Clarke Central High School seniors Kate Hinger (left) and Jovi Grantham (right), Georgia Governor’s Honors Program alumnae, pose for a photo in front of the Breezeway Entrance on July 22. Grantham, a GHP Dance major, found that the combination of social events offered to and shared goals of the students made the experience different from that of a normal high school setting. “Outside of GHP, it takes a little bit more effort to put yourself out there because you’re not put into majors or anything. In a school setting, you have your classmates and people you see every day. You’re going to be friends with them, but outside of that, it’s more about putting yourself out there,” Grantham said. “I feel like that was the same at GHP, but it was easier because the students, like everybody, was putting themselves out there. Everybody was scared, but we all just tried to get to know each other, and I feel like that was kind of the difference.” Photo by Iliana Tejada
Eight CCHS students attended the 63rd Georgia Governor’s Program from June 14 to July 11, expanding academic and social opportunities.
For four weeks, eight Clarke Central High School students attended the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program, a summer program for the state’s top and talented gifted high school students, at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Ga.
GHP students go through a multi-step application process to earn a spot in the program, where they attend classes, seminars and team-bonding experiences focused both within and beyond their selected major. CCHS English department co-chair David Ragsdale worked as a social studies department instructor at GHP 63 for the first two weeks of the program.
“(GHP is) an amazing experience because everybody cares. It’s infectious. When you see other people who want to do the work to grow, it’s inspiring. (At GHP), you’re talking to very bright people who want to talk about their (interests),” Ragsdale said.
A gallery of photos from Clarke Central High School senior Kate Hinger’s time at the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program as an Agriculture Research, Biotechnology and Sciences major is shown. During the program, Hinger had various opportunities to engage in hands-on learning, such as through a literature review on the antimicrobial resistance crisis in agriculture. “We began doing a literature review, and we could do it over anything we wanted, but we weren’t working on it in class. That was our side project. What we were doing in class is that we went on field trips and talked to professionals in the field. We talked to professors from (the University of Georgia),” Hinger said. “We went out to a cotton gin and we talked to somebody who ran it (and) learned how that worked. We got the real world experience of how these things worked, and oftentimes we could ask our teacher about a specific topic, and she would find a guest speaker to tell us about it.” Photos courtesy of Kate Hinger
The combination of discussion-based, hands-on classes and structured social activities for students to participate in throughout the program is something that CCHS senior Kate Hinger, who attended as an Agriculture Research, Biotechnology and Sciences major, found instrumental to her experience.
“Everyone (at GHP) was so welcoming (and) passionate about the reason they were there. Everyone wanted to share their passion,” Hinger said. “There’s a lot of features of GHP that make it easy for you just to strike (up) a conversation over anything. (The friendships I made) were my favorite part.”
A gallery of photos from Clarke Central High School senior Jovi Grantham’s time at the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program as a Dance major is shown. Grantham worked with the 27 other Dance majors in the program to choreograph an end-of-program show for all students to attend. “After the first week, we started learning the student-choreographed pieces, and there were 15 pieces in total, and 12 student choreographies. So, students were the people in charge of the rehearsals. We had a group chat. If the students wanted to have any rehearsals for their pieces, they would say, ‘Hey, can you guys come?’ And it (would) be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and we would rehearse, and then they would just be in charge of us. Basically, (we were) no longer students; (we were) choreographers,” Grantham said. “So, we really got to have the hands-on experience of leading everybody and taking leadership and being creative.” Photos courtesy of Jovi Grantham
CCHS senior Jovi Grantham attended the program as a Dance major, where she had the opportunity to learn from professionals in the field alongside 27 other students. She found the talent surrounding her to be both overwhelming and helpful.
Clarke Central High School senior Kate Hinger, a Georgia Governor’s Honors Program 63 Agriculture Research, Biotechnology and Sciences major, holds collages she made after returning from the program in front of the CCHS Ceremonial Entrance on July 22. For Hinger, the bonds she formed with other students were the most lasting part of the program, even if some were unexpected. “I made so many friends from so many different places and majors. I made friends who were in my hall, who they were built in. I had my roommates, and I became really close with them. We all had a lot of shared passions,” Hinger said. “But my favorite people I met were the people who were kind of like the groups of people who were in my major. So they weren’t my friends; they were their friends from their halls, and it kind of became the spider web of people who I met.” Photo by Iliana Tejada
“(At the beginning,) everybody was a little intimidated because everybody was so talented. And when you’re in a room with so many talented people, you can either shrink and get scared, or you can take the opportunity to learn from them,” Grantham said. “I kind of opened up, going to seminars and trying myself out there with the dancers and learning from them and trying to like give what I can give and get what I can get, make the most of the time.”
Although the halls of CCHS might not mirror the paths of GSU, Hinger left the program inspired by the passion she had witnessed over the four weeks and ready to carry the motivation into her senior year.
“(I was) sad to leave it all behind, but I think that the positivity and knowing that I experienced something incredible kind of has brought me out of it with a really positive mindset and a really excitement for the next school year and going into college after that,” Hinger said.
“(I was) sad to leave it all behind, but I think that the positivity and knowing that I experienced something incredible kind of has brought me out of it with a really positive mindset and a really excitement for the next school year and going into college after that,”
— Kate Hinger,
GHP 63 Agriculture Research, Biotechnology and Sciences major and CCHS senior Kate Hinger
The interview and application cycle for the program will start up again in the coming months, a process that Ragsdale hopes students will advocate to be a part of, whether it’s through asking one of their teachers to nominate them or doing research on the program once nominated.
“I hope that our faculty understands what the program is and does a good job of nominating a diverse group of students at the school level. Students who are risk takers, students who are hungry to learn, students who want to immerse themselves in a program of study for four weeks,” Ragsdale said. “My hope is (also) that we have another great batch of kids that are ready for the experience, like the summer of 2026. Having eight kids at GHP is a testament to what our student body is capable of, and I would love to grow on that.”
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