2020 Governors Honors

NCSS Announces 2020 Governor's Honors Finalists
Posted on 05/10/2020
Governors Honors LogoThree Newton County School System (NCSS) students have been named finalists in the 2020 Governor’s Honors Program (GHP); two additional students were selected to serve as alternates. The GHP, open to all sophomores and juniors, is a free residential summer program for gifted or highly talented students who are passionate about a subject.

GHP finalists were nominated by their teachers for a specific instructional area matching their abilities, aptitudes and interests. In addition to submitting endorsements and grade transcripts, the nominees were required to participate in a statewide screening interview or audition depending on their desired major.

Major instructional areas are agricultural science, communicative arts, dance, engineering, mathematics, music, science, social studies, theatre, visual arts, and world languages.

The NCSS Governor’s Honors finalists and alternates and their intended majors are:


2020 Governor's Honors Finalists
 Student   Status    School    Subject 
 Russell Danilchuk   Finalist    Newton High & NCCA STEM Institute    Engineering-Mechanical & Electrical 
 Hannah Gaston   Finalist    Eastside High    Social Studies 
 Joyce Li   Finalist    Eastside High    World Languages-Latin 
 Kyle Stoddard   Alternate    Newton High & NCCA STEM Institute    Music Brass-Tuba 
 Brie Worton   Alternate    Eastside High and NCCA    Visual Arts 

“We celebrate all of our finalists and alternates selected for the 2020 Governor’s Honor Summer Program. This program offers students the unique opportunity to study their disciplines more closely with other finalists from around the state. The competition to be selected as a Governor’s Honors Program finalist is very rigorous and we are excited to have these exceptional representatives from our school system,” said Dr. Nikkita Warfield, NCSS Director of Secondary Education. “Congratulations to each of our finalists and alternates; I know their parents and teachers are equally as proud of this accomplishment as we are as a district!”

Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Brian Kemp recently announced that the program would be cancelled for the first time since its inception in 1964. He noted that plans are underway to publicly honor these students. In addition, he announced that the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement plans for the 2021 program to include as many of the 2020 finalists as possible.