Newton County School System will now have three students participate in the prestigious Governor's Honors Program as Newton High School student Meg Gourley has been invited to participate in the program after a student from another district chose not to participate. Gourley will join Alcovy High School students Jeffrey Jones and Brandie Weathersby at the four-week summer instructional program at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga. This year's program is scheduled for June 24 through July 21.

Gourley, a junior at NHS, plans on majoring in dance and minoring in social studies at Governor's Honors.

"I've been a dancer since I was three," she said. "My mom is a ballet teacher. Dancing is my very favorite thing to do. It's my passion and I wouldn't want to spend four weeks doing anything but dance."

Gourley is a member of the Decatur City Dance ballet company and also the Rugcutters, a swing dance company at the Decatur School of Ballet. When not on the dance floor, Gourley can be found at the Academy of Liberal Arts at Newton High School, where she keeps a very busy schedule. In addition to her course work, Gourley is an active member of SGA, where she serves as junior president. She's also a member of the community service club, Up2Us and has been inducted into the National Honor Society. As if she doesn't already have a full schedule with school and dancing, Gourley also is a competitive horseback rider and regularly competes in hunter jumper shows.

According to Meg, the Governor's Honors Program fit beautifully into her summer schedule.

"I'm attending the Decatur City Dance Intensive for one week and the Joffrey South Intensive for one week and then four weeks at Governor's Honors," she said. "This is going to be a summer that's unlike any other. I'm very excited -no that's not the correct word - I'm actually ecstatic that I've been accepted into Governor's Honors. Whenever I do one week Intensives I get so much better so I can only imagine how I will be after four weeks. Everyone says this program is so much better than any other. Everything actually worked out how I planned it and I will be dancing all summer!"

"The competition to be selected as a Governor's Honors Program finalist is rigorous," said Samantha Fuhrey, Executive Director for Secondary Education. "Our finalists will have a great experience at the Governor's Honors Summer Program where they will be able to study their disciplines more closely with other finalists from around the state. Congratulations to our finalists, their parents and teachers!"