Five Whitley County students selected for Governor’s School for the Arts

The Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts (GSA) has announced its 2023 class list, which includes five students from Whitley County.

This year’s class represents a milestone for the program as it has now accepted students from every single Kentucky county since its inception in 1987. More than half of the state’s 120 counties are represented in this year’s class alone.

Participating from Whitley County are:

• Maddox Doan of Whitley County High School – drama
• Ryan Fields of Williamsburg High School – visual art
• Alexander Gilliam of Corbin High School – instrumental music – guitar
• Zada Henderson of Corbin High School – instrumental music – woodwinds
• Grayson Maggard of Corbin High School – instrumental music – percussion

Since 1987, more than 7,500 rising high school juniors and seniors have descended on a college campus setting to immerse themselves in an arts intensive environment, with cross-discipline learning, special guest artist performances and the opportunity to access critical life-changing college scholarships.

The 2023 class will include 512 students from 73 different counties and will be held at The University of Kentucky over two consecutive sessions throughout the summer. Each of the two sessions will be three weeks, with session one taking place June 11 – July 1 and session two taking place July 9 – 29.

During the program, student-artists will be immersed in a rigorous schedule of daily seminars, creative projects, master classes and lectures. Instruction will be offered in nine disciplines: architecture and design, creative writing, dance, drama, film and photography, instrumental music, musical theatre, visual art and vocal music.

“GSA is a life-changing experience and we are excited to have shared it with students from all 120 counties in Kentucky since the program first started,” said Nick Covault, executive director of GSA and GSA alumnus (Class of 2002, Vocal Music). “We celebrate the resilience, passion and energy these young students from all over Kentucky have exhibited to get to this point. Acceptance into GSA is a high honor and accomplishment that we hope brings great pride to these students’ parents, teachers and communities.”