Eight I-SS students selected for N.C. Governor’s School

Posted on by Mike Fuhrman
Students were recognized by the I-SS school board for acceptance into the N.C. Governor’s School for 2023. Pictured (from left) are school board member Doug Knight; students Lacie Price, Lauren Hoyle, Ruth Ramirez Hernandez, Paige Rider, Ka Laam Wong; and Superintendent Jeff James.

BY KARISSA MILLER

Eight Iredell-Statesville Schools students have been selected to participate in the 2023 session of the Governor’s Schools of North Carolina in subjects ranging from mathematics to visual arts.

This year’s students are:

● Lacie Price, ASEC, Social Science;
● Lauren Hoyle, Crossroads, Visual Art;
● Ruth Ramirez Hernandez, Crossroads, Natural Science;
● Paige Rider, Crossroads, Natural Science;
● Ka Laam Wong, Lake Norman High, Instrumental Music;
● Cooper Hall, South Iredell High, English;
● Ava Wilberding, South Iredell High, Natural Science; and
● Arya Mehta, South Iredell High, Mathematics

Only 670 students from throughout the state are selected to participate each year.

Application criteria include: grade point average, essay scores, recommendations, evidence of extracurricular activities, leadership roles, and community service, and, in the areas of performing/visual arts, audition scores.

According to I-SS Director of Gifted, IB and online learning Kelly Hinson, that only 38 percent of the 1,800 students who apply are accepted to N.C. Governor’s School.

I-SS nominated 12 students, and eight of those nominees were invited to attend the 2023 session of N.C. Governor’s School.

About N.C. Governor’s School

N.C. Governor’s School is the oldest statewide summer residential program for academically and/or intellectually gifted high school students in the nation.

The program, which is open to rising seniors only, with exceptions made for rising juniors in selected areas of performing and visual arts, is located on two campuses: Governor’s School West at High Point University in High Point, begun in 1963, and Governor’s School East at Meredith College in Raleigh, begun in 1978.

Governor’s School East will continue at Meredith College, while a new location is still to be determined for the Governor’s School West campus for 2023.