Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2008-06-12

Samford University will host 78 of the state's top rising high school seniors during Alabama Governor's School (AGS) June 15-27. Participants from 49 high schools in 27 counties are expected to arrive Sunday for the two-week honors program for academically gifted students.

Opening ceremonies will be Sunday at 2:45 p.m. in Samford's Brock Recital Hall. Alabama state senator J.T. "Jabo" Waggoner of Birmingham will address the students, parents and other guests. His topic will be "The Common Denominator of Success."

Newly-crowned Miss Alabama Amanda Tapley, a pianist who attended AGS as a high school student in 2005, will play the prelude and postlude at the ceremony. She now attends Samford.

During their two-week stay at Samford, AGS participants will choose major and minor areas of coursework, attend special lectures, and engage in an off-campus service project. They will attend a Barons baseball game and travel to Montgomery for a performance of The Count of Monte Cristo at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

The 16 course topics for morning and afternoon sessions include the arts, law, health and science-related subjects, history and other areas of interest.

Samford biology professor Dr. George Keller is AGS director.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.