By:  Ben Luckett

The new Florence Schneider Hall has a lot of great areas that Bates Runner Hall never could offer this year’s seniors. We now have an amazing fourth floor common area that houses one of the most important pieces of furniture in the Academy: the ping pong table. Last year in Bates, all we had for a ping pong area was a small room on first floor that barely could fit the table.

Pong was important to me last year as I would use it as a cool off after studying. It was a good break, but it was hard to ever find another student to play a match against. Our new space allows both players to step as far away from the table as they wish and still have excess room. Also there is a large group of ping pong players this year. Many students are very talented at ping pong and will play heated matches for fourth floor audiences.

This year I have used ping pong as a cool off just like last year, but now I can always find someone to play against. If there is not an avid ping pong enthusiast on fourth floor at any given time, they are just a text away. A sure time to find a lot of ping pong players on fourth is about 9:30 every school night. At about this time, a group of students surrounding the table will have formed along with a long list of people who have called “next game”.

Hello, I am Benjamin Luckett from the small town of Versailles in Woodford County, Kentucky. My home high school is Woodford County High School. I thoroughly enjoyed my junior year at The Gatton Academy. After I heard about the STEM+ Critical Language program offered here, I jumped at the opportunity to learn Chinese on the mandarin track. I am also part of the Chinese Flagship program that teaches the language at a very quick pace.

Out of the variety of clubs Gatton offers, I am a part of GALE (Gatton Academy Leadership in Education) and SPAC (Sierpinski Performing Arts Club). With GALE, we spent an afternoon a week playing games with and teaching a group of fourth and fifth graders at a local elementary school, while SPAC is a preforming arts club. So far the only study abroad trip I have attended was the spring break excursion to China with many of the other STEM+Chinese students. I thought it was an amazing educational and cultural experience and am looking forward to going on another study abroad trip as a senior. I am an Avatar this year and will work the preview days and happily talk to anyone interested in The Gatton Academy. One of my favorite things about my junior year was the nightly frisbee games. The Academy has really allowed me to explore more possibilities than I had considered. Upon entering, I thought programming was not an interest of mine, but after java and CPS, I see that it is very useful and a good use of time.