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52 Fayette students begin GHP interviews this week

Each of Fayette County’s five public high schools are represented on the list of 52 local nominees for the 2005 Governor’s Honors Program at Valdosta State University.

The sophomores and juniors from Fayette, McIntosh, Sandy Creek, Starr’s Mill and Whitewater high schools were honored in a reception Jan. 18 at Fayette County High.

They will begin the rigorous state-level interview and audition process starting this weekend.

Students are first nominated for GHP at the county level by their teachers and counselors, who must back up the reccommendations with copies of student transcripts, grades, evidence of involvement in extracurricular activities, and letters of endorsement.

The written evidence and data gathered in the state-level interview/audition are used to rank nominees and select finalists.

About 600 students are chosen each year to attend GHP, a six-week summer program operated since 1964 by the Georgia Department of Education and funded by a line-item in the state budget.

Held up as a model of such programs around the country, GHP is designed to challenge gifted and artistically talented high school students with opportunities not usually available during the regular school year.

Fayette students nominated this year, and their subject areas, include:

• Fayette County High (12): Alyssa Carpenter, clarinet; Sarah Condit, euphonium; Leah Corley, bassoon; Andrew Dolder, visual arts; Brittney Edmonds, communicative arts; Steven Fortner, violin; Joseph Jenkins, jazz/baritone sax; Marsha Massey, German; William Aaron Massie, vocal; Katrina Tess Menchinger, vocal; Glenn Pitner, tuba; Robert Andrew Puckett, theater.

• McIntosh High School (10): Christina Bianco, clarinet; Christa Clark, visual arts; Laurel Edge, dance; Anna Loving, dance; Christopher Molstad, science; Roger Pincombe, technology; Lili Plotkina, communicative arts; Jay Prosser, social studies; James Reilly, jazz/sax; Bryan Saxon, vocal. • Sandy Creek High School (9): Ravi Dayabhai; bassoon; Nash Ditmetaroj, chemistry; Ashley Ellis, mathematics; Marshall Jordan, mathematics; Mikael Jury, visual arts; Shamora Merritt, visual arts; Michael Ruple, social studies; Dani Slaton, mathematics; Dylan Slaton, visual arts.

• Starr's Mill High School (14): Jane Abel, vocal; Andrew Ash, mathematics; Megan Beyer, communicative arts; James Diffenderfer, piano; Davis Grisham, piano; Nathaniel Lee, percussion; Allison Morell, French; Zachary McClelland, French; Brian McGlade, Spanish; Amanda Statham, Spanish; Emma Stitt, vocal; Miranda Tacoronti, bass trombone; Joshua Thomas, communicative arts; Kelly Wright, communicative arts.

• Whitewater High School (7): Joshua Shad Adair, mathematics; Evan Tyler Barron, theatre; Pamela Carmolingo, double bass; Hamza Hasan, communicative arts; Iris Denise Kelly, vocal; Jessica Katelyn Martin, dance; Rachel Ann Spencer, biology.

Students nominated in dance and theater will be interviewed on Saturday at Pebblebrook High School in Mableton. Students nominated in biology, chemistry, communicative arts, physics, and social studies will be interviewed at Clayton State University in Morrow.

Interviews continue at CCSU Feb. 5 for nominees in mathematics, music, and visual arts, and conclude on Feb. 12 with the last GHP major areas, agriscience/biotechnology, foreign languages, and technology/career education.

Selected students will be notified during the first week of April, and must accept or decline by April 15. The program runs June 12 through July 23.