Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Three GHS Students Selected To Attend Governor's School

This year three students from Gurdon High School were selected to attend the 1999 Arkansas Governor's School (AGS) for the gifted and talented.

Those selected were Brandi Escalante, the 17-year-old daughter of Stan and Cindie Escalante; Whitney Hogue, the 17-year-old daughter of Jimmy and Linda Gayle Hogue; and Andrew Wilson, the 17-year-old son of Roy and Elizabeth Wilson.

On June 13 Escalante and Hogue attended the six-week 20th annual AGS program on the campus of Hendrix College in Conway, where they were welcomed by Gov. Huckabee.

Governor's School is a competitive program, which requires nomination by the high school counselor. Students are selected to attend the Governor's School on the basis of their abilities and interests in a particular academic discipline or artistic field.

They must write an essay, submit academic credentials and, if applying in an art area, perform an audition. Students may be nominated in up to three of eight areas, but will be selected to attend in only one.

Escalante and Hogue's selected discipline was natural science. About two-thirds of each student's class time was spent in the student's selected discipline.

In keeping with the schools aim of developing competencies in the use of theory to understand, manage and integrate knowledge, each student also pursues classroom work and reading in two other areas: general conceptual development and personal and social development.

Approximately 700 students were nominated this year for the 400 positions. The state- wide selection committees strive to identify those students with the intellectual ability, creativity, motivation and maturity to optimally benefit from the six-week summer program.

Established in 1980, Arkansas Governor's School is an innovative program designed for Arkansas' brightest youth. This program is fully state funded and involves no grades, tests or credit. Students attend at no personal cost with the exception of transportation to and from the Hendrix campus.

There are Saturday classes, concerts, art exhibits, drama performances, nationally known speakers, inspiring films, as well as a distinguished faculty and staff.

The program exposes students to the best in 20th century art, music, literature, film and thought in the sciences, social sciences and humanities.

There have been over 7,000 alumni of this special, nationally recognized summer program, which generally has approximately 75 National Merit semifinalists in attendance each summer.

More information about the program, including curriculum, speakers and films, may be found on the AGS web site at: http//www.hendrix.edu/ags/