FORSYTH COUNTY — Students from every public school in Forsyth County were named as finalists for a prestigious residential summer program put on by the state.
A total of 26 students were chosen to attend the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program, an ungraded educational experience for gifted and talented high school students who will be rising juniors and seniors this summer. Three additional local students were named alternates.
They will be offered instruction that is “significantly different from the typical high school classroom.”
“We congratulate our finalists who will be participating in this outstanding learning opportunity,” said Superintendent Jeff Bearden said. “The program not only provides academic instruction, but cultural and social enrichment to grow our next generation of leaders.”
Public and private school students who are current sophomores and juniors are eligible and must have shown “exceptional skill, creativity and knowledge in the area of nomination.”
The process at the state level included more than 3,000 applications, about 20 percent or less of which were invited to attend the program, according to the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement.
The local finalists include:
* Forsyth Central — Simon Langen, engineering with a concentration in mechanical engineering and mechatronics; and Elizabeth Somsen, agricultural science
* Lambert — Odelia Huang, visual arts; Joel Joseprabu, mathematics; Griffin Paquette, engineering with a concentration in mechanical engineering and mechatronics; Hari Pingali, mathematics; Dantong Qin, communicative arts; Natasha Ramaswamy, science; Mehnaz Ruksana, world languages with a concentration in Spanish; Cole Vandiver, music with a concentration in French horn; and Tiffany Weng, visual arts.
* North — Brody Grant, music with a concentration in tenor; Mattie Millwood, social studies; Katherine Schumacher, communicative arts; and Makenzie Sullivan, mathematics.
* South — Nicole Brazier, visual arts; Benjamin Chin, mathematics; Caitlyn Herrera, engineering with a concentration in design engineering; Isabel Herrick, engineering with a concentration in software engineering; Harish Kamath, mathematics; Sai Suraj Kollapaneni, mathematics; Matthew Powell, world languages with a concentration in German; Matthew Ray, engineering with a concentration in mechanical engineering and mechatronics; Ethan Shen, music with a concentration in piano; and Omkar Waingankar, science.
* West — Allyson Drawdy, science, 10th grade.
* Alternates — Swapnil Lad, engineering with a concentration in design engineering; Patrick McBrayer, music with a concentration in clarinet; and Kevin Tao, music with a concentration in piano. All three attend Lambert.
The program is held from mid-June to mid-July on a college or university campus.
Students attend classes in the morning and afternoon in specific areas of study before participating in social and instructional opportunities every evening.
Participants are housed and fed, with the only costs to the students being travel expenses to and from the interviews, “a few basic supplies for classes and dorm rooms and spending money as desired during the program.”