By:  Niven Achenjang

Thanks to some extra funding, The Gatton Academy will be expanding from roughly 120 students to around 200 students. With this expansion comes the need for more space, so Florence Schneider Hall – Gatton’s residence hall – is currently being renovated and built upon. In the meantime, Gatton has moved to Bates this year.

As expected, living in Bates is different from living in Schneider. One of the more stark differences, is the lack of Schneider’s floor culture in Bates. In Schneider, each of the four floors had its own personality and students often built their strongest friendships with people on their floor. We all still interacted with people outside of our floor, but many of us felt closest to those on the same floor. Moving to Bates, the majority of boys live on the third floor, the majority of girls live on the second floor, and relatively few boys and girls live on the first floor – separated by a lobby. This has weakened the strong sense of floor culture that was apparent at Schneider, but at the same time, it has allowed people to spend more time with those who lived on different floors last year.

Another thing missing from Bates is common rooms. In Schneider, each floor had a large common room in the middle where people would often hang out, play some games, do homework, etc. At Bates, there are no common rooms on floor. In fact, all of the common space is on first floor: the lobby, the classroom, and the ping pong room. This can be seen as a positive or a negative. Less common space means, well, less common space – less space to hang out. It also means, however, that people are easier to find if you are looking for them and that different groups of people are more likely to be in the vicinity of each other and spend time with each other.

Compared to those two, most of the changes that moving to Bates presented are minor. We no longer have an elevator, but flights of stairs are short so it is not a big deal; we are farther from classes, but closer to food so the merit of that depends on priorities; etc. In the end, how you view the switch to Bates for the year is up to your point of view.

By:  Niven Achenjang

One of the most dreaded aspects of high school is the school food. At the Academy, this same sentiment does not hold. Being able to live on a university campus for your last two years of high school is great, but not just for the challenging courses. Arguably better than the academic advantages of Gatton are its nourishment advantages.

On WKU’s campus are several places to eat with a variety of foods. Want some pizza? Check out Papa John’s or Da Vinci’s. Looking for a good burger? Try Steak & Shake or Burger Studio. In the mood for chicken? We have Chick Fil-A and Popeye’s. If you are craving something a little bit healthier, then consider Subway, Burrito Bowl, or Fresh Foods. All eating options on campus – not just the ones listed here – offer better food than your typical high school.

To make things better, most of it is essentially free. Every week, as a Gatton student, we get 19 meal swipes. Nearly all places on campus have value meals. These are pre-chosen meals offered by the restaurant that cost a single meal swipe. Most of them are a food item (6-in sub, slice of pizza, chicken sandwich), a side (cookies, breadsticks, fries), and a fountain drink. Some restaurants go a step further and let you pay for items off of the value meal using multiple meal swipes. The value of a meal swipe is $3.45 so I could, for example, get a brownies from Papa John’s – which cost $6.00 – for two meal swipes. In addition to the meal swipes, we also receive 75 meal plan dollars which can be spent on any food item on campus, and roll over between Fall and Spring semesters.

Finally, not all academy dining is done on campus. Gatton students often eat in town, getting to their restaurants via either walking or a suburban driven by an RC. Bowling Green has many more restaurants than most cities of its size, so eating off campus is a great way to try something new or different. The only drawback is you have to use real money. No matter where you are eating though, you will agree that food here trumps food at most high schools.

By:  Niven Achenjang

The Gatton Academy is well known for its academics and while people are not surprised to hear talk of its challenging courses, research opportunities, or study abroad trips, there is little talk of the Gatton community, and, more specifically, of sports at the Academy.

Attending the Academy are athletes of many walks. We have students who run, play tennis, play Frisbee, play basketball, fence, or enjoy one of a host of other sporting events. Most mornings, you can find us leaving the hall and running around campus or out towards town. Most evenings, we head towards Preston to play Frisbee, work out, or play basketball. I speak specifically of these because they are what I do; however, it does not take much asking around to find someone who plays one of the other aforementioned sports.

Regarding sports, there is always the question of sports outside of Gatton. In coming to Gatton, many of us had to choose to leave an athletic team at our home school. While we cannot compete with them anymore competitively, it is always ok to meet up with our previous team and play a pick-up game together non-competitively.

If someone is a hardcore competitor and is not satisfied with relaxed games, then they can compete in WKU’s intramural sports. For example, we had both soccer and basketball teams last year, and we will have both again this year. Being on an intramural team allows students to see how they compare with people older them, and motivates them to get better. Despite being an academic school, our intramural teams can do fairly well; our soccer team last year only lost one game.

It is important to mention that there is no fixed “norm” for sports at the Academy. More than likely, there will always be people who play basketball, Frisbee, or soccer, but you do not have to play any of those (except maybe Frisbee), and you can play something else. There are a lot of students at the Academy so chances are that you can find someone with similar athletic interests. If you cannot, then you can probably find a WKU student who shares your love of your favorite sport. Getting a game of any sport started is as simple as asking around to see if anyone wants to play it, and then actually going to play it.

After finishing my last final of the spring semester, having overcome a beast of a 10-page CS (computer science) paper, 18 hours of difficult classes (plus seminar), and the highest levels of procrastination and laziness I have ever experienced in my life, I was ready for summer vacation. I needed the break not only to ease off and forget about class, but also to take a step back and process everything I had gone through the previous year. In one year, I had moved 3 hours away from my parents, began new, close friendships, learned more than I had in any previous year, and matured a great deal.

Looking ahead to what this year holds, I expect it will be full of excitement, trials, and of course, new experiences. I look forward to being able to take more advance courses, and plan on learning from the mistakes I made last year. As an example, I plan on managing my time better. During junior year, I spent little time being productive and did not put in much effort to get to know everyone; I hope this year to more responsibly divide my time and to spend it with a larger range of people. In addition to this, I look forward to the memories, both seen and unforeseen, that I will inevitably make. I expect to play my first intramural sport at WKU, do a research project, and meet a host of new people; these all feel like they will be very memorable experiences.

Throughout this blog, I have spoken more about what I do than about who I am. Simply put, I am a guy who enjoys math, computer science, sarcasm, and physical activities. Without going into too much detail about myself, if you want someone to talk math and CS with, you need someone to play Frisbee with, you want to go running with someone, or you just want to share a joke with someone, I’m your man.