(Left to right) Clarke Central High School 2016 alumni Tiernan O’Neill, Nicole Googe, Seong Hyun Han, Ella Sams and English department teacher David Ragsdale, who all participated in the 2015 Governor’s Honors Program at Valdosta State University, are pictured. The 2020 GHP was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but CCHS junior Ludwig Lechtrek, who was accepted for the summer experience in 2020, is eager to attend in 2021. “I think they made the right choice canceling the program last year,” Lechtrek said. “I would not have felt comfortable going due to the pandemic.” Photo from ODYSSEY archives
After department and school-wide interviews, eight Clarke Central High School students have been selected to apply to the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program: Luke Krohn, Sasha London, Emmanuel Meija, Kira Thomas, Eva Orbock, Ireland McCage, Natalie Schliekelman and Kenzie Howell.
The GHP, which is facilitated by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, selects high-achieving high school students to specialize in a subject area they’re nominated in while living and learning in a college environment, according to CCHS science department teacher Matthew Regester, who leads the GHP selection process for the CCHS science department.
“(Students) have the opportunity to actually go into more depth in an area they’re interested in, or like an area that they would potentially want to major in, start a career in, as well,” Regester said.
Regester says that students selected for the program tend to be leaders in their subject area and set themselves apart by their passion and commitment.
“Usually, what does end up being distinguishing is how much someone is doing after school,” Regester said. “Most people (being interviewed) have a lot of very similar courses taken and grades received in those courses, so what’s really differentiating is club participation outside of school (and their) interest in science.”
According to CCHS Governor’s Honors Program Site Coordinator Jodi Bolgla, an average of 60 students a year are nominated for the program.
“Each department chooses two students to interview at the school level,” Bolgla said. “We choose four-to-five students to apply at the state level. Fine Arts has a separate interview/audition process and chooses three students to apply at the state level. ”
“While the 2020 rising seniors are now in college, the 2020 rising junior finalists (180) have an opportunity to attend in 2021, and we are committed to having them participate,”
— Joy Hawkins,
GOSA Executive Director
Due to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, the program was canceled for 2020. However, according to a Dec. 18, 2020 GOSA press release, 2020 finalists still in high school will not lose out on the experience.
“While the 2020 rising seniors are now in college, the 2020 rising junior finalists (180) have an opportunity to attend in 2021, and we are committed to having them participate,” GOSA Executive Director Joy Hawkins stated in the press release.
CCHS junior Ludwig Lechtrek was accepted for placement at GHP in Science last year and looks forward to the experience this summer.
“I am going this year, and I am very excited,” Lechtrek wrote in an email. “I look forward to growing my knowledge of biology in a more hands-on way.”
