Three of the Best Weeks of Your High School Career
“Spend three weeks on a college campus the summer before my senior year? Meet some of the greatest kids in West Virginia? Work with master teachers in my fields of greatest interest? And it’s free? Come on - you have to be kidding.”
Actually, the Governor’s Honors Academy (GHA) offers all of those things to 180 of the top-achieving students in West Virginia, and this year, GHA is being held on the beautiful, rolling campus of Bethany College.
Students and faculty will be housed in Campbell Village.
The resources of Bethany College are at the disposal of the Academy faculty, staff, and students. Facilities to be used include, but are not limited to, classrooms, laboratories, recreational facilities, studios, and auditoriums.
Designed to stimulate and support excellence in education through a multi-week summer program, the West Virginia Governor’s Honors Academy was started in 1984 by Governor John D. Rockefeller IV. The mission of the academy is to operate an academically rich environment designed to honor high ability/high achieving students in an institution of higher education, challenging students to grow intellectually, creatively, and socially in a culturally diverse atmosphere.
GHA is open to all eleventh grade students who are residents of West Virginia and attend high school in West Virginia, including public, private, and home schools. Students who plan to graduate after their junior year are NOT eligible. See Student Qualifications for more information.
There is no cost to students or their families for tuition, room, meals, activities, books or instructional materials. Only health and accident insurance, travel to and from the academy site, (Bethany College), and personal expenses are the responsibility of the students and their families.
Students must work through the school guidance counselor to apply to GHA. The counselor will check your test scores and GPA to see if you qualify - probably shortly after the Christmas break. After that, it is up to you to fill out the application and get the required references. YOU turn your application in to the designated person at the school. The SCHOOL turns it in to the county office, and the COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT sends in the names of the two Superintendent's Choices and the applications of students included in the state-wide pool. See the Application for more information.
How soon can I expect to know whether I have been accepted?
Students chosen to attend GHA will receive a letter from the Governor by mid-March. Since all student applications are not necessarily forwarded to Charleston, it is not possible for the Governor's Schools office to notify those who were not selected.