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Many of Springwood School’s students were busy this summer. Rising senior Brennan Plank spent his summer just as jam-packed with learning opportunities as ever, attending the Alabama Governor’s School at Samford University.

AGS at Samford University is an academic, creative, and leadership program designed to give high-achieving students hands-on experiential learning through seminars and workshops. While there, Plank studied healthcare, which is the field he hopes to go into after high school. 

Like many his age, Plank said he has been interested in many various fields, from the medical field to engineering to ministry. 

“For me, it really solidified the fact that I do want to go into the medical field. And that’s what I was hoping going into AGS,” he said.

At the Alabama Governor School, he got the chance to take a sneak peek at the medical world. The students in the healthcare course took a tour of St. Vincent’s and shadowed nurses at University of Alabama Birmingham.

“We were able to see patients and whatever they were going through and like how the nurses communicate with their patients. And that was something that I want to be able to do,” he said. 

“I want to help other people with their struggles like that,” he added.

Plank’s goal after high school is to get into a top-tier university to study biochemistry or research science. Some colleges he’s interested in are Johns Hopkins, Cornell and Vanderbilt. To that end, he is loading up on AP classes and studying hard to make the best scores he can.

“I couldn’t imagine being at a better school … The people there, they want the academic rigor that I’m looking for as well,” Plank said, adding that “it’s cool to be a nerd there.”

Plank is the captain of the scholars bowl and is on the math team, both of which won awards last year for their school teams. He also plays on the soccer team.

His second class at AGS was on leisure and Aristotle. Plank said he learned a lot of new perspectives, particularly enjoying the blending of philosophy and theology in the course. One of his most memorable takeaways of the whole program was Aristotle’s principle on the nature of leisure.

“It helped me feel closer to God, and it helped me to feel happier,” Plank said. 

“I came to that class not thinking that I was going to enjoy it, and I came out, and that was one of the best classes I’ve ever done in my life,” he added.

Though it took him out of his comfort zone, Plank said all in all he enjoyed getting to go to the conference and made a lot of positive connections with his classmates.

“Some days were really hard, but I’m glad I was able to go out there, you know, at least just to get the experience. And I loved the academic stuff,” he said.

As the president of National Honor Society at Springwood, Plank established a Big Brother, Big Sister program partnering with Huguley Elementary. Their goal is to build relationships with the Huguley students that make them feel comfortable to talk with someone closer to their age. 

“Some of those kids go through some of the hardest things in their life, and being able to just go there once a month for one hour can sometimes mean the world,” Plank said. “So it’s like even the small things are super substantial to those kids.”

Another project that Plank is planning for the upcoming school year is a student prayer chain. The idea is to allow students to submit prayer requests — anonymously or otherwise. 

“I just want them to be able to know like we care for these people,” Plank said. “And, you know, I believe God does miracles. So if they send in their name anonymously, God knows who that person is.”