April 11th, 2008

Dear Governor's School Parent,

     Congratulations on your son's/daughter's admission to the 2008 New Jersey Governor's School of Engineering and Technology. It is a great honor and a testament to all of your hard work as a parent in addition to your child's excellent academic and extracurricular dedication. We were very impressed by his/her application and look forward to getting to know you and your scholar over the course of this summer's program.

     We're sure you're wondering about the next steps. Your child should log on to the 2008 GSET (Governor's School of Engineering and Technology) registration site by April 18th (using the username and password provided in their acceptance letter) in order to secure their spot in the program. We will be e-mailing you and your student a full information packet by May 1st. This packet will contain logistical information, suggestions of what your child should bring, and more detailed information on our academic program. Between now and the start of the program, we will e-mail additional information to your child as it becomes available, so please encourage them to check their email regularly (although knowing the type of students who come to a program like this, you probably wish that they would check their email less frequently!).

      Students will be moving in to the Allen Dormitory on Rutgers University's Busch Campus in Piscataway, NJ on the morning of Sunday, June 29th. More detailed information about check-in, including directions, will be included in the May 1st mailing. Students must remain in residence for the duration of the program (June 29-July 19, 2008). Visitors will only be permitted on the first Sunday afternoon, and will be limited to immediate family members for safety reasons.

     Since this year's residential program will run only 3 weeks, rather than the usual 4 weeks, we will be asking the students to complete and submit some work before they get here, particularly focused on their research project. As part of this work, we will try to schedule conference calls, or, if all of the group members don't mind, on-campus meetings in late May and early June. Additionally, students will still have class and research project work for most of the July 4th holiday, so we cannot permit students to leave the program during any part of the holiday.

     Of course, while we may sound a bit harsh for asking the students to work on the 4th of July, we will absolutely make sure that the students aren't overworked and burned out during the program! While we very much want the students to have a superb formal academic experience, the connections the students make with each other are the cornerstone of the Governor's School experience. As such, our staff of counselors/residential teaching associates will plan numerous structured recreational activities but also give the students plenty of leeway and time to plan their own.

      During the program, all students will take 3 core classes, 2 elective classes, and participate in 3 trips to local engineering and technology firms. Students will also work on an intensive small-group research project with an experienced advisor. Each year, we repeat a handful of the projects from the previous year, but also introduce a number of new projects. If you're interested, you can view the students' final research reports from the 2006 and 2007 programs here.

      A symposium of students' research project presentations will be held on the morning and afternoon of Friday, July 18th. We strongly urge parents to attend the symposium to see their childrens' consistently excellent work. In addition, many students find it rewarding to invite their high school science/math/technology teachers and sometimes even their scientifically-minded friends.

     Right now, we are asking you to please complete the following 4 forms. Additionally, we ask families to give us an $85 deposit check for their room key, meal card, and dorm slash card. At the conclusion of the program, if the student has returned their key and cards and left their room in satisfactory condition, we will return the check to you, uncashed. Please make the check payable to Rutgers, The State University of N.J.. Please note that all forms are in Adobe .pdf format. If your computer cannot read these documents, please install the free Adobe Acrobat reader from this link.

• FORM 1- Download (Governor's School Permission Form)
• FORM 2- Download (Student Agreement and Honor Code)
• FORM 3- Download (Medical Information)
• FORM 4- Download (Permission to Diagnose and Treat Medical Emergencies)

	Blase Ur, Gov School Program Coordinator
	Office of Student Development, Room B-110
	98 Brett Road
	Piscataway, NJ 08854-8058