Fairmont State University prepares to welcome 2022 Governor’s Honors Academy
On Saturday, June 25, Fairmont State University will welcome 85 top achieving rising high school seniors from across the State of West Virginia to campus for the 2022 Governor’s Honors Academy. GHA students will reside on the University’s campus for three weeks for the Academy, which aims to provide active learning, energetic classes, exciting, invigorating and intellectually compelling activities to prepare students to become forces in their communities.
“We are so thrilled to welcome these outstanding young people to our campus for this once-in-a-lifetime experience," said Fairmont State University Director of Honors, Robin Payne. "Students who have attended GHA in the past have described it as an enriching, life-changing experience. This year’s students will likely experience a similar transformation with the opportunity to learn from some of the state’s finest educators and alongside of some of the state’s best and brightest students. We’ve put together an amazing three weeks of academic and cultural activities for the students and are eager to see their intellectual and social growth.”
The Governor’s Honors Academy was established to supplement high school curriculum through the immersive simulated college experience. Students participating will explore cutting-edge theories in the arts and sciences while developing an understanding around how art, culture and knowledge change as time progresses.
The theme for the Academy to take place at the University is “The World We Will Inherit.” GHA faculty have developed curriculum that highlights this theme and allows students to consider the opportunities, responsibilities, challenges and satisfactions that students will encounter as they become adults in a globally interdependent world.
“This year’s theme was selected in light of the unprecedented historical moment within which these students are coming of age," Payne continued. "As the leaders of tomorrow, the students who will attend the 2022 GHA are facing myriad issues – the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, impending climate change, burgeoning social justice movements, intensifying partisan division and renewed international strife and conflict, just to name a few. By exploring the complexities of the world they will inherit in their academic and extracurricular activities throughout the academy, students will engage in collaborative, innovative and engaging intellectual exercises that will enable them to forge ahead into that world as they take their next steps.”
Fairmont State’s campus resources will be utilized by GHA students, faculty and staff throughout the entirety of the Academy including classrooms, laboratories, recreational facilities, studios and auditoriums. Students and faculty will be housed in the University’s Bryant Place residence hall.
The GHA is an opportunity provided by the State of West Virginia at no cost to the students or their families. For more information about the Governor’s Honors Academy, visit https://govschools.wv.gov/GHA/Pages/default.aspx.
Govenor's Honors AcademyGHAHigh School Students
