Imagine the Columbus riverfront with niche boutiques, restaurants and major big-box retailers. Imagine loft apartments and other housing. Imagine a year-round carnival and a boardwalk area where families can shop, live and play.
That”s the way high school junior Rachel Brown envisioned the city when she designed her ideal “utopia” this week as part of a class assignment for Mississippi Governor”s School, a three-week residential honors program for high school students which ended Friday at Mississippi University for Women.
Brown, currently a resident of Edinburg, Texas, grew up in Columbus. She said she always loved the small-town feel, and she didn”t want to lose that in the design she created for Michael Seymour”s “Create Your Own Utopia: A Community Design Exploration” class.
The playfulness of her design is a hallmark of the annual program, which gives academic standouts the opportunity to experience collegiate life and mingle with fellow students around the state.
During their three weeks in Columbus, juniors and seniors from across Mississippi lived in dorms and attended special Governor”s School classes at MUW. The theme of this year”s program, which was held June 5-24, was “Courage to Risk.”
The classes ran the gamut of interests, from Seymour”s architectural design course to classes on film-making, forensics, magazine publishing, the philosophy of death and dying and more.
Kelley Kohler, who lives in Ocean Springs and took Seymour”s class because she wants to be an architect, said besides the novelty of the classes, Governor”s School offered another valuable opportunity as well: The chance to be with true peers.
“You”re able to be yourself, and you don”t have to worry about being nerdy or weird,” Kohler said. “I made so many friends.”
As Seymour watched his students finishing up their final projects, he smiled, noting that this was his first year to teach Governor”s School, and he”s glad he participated.
“It”s been a lot of fun,” Seymour said. “Being honors students, they”re fairly eager. It”s good for them to be with other kids like them. In their high schools, they may not have a lot of peers. Here they see other people like them, and it”s good for them. They”re smart, and quick, and fun to work with.”
He said the purpose behind the unorthodox class was not only to introduce the students to architecture, but also to make them think about the impact of design on people”s daily quality of life.
For Melanie McCoy though, it was also an enlightening experience in a different way.
“I learned I should not be an architect, because I”m way too messy,” she quipped.
“That means you should be an architect,” Seymour retorted.
“It”s not my forte,” she replied. “But I”m glad I did it. We had a lot of freedom to design anything we wanted, which is something you don”t get in high school.”
The Mississippi Governor”s School was established in 1981 by Gov. William F. Winter. Its purpose is to offer academic, creative and leadership experiences for high school students in a collegiate setting.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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