About the Gatton Academy
Program Justification
The Academy at Western Kentucky University
Similar Residential Academies

Western Kentucky University houses the Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky. The mission is to offer a residential program for bright, highly motivated Kentucky high school students who have demonstrated interest in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The Gatton Academy also seeks to provide its students with the companionship of peers; to encourage students to develop the creativity, curiosity, reasoning ability, and self-discipline that lead to independent thought and action; and to aid students in developing integrity that will enable them to benefit society.

The goal is to enable Kentucky’s exceptional young scientists and mathematicians to learn in an environment which offers advanced educational opportunities, preparing them for leadership roles in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Mission

Each year the Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky admits 60 Kentucky students who apply during their sophomore year and are awarded admission based on standardized test scores, grades, responses to essay questions, personal interviews, and recommendations.

Instead of spending their junior and senior years in traditional high schools, students enroll in the Gatton Academy and live in a uniquely dedicated Gatton Academy residence hall.

Taking courses offered by WKU, their classmates are fellow Gatton Academy students and WKU undergraduate students.

At the end of two years, Gatton Academy students will have earned sixty college credit hours in addition to completing high school.

Academy graduates may choose to stay at WKU or transfer to other universities to complete their bachelor’s degrees. (Just a note: For the past few years, the North Carolina School for Science and Mathematics has awarded full scholarships to any NCSSM graduate to attend any university in the North Carolina system. This could be a wonderful precedent for the Gatton Academy.)

Gatton Academy students’ scholastic test scores and nationally recognized achievements such as CATS scores, ACT/SAT scores, and national merit awards will be credited to the home high school.

Academy students will be able to participate in their home high school senior class ceremonies.