COVINGTON, Ga. - Seven Newton County School System students have been selected to participate in the 2018 Governor’s Honors Program (GHP) this summer. The prestigious Governor’s Honors Program is a four-week summer instructional program at Berry College in Rome, Georgia, for gifted and talented high school sophomores and juniors. This year’s session runs from June 17 to July 14.

GHP finalists were nominated by their teachers for a specific instructional area matching their abilities, aptitudes and interests. In addition to submitting endorsements and grade transcripts, the nominees were required to participate in a statewide screening interview or audition depending on their desired major.

Major instructional areas are agricultural science, communicative arts, dance, engineering, mathematics, music, science, social studies, theater, visual arts and world languages.

The seven NCSS Governor’s Honors finalists and their intended majors are:

Marina Busby, Eastside High School, World Languages: Latin

Sophia Hawley, Eastside High School, Communicative Arts

Miranda Johnson, Eastside High School, Theatre: Theatre Performance

Miranda Litkea, Eastside High School and NCCA STEM Institute, Engineering: Mechanical Design

Sarah Owens, Newton High School, Theatre: Theatre Performance

Kai Rivers, Newton High School and NCCA STEM Institute, Communicative Arts

Joy Sharp, Newton High School/ALANHS, Social Studies

“The competition to be selected as a Governor’s Honors Program finalist is very rigorous and we are excited to have seven exceptional representatives from our school system,” Dr. Nikkita Warfield, NCSS director of secondary schools, said. “The Governor’s Honors Summer Program offers students the unique opportunity to study their disciplines more closely with other finalists from around the state. Congratulations to each of our finalists; I know their parents and teachers are very proud!”