15-Minute Catch-Up with Governor's School People: Recent Episodes
Ian Miller
A casual, quick (15-minutes or less) catch-up with alumni and former faculty from the Maggie Walker Governor's School and/or Thomas Jefferson Governor's School for Governmental and International Studies (GSGIS) in Richmond, Virginia. A video version of these interviews is available at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYPAx_4G3Fs7fs6RjXDuT17GhlqEjJ1Ef (Note: some interviewees may opt out of video recording).
Sam shares his path from wanting to be a professional musician to getting directly involved with helping kids continue learning during the pandemic by offering free educational material through his company. Sam also jumped into the debate around admissions testing as it relates to Governor's School and he expands on his thoughts here.
This episode marks the end of Season 1 for this podcast, but I've already begun work on Season 2. Some folks have suggested guests for Season 2 and you can go to the Facebook post to see who's been suggested so far, like/vote for your favorites and add your own suggestions.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/GovernorsSchoolAlumni/permalink/10158561859567217/
Jamey may be one of the easiest alums to research/google/catch up on as he has been producing new content every few days for the last several years. He's also had a lot of success in running a small board game company, Stonemaier Games, that produces the popular games Wingspan, Scythe and Viticulture (among many others).
Jamey talks about something that many of us discover post-school: despite being grateful for a good education, most of what he uses on a daily basis are skills that are self-taught. He also relays his mixed emotions about how well board games are doing in quarantine.
If you want (a lot) more of what Jamey's doing and thinking, written in a very brief, entertaining format, you can find some of his content here:
- His business blog which is a great read for other entrepreneurs and creators: https://stonemaiergames.com/e-newsletter/blog/
- His personal blog where he writes reviews of pop culture, food and where he streams his personal thoughts: https://jameystegmaier.com/
- His YouTube is mostly for reviews and thoughts on board games, specific mechanics he likes and the like. If you're either a board game nerd looking for a new game or if you're considering designing a game, this is a valuable trove of info: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCowWjmYzhSTC4YZ--ZnaYNw
Frau Dawn Grois saw a LOT of Governor's School from the very first class to enter the school through to the current pandemic and 10 administration changes. She has a unique perspective on seeing the school change throughout the years as the German teacher. For most students who took four years of German at Governor's School (for those who chose German as their primary language of study), she's the only teacher that stayed with them all four years.
In this interview, Frau Grois recalls some of the style changes through the changing of administrations, the unique needs of gifted students (including her own son who attended Governor's School) and she tells us the story of how all the Strand papers disappeared one year.
Note: I failed to keep this episode around 15 minutes (it ended up being 20 minutes) because there's just too much rich content. I couldn't bear to cut anything else out.
Reggie Davenport taught Physics at the Governor's School from 1994 to 1998 and is now Principal of Glen Allen High School. In this interview he talks about his path to becoming a teacher, the transition from being a teacher to being an administrator. He also talks about how he's adapted this year with the onset of Covid-19 to keep his staff positive and flexible and how he's making sure kids don't slip through the cracks.
After graduating from Governor's School, Elana Delozier went on to pursue a career that's intensely focused on International Relations. Elana's LinkedIn gives us a sense, very quickly, that she's invested deeply in this focus.
Her current title is Research Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Elana very recently released The Yemen Matrix that describes the complex relationships between factions in Yemen.
You can follow Elana's on Twitter at @ElanaGulf
Audrey discusses how she found her way to a career in HR: attending school in Florida, living in Georgia and returning back to Richmond to work for the government. We talk about how we wish we had more personal finance content in our high school curriculum and how we're not making good use of our foreign language studies (but we mostly blame that on not being able to travel). Audrey's message to alums and students alike: Don't fear change and don't stress if you don't find your career path right away, just find something that balances your passion with being able to take care of yourself financially.
George shares his path to becoming a Managing Director at Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) where he takes multi-million dollar grants from corporations (including a recent commitment from Costco and Boeing) and works with local governmental organizations to determine how to make those funds work for underinvested companies and communities which often overlaps with minority-owned businesses.
I remember George as one of the most affable and optimistic people I went to school with. That hasn't changed at all. He describes how despite the tragic events and general unrest this year, he's mostly excited about the enthusiasm for change that he's seeing. George describes how he's currently raising funds for a Black Economic Development Fund. Prior to this year, he didn't think it would be possible to have a viable fund that was branded as Black, but the energy poured into addressing racial inequities made that possible.
Chris Shannon taught English and Theater at The Governor's School from 1997 to 2002. She tells us what she's up to now and how she transitioned from teaching in public school to helping people become more financially educated and capable. She also tells the story of her secret engagement to Mr. Rothman while they were both teaching at The Governor's School.
Shweta shares:
Finding a calling in psychology and social work
Advocating for underserved people getting into college
Awakening to an intersectional marginalized identity
Hope for addressing our country's racial and class inequities
Ginny describes her journey since graduating including a struggle with an eating disorder, meeting her husband in recovery, finding her place in a design career and being a mother of two.
Cameron shares how her life changed so dramatically that doctors suspected she may have a brain tumor. After graduating from the Governor's School in 2012, she became a born-again Christian and found her calling in becoming a foster parent.
This is the extended version of my interview with Matthew Carter - Class of 1995.
Part of the very first graduating class of Governor's School (Class of 1995), Matthew Carter shares his life's big moments including producing his own Covid-19 interfaith Zoom wedding ceremony. We also revisit the 2009 Facebook phenomenon of "25 Things," discuss how Matthew is involving himself in the 2020 elections and we talk about how Matthew has gotten so darned good at language.
Matthew initially joins via cell phone and later via his computer so the audio quality varies throughout.
Video version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnnV8W2432Q
Part of the very first graduating class of Governor's School (Class of 1995), Matthew Carter shares his life's big moments including producing his own Covid-19 interfaith Zoom wedding ceremony. We also revisit the 2009 Facebook phenomenon of "25 Things," discuss how Matthew is involving himself in the 2020 elections and we talk about how Matthew has gotten so darned good at language.
Matthew initially joins via cell phone and later via his computer so the audio quality varies throughout.
This interview sticks to the strict 15-minute time limit that I impose on myself. There was good content that I had to cut for time, so this will be the first episode where I also release a longer version that I've only edited for continuity. These longer episodes will be released as "bonus" episodes.
Video version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAgrvVdWBvo
Tanim Islam, Class of 1997, shares his love for challenging physics problems, how he's grown more confident in his adulthood and revisits the best way to blow up The Sun.
Note: You may hear Tanim's parrot making a guest appearance at points in the interview. The Youtube video is worth watching to get the full effect.
Some of Tanim's relevant links:
- https://github.com/tanimislam/covid19_stats - Covid-19 data visualization project
- https://github.com/tanimislam/howdy - Plex server management tools
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Carlo_N-Particle_Transport_Code - Brief description of his reference to Monte Carlo Particle Transport and it's applications
Abigail Olson shares the story of realizing her lifelong dream of becoming a commercial truck driver, lending her support to changing federal legislation and writing a book.