Twenty-nine rising sophomores from the Alamance-Burlington School System have been selected to join the third class of scholars in the Elon Academy, an enrichment program for academically talented students, on the Elon University campus.
The Gamma Class students will join this summer the 50 students in the Alpha and Beta classes who will be returning to Elon as rising seniors and juniors.
Elon Academy staff worked closely with advocates from all six Alamance-Burlington high schools and with Robyn Hadley, executive director of the What’s After High School Initiative, to identify and select bright, highly motivated, local students who dream of going to college. The Elon Academy is a three-year program.
All 79 students will spend a month on the Elon campus taking core academic courses during the day including personal finance, philosophy, anthropology, criminology, engineering, poetry, cognitive science, biology, Spanish language and culture, and music/video production. Additional seminar classes will include chess, mythology, video editing, journalism and photography. Scholars will be participating in an evening curriculum that includes golf, dance, show choir, drama, personal defense and art.
In addition, students will be engaged in leadership development classes, service projects and college planning activities.
Elon students and faculty members, along with other educators in the area, will mentor students and teach classes. Scholars will also have the opportunity to take field trips to visit a variety of colleges and universities so that they can begin to consider which school is the best fit for them.
The newest class for the Elon Academy includes the following students:
Cummings High School
Jonathan Garcia
Seth Gerringer
Josue Martinez
Keeyatta Russell
Gloria Segovia
Dominique Walker
Emily Wilborn
Xavier Winstead
Eastern Alamance High School
Donnell Connally
Kendall Farrell
Aloura Freeze
Josh Hilgartner
Justin Martin
Corey Painter
Emani Richmond
Graham High School
Elizabeth Tish
Kevin Williams
Southern Alamance High School
Angel Aguayo
Kimberly Beale
Claudia Lopez
Rachel Oxendine
Kori Simmons
Western Alamance High School
Jasmine Brown
Williams High School
Aiden Burk
Alexandra Carter
Alexandra Cohen
Roberto Luna
Yersen Padilla
Jaylaa Stewart
About the Elon Academy:
Launched by Elon University in 2007, the Elon Academy is an intensive three-year academic enrichment and leadership development program for local high school students with high financial need or no family history of attending college. It combines a month-long residential program over three successive summers with follow-up experiences during the academic year.
For more information: www.elon.edu/elonacademy.