Clarke Central High School Georgia Governor’s Honors Program finalists Waylon Vaughn, Niles Flath, Quinn Pendley, Max Burnham, all juniors, and Andreas Dillis, a sophomore (from left to right), pose in the CCHS Courtyard on March 26. In total, Clarke County School District had six sophomores and juniors named GHP finalists, five of which attend CCHS. “I’m really looking forward to going to GHP and meeting a lot of people who are also passionate about visual arts,” Vaughn, who qualified for GHP as a Visual Arts major, said. “I’m excited to explore things I haven’t really done before without the pressure of an academic setting where there’s grades.” Photo by Wyatt Meyer
Five CCHS students were selected to attend the 2025 Georgia Governor’s Honors Program from June 15 to July 13.
On March 25, the Clarke County School District announced that six CCSD high school students were selected as finalists and one as an alternate for the 2025 Georgia Governor’s Honors Program. The program will take place from June 15 to July 13 at Georgia Southern University in Statesborough, Georgia.
GHP is a highly competitive four-week summer educational program designed to provide academically gifted and artistically talented high school students in Georgia various opportunities to become the next generation of critical thinkers, innovators and leaders. More than 4,000 students were nominated, but only around 600 were selected as finalists and invited to participate.
“Congratulations to these distinguished students. Becoming a GHP finalist and alternate is no small feat. It reflects the end point of an extremely rigorous selection process and the honorees’ unwavering dedication, perseverance, hard work, and commitment to their fields of study,” CCSD Gifted Coordinator Dr. Jennifer Bodganich states in a March 25 press release.
“I’m really excited to meet new people (at GHP) because that’s one of my favorite things. I like seeing how other people got into agriculture,”
— Quinn Pendley,
CCHS junior, GHP finalist
Five of CCSD’s six finalists were from Clarke Central High School. CCHS juniors Max Burnham and Quinn Pendley were both selected for Agricultural Research, Biotechnology and Science and Niles Flath will attend for Social Studies. Waylon Vaughn was selected for Visual Arts and CCHS sophomore Andreas Dillies will attend for Mathematics. At Cedar Shoals High School, Eli Stone will attend for Social Studies and Lilliana Cohen was named an alternate in Communicative Arts.
“I’m really excited to meet new people (at GHP) because that’s one of my favorite things. I like seeing how other people got into agriculture,” Pendley said. “Some people going are really interested in soil science or entomology or other topics that I don’t have a lot of knowledge on so I’m excited to get to know them and why they enjoy it.”
High schools across Georgia nominate students for GHP, who then go through applications and interviews at the department, school and state levels. Those selected will spend the four weeks taking specialized classes, participating in elective courses and engaging in a variety of social opportunities.
“Our students are well-prepared to showcase their unique talents and engage with others who share their passions from across the state,” Bogdanich stated in the press release. “I am confident they will have an enriching and transformative experience this summer.”
