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GIV has offered life-changing learning adventures built on community and civic engagement since its inception in 1983.
GIV began in 1982 when Vermont’s Commissioner of Education and the Director of the Vermont Arts Council recognized an extraordinary deficiency in arts education in the state’s public schools. The Governor’s Institute on the Arts was established to address that need with the blessing of then-Governor Richard Snelling.
The new Arts Institute’s immediate impact made it apparent that Vermont’s high-potential students and young artists could benefit from opportunities to delve deeply into other topics generally unavailable in Vermont high schools. New Institutes focused on Science and Public Affairs, followed by Engineering, Asian Cultures, Environmental Science, Mathematics and Information Technology.
In recent years, several more Institutes have been added that focus on the intersection of student interests and Vermont’s workforce needs. As of 2023, GIV partners with seven Vermont colleges to hold eight residential summer Institutes serving over 500 young Vermonters each year. With contributions from many professionals, schools, business and organizational partners, the GIV Institutes harness the very best of Vermont’s resources to teach and inspire students to reach their full potential.
Since 1983, over 13,000 students have embraced the unique opportunity to deepen their educations through GIV, and GIV has become one of the longest-running Governor’s Schools in the country.
In 2023, we set out to make a film that captured GIV’s past, present, and future. In creating this film, we learned that GIV has certainly grown and evolved over the years, but the core principles of our mission and philosophies of education have stayed the same.
This the story of how GIV began, how it has grown, and how it continues to change the lives of young people 40 years later.
GIV is founded by Christine Graham, Steven Kaagan, Ellen Lovell, and Stephan Morse. Christine Graham is the organization’s first Executive Director.
The Arts Institute enrolls its first overflowing class of young people at Johnson State College with the direction of Susan Sgorbati.
The Institute on Global Issues & Youth Action (then called International Affairs) is created by John Ungerleider at the School for International Training, and the Science & Technology Institute begins at UVM.
Founding Executive Director Christine Graham is succeeded by David Gibson.
Jean Olson takes over leadership as GIV’s third Executive Director.
The Science and Technology Institute grows into two separate Institutes: Engineering and a new Science & Technology Institute based at UVM’s Geology Department.
With the support of the Freeman Foundation, Juefei Wang founds the Asian Cultures Institute at UVM.
The first Winter Weekend takes place at Middlebury College.
Two new GIV Institutes, one in Education and the other in Information Technology, are born.
One-day Artshops are introduced throughout the state. The Vermont legislature passes H.C.R. 120 recognizing GIV.
The Vermont State Math Coalition partners with GIV to create the Mathematical Sciences Institute.
Karen Taylor Mitchell becomes GIV’s fourth Executive Director in 28 years. The Jean Olson Endowment is created to honor its outgoing Executive Director who led GIV for 16 years.
GIV celebrates the milestone of serving 10,000 young people by embarking on an ambitious Board-led initiative to serve more deserving young Vermonters each year.
A sliding scale tuition model is introduced to make the Institutes more affordable for all Vermont families. GIV partners with the Farm to Plate Network to offer a brand new Special Topics Institute called Farms, Food and Your Future at Vermont Technical College.
GIV celebrates 30 years of providing world-class learning opportunities for high school students and young artists with an independently-supervised long-term alumni outcomes study.
GIV adds a new Entrepreneurship Institute while the IT Institute transforms into the Information Technology and Digital Media Institute, still at Champlain College.
Two popular new summer Institutes are offered, one in Writing through a partnership with Bennington College and the other in Astronomy in collaboration with the Northern Skies Observatory, the Fairbanks Museum, and Lyndon State College.
GIV launches a new summer Institute in Architecture, Design and Building with new partner Norwich University.
GIV launches a groundbreaking new summer Institute on Health and Medicine in partnership with Northern Vermont Area Health Education Center. Also in 2018, the family of the Math Institute co-founder endows that Institute in his name, and the Institute is rechristened the "Kenneth I. Gross and Tony Trono Governor's Institute of Mathematical Sciences."
The Information Technology Institute is renamed Technology, Design and Coding to reflect the way its curriculum has evolved to meet workforce needs. Institute Director John Ungerleider is recognized for his 30th summer leading the Current Issues and Youth Activism Institute and through a new partnership that Institute relocates to Landmark College.
GIV responds to COVID-19 by building and launching eight online summer Immersions in Arts, Astronomy, Engineering, Environmental Science, Global Issues and Youth Action, Health & Medicine, Mathematical Sciences and Technology and Design, and creates the Governor's Institute on Advanced Leadership, GIV's first extended-length online program.
Elizabeth Frascoia, a GIV alumna, becomes GIV's fifth Executive Director.
GIV celebrated its 40th Anniversary with a celebration in Castleton, featuring performances from GIV alumni Henry Jamison, Noah Young, Brittney Malik, and more! In addition to the celebration event, GIV created a 40th Anniversary Retrospective film with interviews of the organization's founders and Directors, honoring over 12,000 student alumni since its founding.
