Wednesday, April 7, 2004

Honors conference set

The Clayton State Honors Program is proud to announce that the 2005 Georgia Collegiate Honors Conference will be held at Clayton State. This will mark the second time Clayton State has hosted the event.

"It is quite special to us to be able to host the 2005 conference on the 10 year anniversary of the Clayton State Honors Program," says Dr. Gene Hatfield (Jonesboro), director of Clayton State's Honors Program. Clayton State first hosted the conference in 1996.

News of hosting the conference came at the recent 2004 Georgia Collegiate Honors Conference held at Savannah's Armstrong Atlantic State University. In addition to hosting the conference, Clayton State biology major Rebecca Daniel (Conyers) was elected student vice president - the highest elected position available to honor students.

"I am confident that Becky will be a great vice president [of the conference] because she demonstrates the necessary leadership qualities as our program's president," shares Clayton State Honors student Greg Amburgy (McDonough). "I also expect next year's conference to be great. Dr. Hatfield is excited about it, and the program has several gifted students that are willing to put forth the effort to make it great."

In addition to Daniel and Amburgy, Fayetteville’s Athena Anderson also attended the conference.

Clayton State students presented four paper presentations at the Savannah conference, and enjoyed tours of Skidaway Island. As student vice president, Daniels will be responsible for event planning for the 2005 conference.

"This year I'll have more responsibility than normal, because we're having the 2005 conference at Clayton State," says Daniel, already thinking about a theme for the coming convention.

The Clayton State Honor Program is one of the most highly selective programs of its kind in the state, requiring that students receive the Honors Scholarship and maintain a 3.0 GPA. Amburgy challenges high school seniors to apply for acceptance into the program.

"Qualifying high school students should consider the Clayton State Honors Program because of the unique opportunity to build friendships and learn new things - not only academically, but also socially... The challenging honors professors continue to bring out the best in me," he says.

For additional information on the recent Georgia Collegiate Honors Conference, or to learn more about Clayton State's Honors Program, contact Hatfield at GeneHatfield@mail.clayton.edu or by calling (770) 961-3463.