Expand Your Personal Leadership Skills at Vermont’s Newest Governor’s Institute

• Four fascinating in-depth topics to choose between
• Plus experiential leadership training, and
• The same magic of every Governor’s Institute: living on a college campus, learning a ton, having fun, making new friends, and gaining a vision for your future!

For years, GIV has been running Winter Weekends with students focused on many topics sharing the same campus. Now, we’re expanding that model to an 8-day version – and adding experiential leadership training that will help you grow as a person as well as a scholar!

• Choose one topic that you’ll dive into in-depth with expert faculty, emerging with newfound skills and expertise
• Explore your innate leadership abilities and develop your own personal leadership style and portfolio of tools
• Get exposure to creative and interdisciplinary thinking on a wide range of topics
• Make new friends who may become friends for a lifetime.
• Gain confidence and insight for college – and even some automatic scholarships eligibility!

Alumni and high school juniors are particularly encouraged to apply.

• Architecture/Design/Build: Have you ever wondered how art or design influences the things you encounter daily in your life, from your toaster to your kitchen table to your home to your school building?  Got ideas about how to make products sleeker, more aesthetic or effective, or just better?  In this course you will: Explore the wide and exciting world of design and its applications around the globe; experiment with different types of materials and ways of making, including computer-aided and manual design, and get a first-hand understanding of future careers in architecture, landscape architecture, civil engineering, industrial design, and construction management.  Eager to build a better life for yourself and your community? Start here!  This course is taught by Norwich University’s renown School of Architecture and Art Faculty.
• Writing: Stories have power! The words and images you choose can touch hearts and topple kingdoms.  If you’ve ever thought about being a journalist, songwriter, poet, novelist, or non-fiction wordsmith, or you’re just interested in sharpening your media mojo, join us for this story-fueled woodshedding workshop.  We’ll try out lots of different storytelling formats, revise and refine our work for maximum potency, and complete one or more original pieces that we’ll help you get out into the world, spread, and published.

• Philosophy: Ever thought about thinking? Or about ethics, perception, or life itself?  Then you’ve engaged in Philosophy, the study of the nature of knowledge, reality, and existence.  In this course, we’ll take a deep dive into humans’ eternal quest to understand themselves and the world.  We’ll look at some of the biggest questions that have challenged thinkers throughout history, how various people and populations have tried to answer them, and about how we individually and as a society will respond to the fundamental mysteries that shape our world.  This course is taught by Norwich University’s Philosophy Faculty.
• Forensic Science: Love analyzing data and solving mysteries? Ever been curious how criminal science investigators do their thing?  Then this Institute is designed just for you!  Come explore forensic science, which involves things like shoeprint and blood spatter analysis and other tools used by professionals to re-create a crime scene.  Hone your skills and discover careers where your love of science makes the world a safer place!