The Advanced Academy of Georgia

Awards and Achievements

Students of the Advanced Academy have achieved high honors through their involvement in challenging academic work as well as exceptional community service. The following is only a small sample of the numerous accomplishments of Academy students.

Russell Phillips and Vishal Amin, under the direction of Dr. Sharmistha Basu-Dutt, associate professor of chemistry are conducting research exploring the environmental fate of a particular herbicide under the direction of Dr. Sharmistha Basu-Dutt, associate professor of chemistry. The two Academy students attended the Southeast Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society in fall 2004, where they presented their research.
Beth Nelson and three other UWG students, one of them a former Academy student, are researching The Effect of Acoustics on Combustion and Microgravity. Their proposal to NASA Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunity Program was accepted, and they will be going to Houston in July 2005 to conduct their experiment while flying on a DC 9 aircraft. The group applied for an international patent because the idea is so revolutionary. Beth received a Best Student Paper Award in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science and Technology at the annual meeting of the Georgia Academy of Science for the paper "Acoustic Fire Control in Microgravity."
Yong Suh exemplifies what a motivated student can achieve with a start from the Advanced Academy and UWG's Honors College. He was awarded a prestigious Goldwater Scholarhip (the premier scholarship in the country in math and science) while a still a student here as well as a full scholarship to pursue an MD/PhD degree. Yong was selected as a research fellow to work on an international Type 2 diabetes gene hunting study with Dr. Francis Collins at the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health. While there, he was awarded the Marshall Scholarship, which funded an additional two years of study at the University of Oxford, where he earned two master's degrees, one in pharmacology and one in business administration, all by the age of 23! Click here to read Yong's statement.
Advanced Academy students are eligible for UWG's prestigious Presidential Scholarships, and in 2004-2005 seven current and seven former Academy students were Presidential Scholarship recipients.
For five of the past seven years, UWG has had more student proposals accepted to the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) Conference than any other school in the country. Fall 2004, ten UWG students, including former Academy students, traveled to New Orleans to present their research.
Three West Georgia alumni were listed in Georgia Trend magazine's "40 under 40" list, which recognized Georgia's "rising superstars" in the business, academic, political, entrepreneurial and nonprofit fields. According to Georgia Trend, the chosen 40 are changing the civic and economic landscapes for the better. One of those named was Carlianne Patrick, who says her accelerated studies with the Advanced Academy of Georgia helped her gain this recognition.
Gunn Hall, the Academy residence hall, won the Homecoming Grand Champions award, outstanding float award, outstanding sidewalk chalk award, best novelty group, Blue, Red, and White Award, and the craftsmanship award during the University Homecoming Parade.
Academy students were recognized at the University's annual academic Honors Convocation. Current Academy students were named Outstanding Honors Freshman; former Academy students were named Outstanding Honors Sophomores and Seniors. Other awards received by former Academy students include The Gordon Watson Award in English and Academic Recognition Day Scholar, the highest academic honor awarded on campus.
Gunn Hall students, staff, and programs have won University awards for consecutive years, including: Residence Hall Council (RHC) of the Year (for the third year in a row), Program of the Year (also for the third year in a row), Executive Board Member of the Year, Student Leader of the Year, Advisor of the Year, Best New Resident Assistant, Community Builder of the Year, and Residential Programmer of the Year.
Many Academy students have been named National Merit and National Achievement Finalists. An Academy scholar was the first student from Georgia to receive the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship while still enrolled in high school. Two other Academy students have also been awarded this prestigious scholarship.
As an Academy student, Brian Bockelman presented two papers, one co-written with two other students and one an individual project, at the Joint Meetings of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America, and both projects were listed among the top ten projects at the conference.
Three West Georgia students, including a current Academy student and one former Academy student, presented a paper at the National Social Sciences Association annual conference and won first place in a competition that included all students, including graduate students.
Gunn Hall students have a fund raising tradition for charitable causes, and at their annual St. Patty's Day Café fundraiser raised more than $1,000 that was donated to two charities selected by the students.
Several Academy students had their poetry and art work published in the University's art magazine, The Eclectic.
Last year's graduating Academy students were awarded the following scholarships: Presidential Scholarships at the University of West Georgia. Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc. Scholarships, Navy ROTC Scholarship, Worthy Family Scholarship, a full stipend to the University of Iowa for their Ph.D. in English program, Berry College Academic Merit Scholarship, Presidential Scholarship at University of Utah, Coca Cola Scholars Foundation Scholarship, Calloway Foundation Scholarship, Hatton Lovejoy Scholarship, Novartis Merit Scholarship, UGA Charter Scholarship, Omega Psi Phi Scholarship, Puffin foundation Grant National Achievement Scholarship, Junior Miss Scholarship Program Scholarship, Con Edison Corporation Scholarship, and Capstone Scholarship.
In addition, many students were named Star Students from their high schools and were listed in Who's Who Among American Students. One student was valedictorian of her class, and another was invited to make the commencement address at his high school.
Gunn Hall Students and staff won the following awards:

1. Executive Board Member of the Year (Karl Cepeda)
2. Grand Champions of Homecoming
3. Georgia Advisor of the Month (Terri Ducker)
4. Student Leader of the Year (Reba Cox)
5. Outstanding Residence Hall Council of the Year (Gunn Hall RHC, for the third year in a row)
6. Program of the Year (Decathlon & St. Patty's Day Café, for the third year in a row)
7. Intramural Services Good Times Award
8. Intramural Soccer Champions

Ten of our student leaders on Hall Council attended the Georgia Residence Hall Organization (GRHO) conference and the regional Southeastern Association of College and University Residence Halls (SAACURH) conference. Our officers were also active with President's Council and attended weekly meetings of all the hall council's on campus.

After completing the Academy program, our students may remain at UWG to finish their undergraduate degrees, or they may choose to attend another institution. Either way, we are our students' advocates, working with them to achieve their dreams. Click here to see a list of schools.

For more information about what former Academy students are doing now, refer to our impressive listing here.

For more information about the Academy and our students' accomplishments for our most recently completed academic year. Please refer to The Advanced Academy Fast Facts.