A pair of high school students from Whitley County completed the 2026 Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts program this past summer along with 273 other students representing 60 of Kentucky’s 120 counties.
Whitley County High School’s Chloe Temple graduated for dance.
Corbin School of Innovation’s Saige Storm graduated for graphic design.
The tuition-free program took place from June 7-27. It was the first year the program took place at Northern Kentucky University.
During the three-week program, student-artists were immersed in a rigorous schedule of daily seminars, creative projects, master classes, and lectures. Instruction was offered in ten disciplines: architecture and design, creative writing, dance, drama, film plus photography, instrumental music, musical theatre, visual art, vocal music and GSA’s newest discipline, graphic design.
Special activities and performances for GSA 2026 included a trip to the Arnoff Center in Cincinnati to see Broadway’s The Lion King.
Since 1987, over 9,000 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 lectures, and the opportunity to access critical life-changing college scholarships.


