HSLP 2010: Day 8, Saturday, July 17

High School Leaders Program Class of 2010
Day 8-Saturday, July 17
Recorded by: Ethan Pompeo, Charlottesville

Today was an easy day, with only three and a half hours in the classroom. I chose to sleep through breakfast today and wake up to lunch (it was served in my room today) and proceeded to head to class directly afterward. Today was the start of the second half of our session here at Sorensen, and I was happy to find that our new professor, Dr. Bragaw, was energetic and had very interesting material to offer us.

Dr. Bragaw started out the class today by calling on students and asking them what they thought about last night's reading. The reading mainly consisted of editorials from Newspapers like the Washington Post and The Examiner. One explored the differences between Montgomery County and Fairfax County, while another discussed why the Fortune's 500 company Northrop Grumman chose to place their headquarters in Virginia rather than D.C. or Maryland- "because it costs less to run a business in Virginia".

After class we all returned to Bice where we enjoyed a delicious lasagna dinner. Afterwards, some other students and I ventured to Arch's Ice Cream Parlor and CVS to get some dessert and some drinks. We sat on the lawn, enjoyed our edible investments, and fervently discussed politics and our personal views. I resolved that it was a good thing that Sorensen ran for two weeks, because if it were over today we would not have had a chance to hear the logical -and in one case radical- viewpoints of our peers.

Many of us chose to use today as our "laundry day", taking advantage of the large amount of free time that was available to us. While we were astounded that the machines sucked up three dollars in an instant to wash and dry our clothes, we were ultimately relieved that the stink in our rooms were taken care of. Finally, several of us decided to go on a long night-run tonight. We started off in one large group, however half way through the run we had unconsciously divided up into three groups. We ran a total of approximately five miles.

Overall, today was a fun day. We learned a lot from our new teacher and learned a little bit about what it feels like to be a college student. We're all learning a lot and having a great time as well.

High School Leaders Program Class of 2010
Day 8-Thursday, July 17
Recorded by: Cari Lutkins, Potomac Falls

Wow! Halfway through this two weeks here at UVa! It seems like we've all known each other forever, because we have been with each other nonstop for seven days now! It's bittersweet to think that we only have a week left here, and the program is just rushing through, so we barely notice each day passing. Even today just flew by, and I'm amazed that I'm sitting here writing this blog about my day.

I woke up today, and was relieved to see the clock saying 10:09 a.m. Three extra hours of sleep is really what we need, because we have been just been working nonstop, from policy group meetings at 7 a.m., to reading group meetings from 11 p.m. to 12 a.m. Catherine, Nicole, and I decided to go out in Charlottesville and just enjoy the beautiful morning. We went to a little shop called Duo, which is part boutique, part secondhand shop. We had an awesome time there, spending an hour of just pure shopping! When we told the boys, we got the normal response: "I just don't get it. How can you spend an hour trying things on and looking at the same clothes over and over?" Well, somehow Nicole, Catherine, and I manage!

For our 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. class today, we were introduced to Dr. Bragaw, our new professor for the upcoming week. Dr. Bragaw is a professor at Sweet Briar College, teaching Political Science. It was a treat for all of us to meet and get acquainted with Dr. Bragaw, but he wasted no time with chit-chat! We dove right into the material and were soon challenged by discussion with our classmates about one of the articles we read as homework, "Tale of Two Counties", from the Washington Post. We were asked to discuss the article's presentation of the great divide between Fairfax and Montgomery county. Currently, Fairfax is thriving, while Montgomery is an economic crisis, and we were confronted with the facts and statistics about both counties.

Soon after class, I met with my policy group, and we quickly got to quietly tapping away at our laptops, busy and working hard in order to meet our deadline on Tuesday. It was amazing how we all sat around one table, but barely any words were exchanged, and all you could hear were people tapping on their keyboards, and Mac's occasional Miley Cyrus playing from his headphones (Sorry, Mac!). The group started out this week with a lot of heated discussions, but now we are really working together and are all in it for the task at hand.

I was really in for a treat when my grandparents came to visit me here, and we went out to dinner with my closest three friends here! Mac, Mary Gray, and Locher all accompanied me to the Mellow Mushroom with my grandparents for some of the best pizza in Charlottesville. There wasn't a silent minute at the table, with talks about the program, politics, and everything embarrassing about me that you could possibly bring up! (Just kidding, I'm very lucky that I persuaded them not to bring out the baby pictures!!) Dinner was the highlight of my day- getting to see my grandparents and being in the company of great friends.

Although the minutes and hours can sometimes go by slowly, the days are speeding by like crazy. I cannot wait for the upcoming week, and to see what Dr. Bragaw has in store for us, and spending another week here at UVa, my favorite place in Virginia.