Only At The Academy...
...can students cleverly kidnap my Gumby doll (used on many occasions in Russian class to demonstrate uni- and multi-directional verbs of motion), take him with us on our May Term trip to Russia, conceal him from me the entire time, and then send me a complete album of Gumby's adventures in Russia, some of the pictures taken literally behind my back!
...can students get so excited about using the correct verb of motion in the Russian language in a shop on Nevsky Avenue in St. Petersburg, Russia when dealing with the local shopkeepers.
...can the human story unfold in unexpected intellectual manners, in science, math and humanities as well as within research and colloquia, and in small clusters of humans – students and adults alike – communicating as intellectual peers at all hours of the Academy day.
...would silent reflection occur in humanities classes as texts are being scrutinized.
...do adult faculty and adult student life counselors pour their minds, hearts, souls (as well as pancreas, livers, kidneys, knees, elbows), sweat, and occasionally blood, into an extended formal and informal curriculum for students intellectual edification.
...can the statement "a school without walls" be a recognizable attribute of gifted education.
...does a concentrated, invigorating, challenging, time consuming, mind- and body-stressing environment zap a person's energy – students, student life counselors, faculty, staff, administrators – and also provide escalating lofty moments of astounding scholarly discovery and clarity, moments when the "ahas" of knowledge, of conceptualization, of analysis and evaluation, of synthesis, bring an exuberance unbridled, raw, and authentic.
...can students form a 'Multi-Variable Calculus Club', develop bylaws, elect officers and meet regularly.
...will an American Lit student read Emily Dickinson’s “Some keep the Sabbath going to church” and say, "Those were dangerous thoughts during the Great Awakening" when the Great Awakening had not yet been mentioned in the literature class.
...will a student invited to talk to a BSU English Education class about leaving a local high school to attend the Academy start by saying, "I was always the nail that had to be pounded down."
...will a burly male student in preparation for Lyp Sync attend class in a pink frilly prom dress and discuss Plato as on a "normal day."
...will a young woman reading Othello burst into tears and wail, "This is the saddest thing I have ever read."
...will students actually keep appointments during instructors' office hours.
...will a student apply to 22 colleges and universities because they are all so exciting.
...will five sizeable male students hide in a closet in the classroom before the instructor arrives, only to tumble out after five minutes of class gasping for air, BUT with their texts open to the right page.
...will a student prop herself on her backpack before class and say, "I sleep, therefore I am."
...will a student fret over trying to decide between being a fashion designer or an English professor.