# Commonwealth Governor's School

38°17′42″N 77°34′32″W﻿ / ﻿38.2951°N 77.5755°W﻿ / 38.2951; -77.5755
The Commonwealth Governor's School (CGS) is one of 18 magnet Governor's Schools in Virginia. The Commonwealth Governor's School is a half-day program for gifted and highly motivated students based on a school-within-a-school model. Unlike many school programs, CGS is merit based (getting in to the program is based on a list of things, each with a certain amount of points assigned) . Students are selected from Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline, and King George counties. Students may attend CGS in grades 9 through 12.

## Program structure

Enrolled students take all of their classes at one of the six Governor's School sites, Spotsylvania High School, Riverbend High School, Colonial Forge High School, Stafford Senior High School, King George High School, or North Stafford High School. CGS assigns students to the nearest site distance wise, unlike the traditional zoning system. It no longer matters if a student is zoned for a different high school, they go to the one CGS decides full-time.
Unlike the traditional high school experience, CGS's classes are linked together for a stronger curriculum. For example, if class A assigns a time-consuming project as homework, class B,C, and D will lower the homework load for the time the project takes.

## Curriculum

The table listed below lists all CGS classes, note that while math option 2 is called option 2, it becomes a student decision only in 12th grade.
Class structure :
| | History | Math | Math (option 2) | English | Science |
| 9th | AP European History | Honors Algebra II | N/A | Honors English 9 | AP Environmental Science |
| 10th | AP US Government | AP Precalculus | Honors Geometry with Trigonometry | Honors English 10 | AP Biology |
| 11th | AP US History | AP Calculus AB | AP Precalculus | AP English Language and Composition | Dual Enrollment Chemistry |
| 12th | AP Human Geography | AP Calculus BC | AP Statistics | AP English Literature and Composition | AP Physics |

### The Culminating Project

"Culminating" is a two phase, two year long research project, repeated twice over a students CGS career. The first phase, or the research phase, occurs in 9th and 11th grade (freshman and junior years). This phase requires the student to find sources, evaluate them, and arrange them in a final literature review (typically a 20+ page report summarizing all sources found during the research process). The second phase is the product phase (sophomore and senior years), where the researcher/student integrates the knowledge they learned from their research the previous year to create a project that solves a current problem or displays the depth of their research in full. Students are aided by assigned "advisors", consisting of CGS site faculty, each year.

## History

Sylvia Wadsworth was the first director of the Commonwealth Governor's School, retiring in 2005. Dr. David Baker took over the post after her departure. On May 19, 2010, Merri Kae VanderPloeg was named the new director until the 2018–2019 school year, where Jennifer Grigsby became the new director. In 2024 Tracie Omohundro was appointed director, beginning July 1, 2024.

## References and Sources

* 1 2 "About". The Commonwealth Governor’s School. Archived from the original on January 31, 2025. Retrieved January 31, 2025.
* ↑ "About The Commonwealth Governor's School". The Commonwealth Governor’s School. Archived from the original on October 3, 2024.
* ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 23, 2011. Retrieved May 19, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
* ↑ "NEW DIRECTOR APPOINTED FOR THE COMMONWEALTH GOVERNOR'S SCHOOL". www.spotsylvania.k12.va.us. Retrieved November 8, 2024.