John Carroll’s Nathan Ruppert attends Alabama Governor's School

John Carroll Catholic High School Senior Nathan Ruppert of Shelby County was selected to attend the prestigious 2017 Alabama Governor's School (AGS) at Samford University this summer. He was among 89 outstanding rising high school seniors from 24 counties and 56 high schools in Alabama, who were individually chosen for the two-week honors program.

Ruppert and the other selected students were nominated by their school based on academic ability, leadership qualities, creativity and community service. The selection was based on teacher and guidance counselor recommendations and written essays.

Along with the other participants, Ruppert was assigned two classes based on his preferences and requests. He was able to experience a sports medicine class and the Martian Frontier class.

As a part of the sports medicine course, Ruppert took trips to places such as The University of Alabama at Birmingham where he toured its athletic training department and its facilities, as well as the Alabama Sports Medicine Institute. He also learned about the different career paths within the realm of orthopedics. For the Martian Frontier class, he gained knowledge about the risks and factors of going to Mars, the physics of space flight, and planned his own virtual trip to the planet. He also modeled, 3D printed and launched rockets. Classes were taught by Samford faculty and other professionals from the community.

Some of Nathan’s outstanding accomplishments at John Carroll and in the community that helped him earn the honor to attend AGS include: first honors student, National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta Honor Society, junior and senior class president and John Carroll student ambassador. He is also a committee member for Relay for Life, helps tutor other students, and is a member of the John Carroll Frisbee club.

This year's AGS participants represented an average ACT score of 29.28 and a grade point average of 4.27. The Alabama Governor’s School is a member of the National Conference of Governor’s Schools.

-Submitted by Mary Stephens Pugh