Governor's Schools of West Virginia | Governor's Honors Academy

County Level Responsibilities:

Students who are selected will be notified by Governor Manchin. School and county officials are not to release that information until the letters from the governor have been mailed.

Superintendent shall select a county coordinator for Governors Schools, e-mail coordinator’s name, county, and e-mail address to skeffer@wvosea.org.
Set a deadline for applications that dovetails with the state deadline and issue this deadline to each secondary school in the county, including private and parochial schools. Home-schooled students are eligible, but it is the responsibility of the parents to contact the county coordinator.
Remember that the applications MUST include first semester grades.
Direct counselors to make applications available to each qualified junior.
Establish a selection committee composed of the superintendent or designee, a teacher of gifted, a teacher of high level courses from each participating high school in the county, a technical education teacher, an alumnus of GHA, a counselor, and others at the discretion of the superintendent.
At the committee meeting, review all applications and rank the recommended applications, taking into consideration the school representation, geographic, gender, race, and economic distribution of students. One male student and one female student shall be selected as Superintendents Choices. The committee should rank all other students. This ranking will serve as one of the selection criteria for the state committee.
Note: Many counties, especially ones with several high schools, include an interview as part of the selection process and have found this to be an excellent component of the selection process.
Send Superintendent’s Selection Form and original of all recommended, completed applications to West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts by February 11, 2008. DO NOT PUT APPLICATIONS IN A BINDER OF ANY TYPE.
Incomplete applications will be returned to the Superintendent of Schools and will not be considered until they are completed.

School Level Responsibilities

Inform all qualifying students of their eligibility. Speak with students about merit of GHA. If a student from your school attended last year, have him/her speak to prospective students. Show GHA video to prospective applicants, or show it through Channel 1 to all students.
Make applications available (distribute a hard copy to students who do not have Internet access)
Set a due date for students to submit applications at the school level.
Be certain to include first-semester/first-term grades.
Establish a selection committee composed of the principal or designee, a teacher of gifted or high level courses, the counselor, a technical education teacher, an alumnus of GHA if possible, and others at the discretion of the principal.
Meet with selection committee to review all applications and rank the recommended applications for the county selection team.
Send applications and rankings to county selection coordinator, using the Principal's Recommendation Form. Check to see that the pages are stapled and ordered as follows: Pages 1, 2, 3, 4, teacher recommendation, peer recommendation, essay and transcript/test record. DO NOT SEND PHOTOGRAPHS; DO NOT PUT APPLICATIONS IN A BINDER OF ANY TYPE.

Student Responsibilities

Below are detailed instructions you should read before beginning the application process to GHA.
The first step to applying to GHA is to be sure you meet the proper requirements.
Complete the application, keeping the pages in the following order:
Pages 1, 2, 3, 4, teacher recommendation, peer recommendation, essay and transcript/test record. DO NOT SEND PHOTOGRAPHS; DO NOT PUT APPLICATIONS IN A BINDER OF ANY TYPE. They should simply be stapled in the upper left corner.
Ask your guidance counselor for the school timelines. Submit the completed application to your counselor.