We are proud to announce that twenty Hall County School District students have been selected as Semifinalists for the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program (GHP). These students will move on to GHP Interviews in late February and early March, competing to be named a finalist for GHP.

The Governor’s Honors Program is a residential summer program for gifted and talented high school juniors and seniors. Managed by the Governor’s Office for Student Achievement, planning is moving ahead to hold it this summer at Berry College in Rome, Ga. The Georgia Governor’s Honors Program is the longest continually running program of its kind in the nation.

Public and private high schools across the state nominated almost 3,000 students who represent the “best of the best” in eleven areas of study: Agricultural Science, Communicative Arts, Dance, Engineering, Mathematics, Music, Science, Social Studies, Theatre, Visual Arts, and World Languages. Of these, less than 1200 were selected as Semifinalists and will be interviewed and auditioned in February/March. Approximately 650 Finalists – one-fourth of 1% of eligible sophomores and juniors in the state — will be chosen to participate in the 2021 program. Since the program is fully funded by the Georgia General Assembly, there is no charge for students to attend.

During the four weeks of the program, students spend the morning in their major area of nomination, exploring enrichment topics not usually found in the high school classroom. In the afternoons, students choose one of the other areas in which to study. The curriculum in all the areas is challenging and engaging. Evenings are filled with seminars, activities, concerts, and performances.

Laurie Ecke, Hall County’s Director of Innovative and Advanced Programs, said, “In such a challenging year, we are so excited to see so many Hall County students moving forward as GHP Semifinalists, and I am confident they will represent HCSD well in the interviews.”

Since the GHP summer program had to be canceled last year, three of last year’s finalists who are juniors this year have already been accepted as finalists for GHP 2021.

Please see the list of Hall County’s 2021 GHP Semifinalists and the already accepted finalists on the following page.

Hall County School District’s Semifinalists for the 2021 Georgia Governor’s Honors Program
Student Name:	Nomination Area:	School:
April Cerritos	Communicative Arts	Johnson High School
Lawson Smith	Communicative Arts	North Hall High School
Leonardo Nunez	Engineering: Mechanical Design	Flowery Branch High School
Shealyn Schultz	Engineering: Mechanical Design	Flowery Branch High School
Austin Holt	Mathematics	Flowery Branch High School
Anna Aultman	Music Voice: Treble	Cherokee Bluff High School
Mitchell Ryder	Music Voice: Tenor	Chestatee High School
Samuel Malone	Music  Woodwind: Flute	Flowery Branch High School
Alexis Sandoval	Science: Chemistry	Chestatee High School
Charlotte Garrand	Science: Biology	Flowery Branch High School
Stephanie Trinh	Science: Biology	West Hall High School
Caden Pritchard	Social Studies	West Hall High School
Jackson Odegard	Social Studies	Cherokee Bluff High School
Aiden Skelly	Theatre Performance	Johnson High School
Habram Alcantar	World Languages: Spanish	Chestatee High School
Jasmine Stringer	World Languages: Spanish	West Hall High School
Julissa Salas	World Languages: Spanish	West Hall High School
Maria Gonzalez	World Languages: Spanish	West Hall High School
Morra Hoang	World Languages: Chinese	West Hall High School
Natalie Torres	World Languages: Spanish	West Hall High School

HCSD 2021 GHP Finalists from the 2020 GHP Application Process
Emiko Kuhs	Visual Arts	Johnson High School
Emma Yancey	World Languages: Spanish	West Hall High School
Juan Rosillo-Hernandez	World Languages: Spanish	Chestatee High School