It's not often that you come across a residential high school, much less one that is designated for the arts. Luckily, I found out about the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities during middle school.

As a non-athletic musician, I felt like an oddball going to schools with huge athletic programs and minimal arts curricula. This strange school in Greenville seemed like a refreshing change, as there were no sports to distract from the arts programs.

When I was old enough to audition, I applied as a rising sophomore for violin, and I was accepted. For the next three years of high school, I was part of an environment where students from all five art areas- music, dance, drama, visual arts, and creative writing- studied academics in the morning and practiced their craft until the late hours of the evening.

Throughout the year, students would showcase their work through readings, productions, recitals, or galleries depending on the art area. As a part of our humanities curriculum, we were required to blog about a showcase in each art form, which helped us become well-rounded thinkers who were able to appreciate art other than our own.

The majority of the students were juniors and seniors, but there were a few sophomores enrolled either for instrumental music or dance. All students were South Carolina residents, an admissions requirement. Some lived ten minutes away in Greenville, while others lived four hours away in Myrtle Beach.

We all were required to live on campus in dormitories. We ate in the cafeteria three times a day seven days a week, but when we had free time, we could sign out in a buddy system to go downtown to eat, hang out, and enjoy beautiful Falls Park. There were also daily Residential Life activities ranging from ultimate frisbee to traveling off campus to nearby places like Gravitopia, Chick-Fil-A, and the Haywood Mall. Not only did we have opportunities to get off campus with fellow students, aka "Govies," but we could also sign out with family members and friends through an approved driver's list and an overnight form. That way, local students could go home on the weekends if they so desired. For those who lived farther away from school, there was an extended break almost every month, which required all students to go home.

While there were strict residential rules and we could not have cars on campus, I felt that many aspects of the Governor’s School mirror those of the college I’m attending. Although many colleges are co-Ed, I am attending an all-girl school, and I'm already used to single-Ed dorms at SCGSAH. I have lived with a roommate for the past three years with suite-style bathrooms, so I am quite comfortable living with other people.

Also, having lived away 40 minutes from home, I'll actually be closer to home at my college in Spartanburg; nevertheless, the Governor's School taught me how to live away from home and from my parents, who usually did the laundry and helped me manage my time. At Govie, I, alone, had to make time for practicing, exercising, homework, club activities, and a social life. It seemed nearly impossible in my sophomore year to become involved on campus and succeed academically and artistically; but with a great support system of RLCs (like college RAs), faculty, and students, I have become more independent and hard working over the years.

The liberal arts approach to education at the Governor’s School was really beneficial because I don’t want to be limited to one subject in college. I am trying to double major in violin performance and biochemistry at Converse because not only do I love science and music, but I want to keep my career options open in a forever-changing society.

One thing I loved about my high school is that the teachers were supportive of whatever path you chose -- academic or artistic. The Governor's School led me through a pre-professional music program accompanied by challenging academic courses and extracurricular activities. I will have many of the same music classes in college as a performance major, like music theory and ensemble rehearsals. Academics will be more difficult, especially starting with Calculus Three at nine in the morning, but I still feel more prepared for the workload because of the AP and Honors courses made available at SCGSAH. I was very involved on campus at my high school as a student council member, service club officer, and honor council member among other things.

There are many similar organizations at Converse, so it won't be a completely foreign experience running for office or going to club meetings. Furthermore, because there were only around 220 students in my high school, and there are around 800 undergraduates in my college, I feel that the student community will be very tight-knit, just as it was with my Govie family. And with the small class sizes, I anticipate that I will become close to my teachers just like I did at Govie; after all, I became friends with many of them on Facebook following graduation.

So to wrap this up... Attending a residential high school away from old family and friends was terrifying and exciting. College is much the same way but maybe more terrifying because of the workload and the fact that we actually have to figure out what we want to do with our lives. But now, after having lived away from home, filling out applications for colleges and scholarships with minimal parental advice, and making my own schedule accommodate my artistic and academic studies, I am much less fearful of the future. I am now more determined than ever to use the skills I developed in boarding school to make college a more fulfilling experience.

Thank you, Govie, for everything.