NGCSU | University Relations


	Tatum Mortimer, Most Outstanding Academic Performance		Laura Rojas, Best Team Player

DAHLONEGA (Aug. 8, 2007) – Summer Honors at North Georgia, a two-week academic and leadership experience for talented teenagers, and hosted by North Georgia College & State University, took place June 10-22. Forty high school students from the north Georgia area were introduced to collegiate level academics and a strenuous leadership curriculum.

High schools students who attended were from Cherokee, Fannin, Pickens, Murray, and Whitfield County Schools and the Dalton City Schools.

“During the Summer Honors program, classroom instruction is coupled with leadership opportunities through adventure-learning and team problem-solving,” program director Robb Sinn said.


Robb Sinn and Hannah-Leigh Crawford, Leadership Award

The students were introduced to the university’s Pine Valley ropes courses, where students scaled towering obstacles and tested their abilities to work together. They lived on the North Georgia campus for two weeks and previewed the college experience, being taught by university professors and mentored by undergraduate students.

Thirty-eight of the participants won merit-based competitions for program slots during their junior year in high school, earning scholarships to cover all the Summer Honors fees. Two private-school students who met the admission requirements also attended.

Special events at the Summer Honors program included astronomy trips to the university planetarium and observatory, a rock climbing trip to Mt. Yonah in Cleveland, Ga., an Etiquette Dinner, a hypnosis demonstration, and a discussion with award-winning science fiction author Orson Scott Card about his novel “Ender’s Game.”


	Iman Soliman, Character Award

Several of the students were recognized for their abilities during the Summer Honors program at North Georgia:

Most Outstanding Student Award – Dalton High School senior Matthew Townsend of Tunnel Hill, Ga. Townsend won a $4,400 scholarship to NGCSU.

Academic Excellence Award – Cherokee High School senior Tatum Mortimer of Waleska, Ga., earned the award for top overall performance in academic competitions, essay contests and graded exams.

Best Overall Leadership Award – Pickens High School senior Hannah-Leigh Crawford of Jasper, Ga. Evaluation for the Overall Leadership Award occurred during fourteen graded, team-based, adventure-learning leadership modules.

Best Team Player Award – Dalton High School senior Laura Rojas of Dalton, Ga. Evaluation for the Team Player Award occurred during fourteen graded, team-based, adventure-learning leadership modules.

Character Award – Dalton High School senior Iman Soliman of Dalton, Ga., demonstrated traits indicative of a leader.

Along with these five award winners, listed below are Certificate of Merit award recipients who earned merit-based program slots. The list is sorted by city and the students’ high schools.

North Georgia College & State University is a public, coeducational, comprehensive university, as well as the Military College of Georgia – one of only six Senior Military Colleges in the nation. North Georgia is currently engaged in a major initiative, "A Legacy of Leadership.” NGCSU is ranked by Consumers Digest as the fifth Best Value in public higher education. The university, founded in 1873 in Dahlonega, offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in more than 50 academic and professional fields.