Hey guys! Just wanted to say thanks for such an a-mazing week! Each staff member, counselor, and EPLer made our week together unforgettable! I feel so lucky to have been able to participate in such a great program! EPL was an incredible experience in which we were given the tools and responsibility to develop our leadership skills. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from and work with such an intelligent and enthusiastic group of people (staff and students alike). Counselors: Thanks for everything! We all love you guys and really appreciate everything you did to make our time at Furman fantastic! It wouldn't have been the same without you!So...I know it's kinda late to do this, but I have to blog about Thursday and Friday because I just did not have time to blog during the end of the week and I don't want to forget any of it! Ok, Thursday was our trip to Columbia (fun!). It started out with an early morning on the bus (the bus by the way was super comfy)! On the way down we watched Mean Girls which was amazing, but I'm not gonna lie, I definitely took the opportunity to powernap when I found three (not two, but three!) empty seats. Once we got into Columbia we went to the SCETV station and took a tour of the freezing studio. Next we headed for a really tall (17th floor!) building to have a sandwich with State Superintendent of Schools Jim Rex. We talked about public education (one of our favorite topics) and he talked to us about leadership ("Be a jumper, not a hooker!")! After lunch we went to the statehouse to meet with Senator Joel Lourie who told an inspiring story about citizens who fought to pass an insurance bill benefiting kids with autism. Afterwards, we had a few minutes to take pictures (Cindy) and then took a tour of the statehouse. After our tour we met with Governor Sanford's Chief of Staff. We had a super fun debate with him over public education and vouchers (props to Shun for bringing that up...lol). Next we met with Mr. Simpkins who is pretty much brilliant and talked about some global issues. After a quick (but helpful) brainstorm session with Dr. Burkett, we had dinner at Yesterday’s (and sang “Happy Birthday” to Caitlin and Ms. G). We watched/sang with/danced to High School Musical (yeah Athena!) on the bus ride back to Furman which was super fun! Friday was definitely fantastic! We spent all morning trying to figure out the details of our projects with Dr. Culclasure, Ms. Berman, and Cat Stevens (timeline and budget!). In the afternoon we had our city council simulation and argued over HOT, sales tax, and low income housing developments. Afterwards, we went to the Greenville Drive game and had a great time dancing and watching the Drive lose to Charleston. It was super fun, however, I think the transportation to and from the game may have been my favorite part (yeah Luis, Athena, Miya, and Cindy)! Once we got back to the campus we had a toga/dance party! It was a-mazing!
It was an incredible week and I can’t wait to see everybody again in March!