Tag Archive : Tim Gott

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First-Year Students Focus on Leadership, Personal Growth in Annual Retreat

October 17, 2011 | News, People, Student Life, Students | No Comments

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by Erin Walch, Academy Avatar

The first few weeks at the Gatton Academy are never easy.

Studying for new college classes, waking yourself up every morning, and figuring out that you will type the words class, new, if, and then in java programming more than you every thought are all challenges juniors at the Academy face. College as a high school junior was never expected to be easy, so each year, our hardworking junior class travels to Camp Loucon for a leadership retreat to broaden their perspectives and refresh their motivation. While at the two-day camp, juniors interact with Academy counselor Dr. Christopher “Pokey” Bowen and director Tim Gott on activities involving personality styles, leadership dynamics, goal-setting and relationship maturity.

The activities on Saturday consisted of a morning drive to Loucon, followed closely by icebreakers and a crash course in leadership with Tim in the seminar Exploring Leadership. During this session, students made index cards that best represented their interpersonal qualities and strengths.

Saturday afternoon, Pokey dove into the types of leaders each student discovered themselves to be in the Personality and Leadership Style seminar. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator was taken by the students to determine their personality styles, and from that information, learn about the types of leaders they could be. In groups, the juniors figured out the ways in which different types of leaders can work together effectively in a professional setting.

Pokey ended the day with a session titled Creating a Life Mission and Vision, which contemplated the struggles and triumphs every student is bound to face at the Gatton Academy. Students separated into groups and collaboratively produced headlines that represented a future goal or achievement they thought Academy students would embody in the future. Hopes of world peace and cures for cancer were among the headlines constructed by students. Later, each student brainstormed a personal mission statement that reflected their goals for the future, and gave them a chance to introspectively analyze themselves.

First-year student Lexi Sunnenberg enjoyed the planning aspects of the day. “My favorite part of the seminar was mapping out my goals for the future,” she said. “It really gave me a better sense of who I am and who I want to be; the seminar also really taught me to focus on myself and my goals, and to not worry about the opinions of others.”

The juniors ended the day with a massive game of zombie tag and a midnight walk to Lake Loucon with Tim.  Both activities gave a chance for the students to bond over the shared experiences of the day and expend the pent up anxiety brewing from the first few weeks of classes.

Kesi Amira enjoyed this time to cut loose and relax, explaining the retreat was a good change of pace.  “I appreciated having time to get to know other students without the pressure of classes, and enjoyed taking a break from the rapidity of daily life during Tim’s peaceful night walk.”

Wade Vierheller described the natural surroundings of Camp Loucon, of which a bit of peace and quiet was a big change from campus life.  “I loved being around so much nature because it reminded me of home,” Vierheller said. “Campus is so loud all the time, so I really liked the quiet. In addition stargazing with Tim was really cool!”

Before leaving for the Academy Sunday afternoon, students spent the morning with Tim, discussing the growth and maturity juniors will begin to experience in the coming semesters at the Gatton Academy in the Exploring Relationships session.

For some juniors, this year’s leadership retreat was a release from the stresses of a newfound college life, but for others the trip to Camp Loucon provided insight into the traits and habits that make us unique leaders. Amidst the beautiful hiking trails and serene lakeside of Loucon, its evident this camp experience will provide lasting lessons and memories for the future.

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By Corey Alderdice

WKU to Honor Gotts as 2011 “Family of the Year”

September 15, 2011 | News, People, Staff, WKU | No Comments

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Tim and Ellen Gott and their children have been named WKU’s 2011 Family of the Year.

The Gotts of Bowling Green will be recognized during Parent & Family Weekend activities and will be honored at halftime of Saturday’s WKU vs. Indiana State football game.

“We are deeply honored to be selected as the WKU Family of the Year,” Tim Gott said. “WKU is truly an integrated thread in our lives. Our relationship started here, our degrees are from here, we work here, and all of our children are attending here now.”

The Gotts graduated from WKU in 1985 and received their master’s degrees from WKU. Tim is director of the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky and is pursuing his doctorate in educational leadership; Ellen is teacher certification officer in the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences.

Their three children attend WKU — Andrew, a member of the Gatton Academy’s first graduating class, will complete his bachelor’s degree in physics and math in December; Emily is a sophomore in the Honors College majoring in entrepreneurship; and Ryan is a student at the Gatton Academy.

“With such an influence on our lives, we are eternally grateful for all that WKU has contributed to each of us,” Tim Gott said. “It is certainly our hope that we take what we have been given from the university and represent WKU as true ambassadors in all that we do. Go Big Red!”

Emily Gott nominated her family for the award, citing their WKU spirit and their impact on her college experience.

“A word that best describes my family would be dedicated,” she said in her nomination letter. “No matter what we are involved in, whether it be toward schoolwork, our weekly dinners at Fresh Foods or attending football and basketball games, we give 100 percent of ourselves. We work hard, enjoy our time together and embrace the Hilltopper spirit with everything we have.”

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By Gatton Academy

Academy Staff Learn About Gifted Student Strategies at Leadership Retreat

August 26, 2010 | News, People, Staff | No Comments

Gatton Academy Staff at the Annual Retreat
Gatton Academy Staff at the Annual Retreat

by Kelsey Wagner, Academy Avatar

The staff members of the Gatton Academy met for two days at the All Saints Center in Leitchfield, KY, on the Rough River for their annual Staff Retreat earlier this month. The retreat, held on August 12th and 13th, featured three sessions with Dr. Tracy Cross, the Director of Gifted Studies at William and Mary University.

Dr. Cross, a former director of the Indiana Academy of Mathematics and Science, provided the staff with a “deeper understanding of high-ability students, in terms of social-emotional needs as well as academic needs,” noted Tim Gott, director of the Gatton Academy and attendee of the staff retreat.

Dr. Christopher “Pokey” Bowen, Assistant Director of Counseling Services, described Dr. Cross as “humble, knowledgeable, and down-to-earth.” Dr. Bowen also said that meeting Cross was the highlight of the trip, which also included open discussions and a concert performance by Sean Giddings, musician and Academy Residential Counselor.

This year, the annual trip wasn’t as much of a team-building experience between staff members given the majority of the staff was returning, although it did “build connections and camaraderie” among them according to Gott. Its focus was placed more on the students and gaining a better understanding of the best way to communicate with gifted/talented students. The sessions were a learning experience, with information gleaned about suicide prevention and the traits of such students.

Staff members participate in a workshop focusing on the social and emotional needs of gifted students.
Staff members participate in a workshop focusing on the social and emotional needs of gifted students.

The retreat was somewhat of a turning point for the direction the staff of the Academy heading  into this new year in terms of the staff-to-staff and staff-to-student relationships. Bowen spoke of how meeting structure and communication between staff will become more inclusive. Also reported by Dr. Bowen were the staff’s plans for an “increase of communication with parents, students, and each other.”

After hearing Dr. Cross present his own research at the Staff Retreat, the staff and administration made plans to research gifted strategies themselves. In addition, Cross gave the Academy an informational binder full of resources and articles about teaching and fostering gifted students.

Of course, the retreat wasn’t all work and no play. Despite storms on the first day, Laura Huff, a new face this year and second floor RC, said that they also “hung out at the lodge, stayed up late, played cards, and went down to the river, and sat on the docks.”

Huff also met some members of the Academy personnel those two days. It was her first encounter with Pokey Bowen, Derek Strode, April Gaskey, and the coordinator for study skills, Keely P’Pool. Huff comments that she is “glad to be here,” and that she is looking forward to the upcoming school year. Gott agrees, reporting that the trip promoted “energy and synergy” and was a “good way to start a great year.”

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By Corey Alderdice

[Random Wandering] Neutrons, Networking, and New Possibilities

November 25, 2009 | News, Staff | No Comments

Tim Gott

by Tim Gott, Academy Director

What will the future look like?  I have been asking myself that question a lot these last few days.  It has been quite a week.  I have had the pleasure of meeting with peers from Vanderbilt, of discussing opportunities with leaders and decision makers from other state universities, of exploring potential partnerships with a leading industry in the Commonwealth, and of viewing a sample of the incredible scientific legacy of one of our finest national laboratories.  Each experience has fueled a fire within me to spread a gospel of hope.  We are living in one of the greatest times in history.  The accumulation of knowledge, the depth of resources, and the amazing creativity of the human mind have never been more primed than this moment in time.  Yet, we as a society have allowed ourselves to be distracted or discouraged from embracing this phenomenal opportunity.

As I walked through the offices of Lexmark and the labs of Oak Ridge, alongside students and colleagues, I was able to glimpse how far we have come in terms of technology and innovation in just the short span of my lifetime.  Simultaneously, I envisioned what the future will hold in the hands of these students.  I saw the light of promise in their eyes as they viewed the most powerful computer ever created and heard them discuss the next generation of possibilities.  I was moved by the passion I saw in the present leaders of these organizations and how it infused the lives of these future world changers, inspiring them to believe in the abundance of potential before them.

With this bold vision, comes a responsibility.  We who have seen the power of the present environment must convince those who have lost hope that the best is yet to come.  We must equip this generation of young people to engage in creative and critical thinking, to ask the insightful questions, and to persevere through challenges and setbacks.  We need to encompass them with a spirit of support and encouragement which will allow them to explore, to dream, to experiment, and yes, to stumble and fall.  For it is in the arena of trial and error, failed attempts, and renewed efforts that we will find those concepts, ideas, and creations that will impact our lives in the days ahead.

What will our future look like?  Cures for cancer and other illnesses?  What new forms of communication and transportation will arise?  What deeper understandings of our universe or the atom will we grasp?  If we will take the time to learn from our past, we can see that the rate of change in our lives is exponential.  In a relatively short time, we have embraced cell phones, internet, space travel, MRIs, and microwaves as common place.  The next ten years will be mind-boggling.  But the time is now, the place is here, and we are the ones who will do it.  The challenge is before us.  We have a choice: we can invest our time and energy in the meaningful work before us or we can waste our resources and the gains of our predecessors.  Let’s choose wisely and pass a bright torch forward to the ones ahead.

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By Corey Alderdice

[Random Wanderings] Being an Equipper of Skills

October 6, 2009 | News, Staff | No Comments

Tim Gott

by Tim Gott, Academy Director

People are always talking about how much has changed in their lifetime.  My grandmother is 95.  She has seen some changes.  Flight, a person on the moon, the phone evolution, television, microwave ovens, robots, medical technology, nanotechnology, calculators, computers, it can go on for days.  Talking with her recently, she shared the awe of seeing all of these things develop over her time on this planet.  It made me wonder: what are the next stages of change, how will it impact our lives, and who is going to lead the way?

As an educator for the past 25 years, my intentions have been to prepare students for this big adventure.  However, we all know about good intentions.  I have become increasing aware of the great chasm between what we are teaching students and what they are going to need to be successful in this ever-evolving global environment.  Reflecting on this dilemma, here are a few thoughts about what is needed:

  • We are unable to teach “all’ the content.  So we need to teach process:  How do we access information?  What can we do with that information?  How can we make decisions based on that information?
  • We need to be developing the right and left sides of the brain. Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind captures this extremely well.  We need to integrate creativity into the left-brain worlds of “conventional” math and science.  A linear approach to potential ideas will bring about some change; a nonlinear, outside-the-box approach is necessary for quantum leaps.
  • We need to embrace the concepts highlighted in Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers. It takes an incredible amount of work and effort to get to the point of expertise (10,000 hours).  Students must learn to break an academic sweat.  However, it is not just talent and hard work.  We need to create experiences for students to see the vast opportunities that presently exist so that they can envision possibilities yet to come.
  • Despite the need for major realignment of curriculum and procedures, there are some things that will never change.  We cannot lose sight of the need to develop relationship skills, ethical values, and leadership dynamics.  These principles will always be essential no matter the arena.

Many schools are beginning to explore these elements.  The struggle is the mindset that we won’t be able to cover all that we have traditionally taught if we add anything else.  The truth is we can’t do it now.  Yes, there are certain fundamentals that must be taught.  And we must embrace the exponential growth of new knowledge and experiences.  It cannot be an either/or.  The real shift is for education to stop being an information warehouse and dispenser and fully accept the role of being an equipper of skills that will enable students to be the masters of their own learning.

It isn’t a matter of “if” the next big innovation or discovery will happen; rather, it is about who will be prepared to make it.  Unless we invest in this concept, our students will be spectators and passive recipients in this dynamic process. Our students deserve to be out on the edge, blazing the trails, breaking the molds, and raising the bar.  Now is the time to act.

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By Corey Alderdice

[Random Wanderings] From This Vantage Point

August 30, 2009 | Staff, Uncategorized | No Comments

Tim Gott

by Tim Gott, Academy Director

I have a picture of Sierra Nevada from atop a hill in Grenada as my background on my computer.  It reminds me of several things:  the wonderful trip to Spain and Portugal; the incredible beauty of our world; and the infinite possibilities yet to be experienced.  As we begin another chapter of the Gatton Academy, this majestic view of a snow-topped mountain inspires me as we reflect on what lies ahead.  Every new start allows us to set the vision of where we want to go.  We see the vista, set our compass point, and begin a fresh leg of the journey.  From this vantage point, we are encouraged that there are awesome things on the horizon.  It is this awe that allows us to recharge the batteries for the work ahead.

Yes, the work ahead.  For one thing I am certain: nothing will be accomplished unless we diligently accept the tasks before us.  It is cliché but the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.  Our real challenge will be to remember the view of the mountain when we find ourselves trudging in the routines that are necessary and fundamental.  Yet, these steps can be embraced with purpose and joy when we hold onto the vision of our destination.

The irony will be that once you get to the top of the long slope, we will see another journey waits.  However, instead of seeing this as a disappointment, we actually are rejuvenated.  Even though it, too, is somewhat cliché, the real joy is in the journey.

With that said, I look forward to building relationships with each student and staff member this year.  We will have the opportunity to see some phenomenal things on the path before us.  As we invest ourselves into the coursework, research, service projects, and recreation, we will continue to equip ourselves for the road ahead.  There is no doubt that the view will be spectacular on the other side.

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By Corey Alderdice