46th Annual

Arkansas Governor's School

2025 Summer session dates:

Sunday, July 6th - Saturday, August 2nd

Applications opening soon! _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Arkansas Governor’s School is a four-week summer residential program for upcoming high school seniors who are residents of the state of Arkansas. The program is funded by the Arkansas State Legislature as a portion of the biennial appropriation for Gifted and Talented Programs through the State Department of Education. State funds provide tuition, room, board, and instructional materials for each student who attends the four-week program on the site of a residential college campus, sponsored by the State. The Arkansas Governor’s School is a non-credit program that seeks to create a unique experience for a select group of Arkansas’ best students—the potential leaders of the 21st century. Both inside and outside the classrooms, AGS provides highly motivated, creative students with an intellectual atmosphere impossible to sustain in ordinary academic settings. The excitement of intellectual and artistic pursuits and the expectation of significant conceptual gains permeate all aspects of the participants’ lives for the full four weeks.

Application Information

 

Office hours are Monday - Friday from 8 am to 5 pm. The AGS Office is closed weekends

Please email any questions after 5 pm to ags@atu.edu. They will be answered the next business day.

 

Students are selected on the basis of their special aptitudes in one of nine fields: 

 

Eligibility Requirements:

  • Only students who are residents of Arkansas and who are presently in junior classes at a public or private high school or are homeschooled are eligible to be nominated to apply. These must be students who are entering into their senior year of high school. Students who plan to graduate from high school before attending AGS are not eligible to be nominated or apply to AGS.

  • Nominees should have demonstrated
    • creativity in academic or creative fields,
    • above average ability in the nominated discipline area,
    • a high degree of self-motivation required to satisfy the program’s demanding requirements,
    • the intellectual, social, and emotional maturity required to thrive in an environment that emphasizes theoretical and process-related learning.

  • Nominees must be willing to commit to the entire program. Students who would like to participate in other programs or activities that run concurrent to AGS should not be nominated.

  • All qualified students should be considered for nomination regardless of socioeconomic status, cultural, or language differences.

 

FAQS


WHAT MAKES ARKANSAS GOVERNOR'S SCHOOL GREAT?

Unique Environment

 

Special Interest Activities

 

Co-Curricular Progams 

   
 The residential character of the Governor’s School is essential to its aims and purposes.  This total immersion fosters an academic seriousness that would be impossible to achieve in a less structured setting.   Informal sessions discussing topics of special interest with faculty form a part of the experience of practically every student at the Governor’s School. These may grow into voluntary tutorial meetings in which students learn, for example, the basics of freehand drawing or creative writing.   The educational experience of the Governor’s School is enriched by three components beyond the classroom curriculum: a series of guest speakers, a series of films of intellectual significance, and the program’s own series of student performances. 
   
   
         
         

TESTIMONIALS
 

AGS 2019 students talk about their experiences and why others should attend.

Testimonials from previous AGS students

 

 

 

 

CONTACT US 


Arkansas Governor's School
Arkansas Tech University
1711 Coliseum Drive
Russellville, AR 72801
Phone: (479) 356-2037
Email: ags@atu.edu