Once a Scholar Always a Scholar
By Zach Childers
Hopkinsville High School

Carin Veech remembers well the days she spent with Kentucky’s Governor’s Scholars Program, which was created in 1983 to take talented high school students and build them into the future leaders of Kentucky.
“It has had a profound effect on my life,” Carin said. “It was the first time in my life where achievement was celebrated by everyone around me, and we were encouraged to dream bigger dreams.”
Carin attended GSP at Western Kentucky University in 1985, not long after the program began inviting the state’s “best and brightest” rising seniors for a college campus residency that focused on academic and leadership skills.
“It was a very powerful experience,” she said. “As the program was in its infancy, they were just defining what they wanted it to be and they were asking for, and listening to, the input from the scholars as to what they wanted their experience to be.”
Now Volunteer Coordinator Carin Veech of Habitat for Humanity Metro Louisville is deeply involved in that organization’s vital mission of changing lives and rebuilding communities. Still she finds herself in constant touch with her GSP roots.
“I became part of a larger community of scholars. I have met former scholars with startling regularity throughout my life, both socially and professionally.”
This year was truly special as the Governor’s Scholars Program, based at Bellarmine University for five week, formed a partnership with Habitat to build a home on Louisville’s West Side. The GSP Foundation would provide seed money and 360 scholars would provide the muscle and sweat.
For Carin, two of the great influences of her life were coming together in one place. Habit compressed their usual timetable for a build from 12 weeks to four so the scholars could see their work from bare foundation to finished house. In her job, Carin is responsible for matching up the many volunteers with the right worksites at the right times.

Former GSP Scholar, Carin Veech, at the Habitat site.

“As the Volunteer Coordinator, it seemed like an amazing challenge – to build a home in one third the usual time and with teenagers,” she said. As part of her job Carin had to decide which Habitat volunteers would be best suited for working with 360 high school kids. This presented a challenge and she recalled how she made the decision:
“We looked for a team that had enough members to provide leaders, strong organizational skills and a desire to take on a project we had never tried before,”
Chuck Sgro, who was chosen as Team Leader for the project, worked closely with Carin.
 “She does a tremendous job, she is outgoing, a great communicator, and knows how to say thank you,” he said. “She is very good at making people feel good about what they do.”
Now that the project is finished Carin spoke about how proud she was of the scholars.
“I am amazed but not surprised at the success of the program. I would love to see the momentum continue and for there to be a GSP alumni house each year,” she said.”
 “GSP was the first extended period of time I had ever spent away from home, the first time I'd ever had a roommate, the first time I'd ever been around so many interesting and new people in my life.
“Watching this class of scholars experience the same things has been very exciting.”