22 Buncombe County students selected for prestigious Governor’s School

Twenty-two Buncombe County students earned places in the 2026 North Carolina Governor’s School, including eight in arts areas, a selection that says as much about the district’s talent pipeline as it does about individual achievement. The students come from Reynolds, Enka, Discovery Academy, North Buncombe and T.C. Roberson, showing the recognition is spread across multiple campuses rather than concentrated in one school.

The numbers also show how narrow the path is. Statewide, more than 1,800 students received invitations for the 2026 program, and North Carolina Department of Public Instruction says fewer than 1 percent of high school students are nominated for Governor’s School. Students cannot apply on their own. The process starts inside each school or district, where educators identify candidates, prepare applications and send them forward for state review.

That makes the role of school-based advanced-learning staff central, not peripheral. Buncombe County Schools AIG/Advanced Learning Lead Specialist Leanne Luttrell praised the students and the high school coordinators who spent the first semester assembling applications and then personally delivered selection letters in the spring. In a district spread across urban Asheville campuses and schools farther out in the county, that kind of hands-on coordination can determine which students are seen and which never make it into the nomination pool.

Governor’s School is not a conventional summer class. NC DPI describes it as the oldest statewide summer residential program for gifted and talented high school students in the nation, with no credit, tests or grades. Students live and learn with peers from across North Carolina in one of ten Area I disciplines, spending roughly 70 percent of instructional time in that field, with classes meeting twice daily Monday through Friday and once on Saturday.

The 2026 session runs June 21 through July 18, with Governor’s School East hosted by Meredith College in Raleigh and Governor’s School West hosted by Greensboro College in Greensboro. For Buncombe County, the class of 2026 follows 23 students selected in 2025 and 20 in 2024, when the district said it had reached its highest number of arts applicants and selections to that point. The steady presence of Buncombe students in the program suggests a strong academic pipeline, but the nomination process also shows that opportunity still depends on whether every school can identify advanced talent early and push it through.