Gov School Students' Favorite Activities!

by Jacob Eckelman and Ethan Lassiter

Massanutten Regional Governor's School offers many activities in our school days for students to enjoy. Not only are these activities fun, most of them are also educational and informative at the same time.

Group of MRGS juniors searching for macroinvertebrate

During class times students often do lots of hands-on activities, so research and field trips take the cake. There are always many field trips each year for the different grades at MRGS. Some examples of junior field trips this year include the river, the farm, food lion, and the canoe trip. The canoe trip is always a favorite activity done every year by MRGS students before school starts. It is an excellent way to get introduced to the other MRGS students and build lasting friendships.

MRGS students working on their car research project

At MRGS research is every Friday every week.. Research is also a great way to do hands-on learning that a lot of students at MRGS are passionate about. Some students have one year, and then some students will end up having a two-year project. These projects can be individual or group projects. These projects showcase the intellectual ability of different students and span many different categories.

MRGS Students During Break Eating Cereal

Break is also one of the students favorite activities. Break takes place between class changes everyday. During break, especially on Fridays, we have specialized days (for example national chips and salsa day).

Most students favorite activities at their home schools are participating in sports, clubs, and other extracurricular activities. A very popular sport among MRGS students is tennis. Julien, a Gov School Senior, says he’s “a big tennis guy.” In an interview with Gov School Junior Drew, he says, “I’m a big tennis fan myself, started playing last year. It’s a lot of fun.” When asked about losing a tennis match against Julien, Drew said, “He’s pretty good.” Clearly, MRGS is the home to many talented tennis players.

Drew Lankford serving in a tennis match

Tennis isn’t the only sport that is popular with Gov School students. Juniors Peyton and Asher and senior Rhett are all avid cross country runners with a very friendly rivalry. The runners even raced against each other in the Virginia State Cross Country Championships this year.

Peyton Kenee(632), Asher Ryan(88), and Rhett Armentrout(83) at the Cross Country State Championships

Many MRGS students also participate in their schools' golf teams. Gov School junior Javier says this about the impact the golf team made on him: “When I first got to my new school I thought there wasn’t a lot to do….” “Golf was actually quite interesting…,” and “Golf is probably my favorite school activity because you get to hang out with cool people and practice and perfect your skill.”

Javier Molina executing the perfect swing

Clubs and theater are the most popular activities at Gov School students' home schools, making up around half of the top answers in a poll. Gov School junior Morgan says she enjoys the poetry club offered at Broadway, and Gov School junior Gio says he enjoys being a part of Harrisonburg's Scholars Latino Initiative. Gov School junior Lucy says she enjoys being a part of her home school's theater program, and even made her way to the position of Stage Manager for her school's play.

Lucy Whitely preparing the stage for her school’s play