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Provost Arnett C. Mace Jr. (left of bulldog) met with this year’s class of Promising Scholars, including (from left) Shirley Hao, Adriana del Valle, Akil Piggott, Rachel Pérez, Christina Azahar, Jason Bowman, Vinh Dong, Stephanie Ogonor, Christopher Morehouse, JoyEllen Freeman, Edward Wells Jr., Oluremi Ojo, Eric Ekwueme and David Mapp. (Eboni Vance and Rachel Johnson are not pictured). (Photo by Joelle Walls)
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CURO recognizes 2009 Promising Scholars during two-day campus visit |
By Joëlle Walls
jpwalls@uga.edu
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For the fifth consecutive year, UGA has recognized a group of Georgia high school seniors for their stellar academic records. The 16 students were named 2009 Promising Scholars at the annual spring symposium sponsored by the Honors Program’s Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities in April.
During the two-day campus visit, the students gathered for informal and panel discussions about academics, research and campus life and interacted with current UGA students who participate in CURO’s Apprentice Program. They also got a sneak peek at the world of undergraduate research at the 2009 CURO symposium where more than 200 UGA undergraduates presented their research projects in formats from art exhibitions to oral and poster sessions.
“The CURO symposium serves as the major academic recruitment event for the CURO apprentice program,” said Pamela Kleiber, associate director of the Honors Program, who coordinates the CURO programs. “Georgia high school seniors may hear about opportunities to conduct research at UGA, but seeing is believing. We want these Promising Scholars to see and hear first-hand what UGA undergraduates are able to accomplish under the guidance of faculty mentors.”
The Promising Scholars Program, which began with support from two National Science Foundation grants in 2005 and 2006, is now a regular part of the CURO symposium.
The Promising Scholars broke into small groups led by CURO apprentices to meet for lunch and, for some, quick tours of campus. Promising Scholar
Rachel Pérez appreciated the opportunity to have discussions with her group to learn more about the CURO program and life at UGA.
“I enjoyed going to lunch with current apprentices because I was able to speak one-on-one with people who had actually experienced the program as apprentices,” said Pérez, a senior at Savannah Christian Preparatory School. “I also enjoyed listening to some of the current apprentices’ presentations on their fields of research, as I was able to see the result of all their hard work in CURO.”
Kelli Canterbury, a sophomore English major from Hampton, said she enjoyed the chance to show the variety of fields to study at the college level.
“Allowing the students to see some of the actual buildings gave them more of a sense of what student life is like,” she said. |
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