Dear Arkansas Legislators,

Your attempts to reform Arkansas Governor’s School may seem justified, but you do not realize what is truly at stake. The tradition, the creative outlet and the sense of academic freedom the program provides are essential.

But it isn’t the program you want gone, it’s us. Our ideas, our innovation, our adventure, our sense of the world. It isn’t the teachers, it’s the freedom we are given. It’s that our thoughts aren’t monitored in a classroom for 8 hours, it’s that for once, you have little control over what we think and say.

Every year, Arkansas Governor’s School hosts Arkansas’ best and brightest students, and I had the fortunate chance of being chosen. Over the course of six weeks, I found myself through having the opportunity to live like a college student and think freely. Stopping Governor’s School will not stop college or the fact that these students are the next leaders. Our agenda was never set by an adult, it was set by what we see in society. The obsession with changing Governor’s School is fueled by your fear for what we are capable of.

Though there have been other attempts to “fix” Governor’s School, they’ve all failed. The children of this generation are resilient. We do not take “no” for an answer, this world is ours to own. In the words of Maya Angelou, “[We] are a black ocean, leaping and wide, welling and swelling [we] bear in tide.” We are the change we want to see in the world.

You can try to change the program, the teachers or even the environment, but we the students will never change. You will never change our beliefs, our minds or our purpose.

Yours Truly,

Dahlia Bray

AGS Class of 2017