Summer Scholars

     January or February of my junior year, I received a letter in the mail from Furman. I'd gotten mail from them before, but I'd never been so excited to get something from them as I was when I got this letter! It was a letter telling me all about the Summer Scholars program at Furman. I could stay for either one or two weeks on campus and take classes led by Furman professors. Do you think I signed up? Heck yeah I did! Within an hour or two of opening the mail, in fact.
      I've known since eighth grade that I wanted to go to Furman. So when I received the letter about Summer Scholars, I saw it as a great chance to spend some time on campus and see how I liked being away from home for a few weeks. Also, it gave me a great chance to interact with some of Furman's faculty and to meet other people who were interested in going to Furman, too.
      Six months later when it came time to head to Furman, I didn't know what to expect. I was beyond excited, but I was nervous, too. Would I have a good roomie? Would I make friends? What if I didn't like Furman as much after my visit? Then what?
      What I got was two of the best weeks of my life! The first week I took a class called Live Well where I learned about nutrition and fitness. Dr. Frazier, my professor, was amazing! She had so much to teach us and even invited us to her house at the end of the week to cook healthy foods and to have lunch.
      The second week, I took a class for students interested in going into the medical field. It was awesome as well! It was led by Dr. Banisaukas and Mrs. Ybarra who help guide Pre-med students at Furman. We learned so much during the week, but the highlight was our visit to the newly built Greenville Medical School. We got a tour and saw all of their nice facilities, but even more exciting, we got to dissect a cadaver knee! One of the doctors from the hospital showed us how to use the laparoscopic equipment and then he let us operate the tools ourselves!
      Besides the two awesome classes I took, I made friends that I will always cherish. My roommate, Maggie, was from Kalamazoo, Michigan. We got along so well together and stayed up late almost every night chatting. I met lots of other people, but my main friends were the other two-weekers. We spent a lot of time together, especially over the weekend between the two sessions, and we got really close. The cool thing is that a lot of the people I met are coming to Furman this fall, so I already have friends on campus.
      I also made friends with the camp counselors. Each class had a counselor or two to lead us around, and they hung out with us during the week(s). All of the counselors were either current or recently graduated Furman students, so I'm sure I will see some of them around campus in the fall.
      Summer Scholars was a great experience for me. I made friends, learned about Furman and Greenville, and made connections with Furman's faculty. To give you an idea of the environment at Furman, I saw all three of the faculty I had met last summer at orientation this summer, and they all remembered me. It's true that Furman is like a family, and as I reminisce about my past fond memories at Furman, I look forward to being a part of Furman this fall and making lots more memories!