In the coming weeks, six hundred high school students will attend a Governor’s Institutes of Vermont (GIV) intensive summer program, according to a news release June 13. They will spend 1-2 weeks on a college campus diving deeply into career-oriented topics with peers from around the state, studying the arts, engineering, entrepreneurship, environmental science and technology, global issues and youth action, health and medicine, mathematical sciences, and technology and design.
Started in the early 1980s with the Arts Institute to fill an unmet need, GIV has since added Institutes that focus on the intersection of student interests and Vermont workforce needs. This year alone, 140 students will attend the Health & Medicine Institute, produced in partnership with Vermont’s Area Health Education Centers. They will earn stackable credentials like the Vermont Emergency First Responder (VEFR) and jump on a pathway to important and needed jobs in the state.
Since its inception, over 13,000 students have embraced the opportunity. In a survey of long-term outcomes, 88% of alumni said it was one of the most important experiences of their teen years.
GIV alum Meara Seery grew up in Brattleboro and now works as the digital producer for Senator Bernie Sanders, and also serves as the current Miss Vermont. GIV was the first place she worked with video production. She said: “I fully credit The Governor’s Institute on the Arts for spearheading my career and changing the trajectory of my profession as an artist. It gave me the motivation and inspiration to follow my talents and the knowledge that YOU CAN have a successful career in the arts.”
GIV aim to launch hundreds of young scientists, artists and entrepreneurs to become the changemakers of our future.
Thanks to generous individual, business, and foundation donors, GIV is able to provide a sliding scale financial aid model where no student is ever refused on the basis of cost. In fact, more than 75% of students receive tuition assistance. The Governor’s Institutes of Vermont is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that welcomes business sponsorships and individual donations to help fund GIV’s efforts.
For more information, visit: giv.org.
