The Georgia Governor’s Honors Program, or GHP, is a four-week summer program that is awarded to gifted rising juniors and seniors in high school. Students must pass interviews at the department, school, county and state level to be able to attend the summer residential program. Through a series of grueling interviews, students are put under tremendous stress to be able to live up to this high expectation. This year, the program will be held at Berry College in Rome.

“GHP is a fantastic program, and it was truly an experience like no other. I got to meet 600 brilliant minds from everywhere across Georgia; I learned so many things that I would not have learned in school,” Sindhu Manivannan, senior, said.

Students are nominated in specific areas where their abilities and interests lie. Common nominations include English, math, science, social studies, foreign language and more.

“For the county interviews, I had to answer questions about my extracurricular activities in my nominated field of science, what I had done in class and my other favorite things about science,” Manivannan said.

According to the Governor’s Honors Program’s website, the student’s involvement in the subject in and outside of the classroom are the two most considered factors in the application. If a student passes the state interviewing process, they are admitted into the four-week program.

“The residential part of the program was definitely a change, but the sheer amount of freedom that I had was amazing and definitely prepared me for college next year,” Manivannan said.

Though the interviewing process is demanding and stressful, the benefits that come along from the GHP summer program are glowing.

“Over the span of the four weeks, I made lifelong friendships with both students and teachers, and I learned so many new things from salsa dancing to waltzing. GHP was one of the best moments of my life, and I would do it all again in a heartbeat,” Manivannan said.