Holy Innocents' Mary Catherine Thomson is Governor's Honors Scholar

Mary Catherine Thomson is only a junior at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School (HIES) but for some time she has been known as someone who excels academically and just naturally takes a leadership role. Now, she’s been selected to attend this summer’s 2013 Georgia Governor’s Honors Program—during the 50th anniversary of the program.

“I’m very honored to have been chosen for such an awesome opportunity,” the 17-year-old said. “The program has a reputation for being a life-changing experience, and I can’t wait to take advantage of all it has to offer.

“I hope that by participating in the program I’ll be able pick up knowledge in my specific area of Communicative Arts, but even more so I hope to gain general life experiences that will help me in all areas of life.”
Thomson has a list of achievements at Holy Innocents’ to rival any graduating senior’s. She is a student member of the Horizons Board, a former member of Youth Leadership Sandy Springs, a design editor for the school’s journalism program and secretary of the National Honor Society. She’s also collected textbooks for inner city schools, served as an HIES Student Ambassador and peer counselor, is a member of the National French Honor Society, and plays girls’ lacrosse.

Thomson’s academic awards are equally as impressive, including: the AP Biology Award, National Honor Society Scholarship, Honors English Award, Accelerated Science Award, Math Awards, and Rhetoric Award. And the AP scholar has also been an outstanding French student, scoring big on the Le Grand Concours French overall competition when only in the eighth grade.

“Mary Catherine is a nationally ranked student,” said HIES teacher Anne Jackson. “There were more than 100,000 students who took the test that year, so the national rank was a huge honor.”

Many people in the HIES community also know Mary Catherine Thomson through her writing. She has been a regular reporter for the school newspaper, the Crimson & Gold, attended a University of Florida journalism student seminar last summer, and completed an internship with the Northside Neighbor. Thomson will study communicative arts at Governor’s Honors, which includes English language studies, journalism, and creative writing.

The Governor’s Honors Program is a residential summer program for gifted and talented high school juniors and seniors. A function of the Georgia Department of Education, the program is housed on the Valdosta State University campus.

Nearly 3000 students from across the state were interviewed and auditioned over three weekends in January and February, and from those nominees 690 finalists were chosen to participate. Students will arrive on the Valdosta campus on Sunday, June 23. For four weeks, attendees will spend the morning in their major areas of nomination, exploring topics not usually found in the regular high school classroom. During the afternoons, students choose other areas disciplines to study. Evenings are filled with seminars, activities, concerts, and performances.

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