A students’ perspective on the value of NJGSET
Students’ jaws are dropping as an instructor from the Governor’s School teaches them about the mathematics behind infinity. They’re hanging back in Modern Physics lectures to discuss the ramifications of general relativity with the professor. They can be found on their dorm room floors assembling robots and writing code. This, and much more, is all in a day’s work for the average New Jersey Governor’s School of Engineering & Technology (NJGSET) student.
NJGSET is a four-week summer program for high achieving and gifted high school juniors with an interest in engineering and technology. NJGSET is free for all students, which means that the most qualified students can attend regardless of socioeconomic status.
Wesley Yin, a summer 2011 student, noted “My favorite part of GSET was the people… Every other program I’ve been to has been a ‘pay to get in’ type of thing. GSET was different for two reasons: 1) It’s selective, and 2) It’s free, so people from all different sorts of backgrounds could attend. I think that sort of diversity made it great. We were all smart, driven kids from all different racial and financial backgrounds and all have an interest in science, engineering, and math. I learned a lot in the classes and projects and from speakers, but I learned a lot from my peers as well.”
Ava Chen, also a student from 2011, agrees with Yin. “The intellectual and social vibrancy really caught me off guard. My expectations for an engineering summer program hugely differed from the energetic spirit that I encountered at GSET. Both as scholars and as friends, the students were all not only driven, but also endlessly intriguing and fun to be around – a pleasant surprise.”
NJGSET students are the strongest math and science minds in the state of New Jersey, but besides their intelligence, they are also incredibly talented and well-rounded. NJGSET students can show off their skills at a Talent Show each year, where featured acts have included dancing, singing, playing musical instruments, reciting the Quran from memory, and juggling. The Art Show gives students a chance to showcase their creative abilities; paintings, drawings, and other forms of art were on display for all of the students to view. As a student and staff member, Cristina was absolutely amazed by the NJGSET students’ talents and abilities both in and out of the classroom. There is also much more to NJGSET than a general classroom-academic experience.
Not only do NJGSET students learn theories and facts, but they also learn and see ways to implement their knowledge in the real world. NJGSET students do research projects and visit engineering companies during the program. The research project gives students a chance to be hands-on and apply their knowledge, and the tours give students a preview of engineering in the real world. This past summer, some of the featured tours included Bloomberg, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, the Federal Aviation Administration, and PSE&G.
Pallavi Koppol, a student from 2011, said, “I liked the tours because it’s one thing to learn about a subject/area in a classroom; it’s something totally different to actually see it implemented. I wouldn’t have had that opportunity on my own.”
Cristina, a former NJGSET student, is studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, and has found that her NJGSET experience has better prepared her for college than anything she did in high school. The introductions she had to MATLAB programming and SolidWorks design proved useful in her first-year courses. The classes that the students take and the research project that they are involved in give them better insights into their own skills and interests. Some say that their high school could not provide them with proper tools to prepare them to study engineering in high school. Cristina says, “Without NJGSET, I don’t know where I would be right now, and I know many of my peers feel the same way.” NJGSET students attend some of the most prestigious universities in the nation each year, and their experience during the program is what helped to get them there. NJGSET is a unique, irreplaceable opportunity for each scholar that cannot be replicated.
