the literary greats such as Shakespeare, Keats, and Lawrence. While most courses in literature would settle for a review of pieces and a few author biographies, the curriculum in England is much different.

After a lesson about a particular author and his or her works, students were then treated to a day of visiting locations related to the pieces and authors we had just learned about. For example, after our lesson on the works of Shakespeare, we visited Stratford upon Avon, Shakespeare’s birthplace. It was truly amazing for myself and my fellow students to be able to experience literature in this setting. I think I can speak for all of us and say we are glad we did it. Anybody who is a current junior and wondering about going on this trip, trust me, you want to go. You will be happy you went.

By:  Seth Marksberry

Many people have asked us the same question repeatedly about Academy life: do you ever get homesick? Of course it varies from person to person. There are some that go home nearly every weekend because they miss their loved ones. Then there are those like myself who like to be on campus with friends as much as possible to fully take in the experience. Regardless of how often you see family, your childhood bedroom, or even a beloved pet, everybody responds to the change in environment differently.

It isn’t as big of an issue as many would think, though. Sure, heading off to college is a big shift, but Gatton provides many ways to beat homesickness. Students around the Academy have often said that with how busy college life is, there really isn’t much time to miss family. From weekend activities, such as several recent trips to Mammoth Cave National Park, to enlightening seminars with the staff, activities outside of classwork abound.

The best mechanism to combat homesickness at the Academy, by far, is the community of students that forms while students are here. When struggling against the seemingly titanic forces of classes, attempting to live up to expectations, and finding that single working dryer, your fellow students become more than friends. They’re your allies. Matthew Broadbent, a student in the class of 2017, summed it up best. “We are all one big family. So I don’t experience homesickness, because it feels like I’m right at home.”

Here we are again starting another year of growth and challenges at the Gatton Academy. When I entered last year, I, like most at the time, knew little of what trials were to await me upon passing through the threshold of this new world.  An aspiring aerospace engineer, I had arrived from a school more focused on football than physics with the goal to advance my knowledge and save the world. Though the progress of the second goal is debatable, a very good case could be made that I succeeded in my pursuit of furthering my academic ability and experience.

We were told we would be forced to work and think at a pace and level never before demanded from us in school thus far, but most of us didn’t take that to heart until we were dropped into our first real college classes. I can still remember the first paper I ever had to write for one of my professors, the first piece of calculus homework, every first you can think of and several you can’t. The academics were why we had all come, and we certainly got what we asked for, some of us more than we bargained for. Talk about deer in the headlights.

Most of us made it through, forming bonds along the way and learning far more than what our professors dictated to us. We learned about friendship and how to live in a community of like-minded individuals (and several not so like-minded). I personally learned that I was both smarter than and not as smart as I thought I was. We also learned that the definition of smart is somewhat arbitrary and ultimately pointless.

Now that I begin my second year at the academy, what should I be thinking about? There are so many aspects I could turn my attention to. There’s the classes getting harder, but they are also ultimately more exciting. Instead of being led, this year I am leading. The interesting part to me is that I really don’t know what I should be looking forward to or exactly how this year is going to go. Just like last year.

There will be late nights, long days, rough starts, and bittersweet endings to be sure. I’m sure the academy will teach me just as many tough lessons this year as it did in the last. It would be naïve to think that it will be a smooth ride all the way through. There will be lows for every high the year brings. With the looming specter of college applications reminding me that I will not be here next year, though, I can say one thing for certain about this upcoming year.

I will be drinking in every moment.