Local Senior, Makenzie Daniels Has Busy Summer Plans With WKU's Gatton Academy

Makenzie Daniels, an ECHS Senior attending WKU's Gatton Academy has plans for a busy unorthodox summer. (photo courtesy of Facebook)

Darren Doyle
While many high school seniors will be occupied with a routine summer break, local student Makenzie Daniels has planned a summer of traveling, presentations, and studying at the prestigious Gatton Academy at WKU.​

Six Gatton Academy students are presenting research this summer at the National Consortium of Secondary STEM Schools (NCSSS) Student Research Conference at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. From July 9-12, these students will join approximately 100 other students from across the country to share their research work through oral and poster presentations.  

 Makenzie Daniels (’17) of Chalybeate will present “The Isolation of Mycobacteriophage Hemsworth.”

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Daniels will also be participating in WKU's partnership with Harlaxton College in Grantham, England, to offer a study abroad course. She, along with several other students will study Honors: Introduction to Literature with Professor Walker Rutledge of the WKU Department of English.

About The Gatton Academy:  Established in 2007, The Gatton Academy is Kentucky’s first residential high school for gifted and talented junior and seniors. The Gatton Academy’s students enroll as juniors and are full-time WKU students pursuing their interests in advanced science, technology, engineering and mathematical careers. The Gatton Academy has been named to the Washington Post’s list of top-performing schools with elite students for eight consecutive years and was named the number one public high school in the United States by The Daily Beast for three consecutive years – 2012, 2013 and 2014.

On top of that, she also plans to work as a pharmacy technician. She is the daughter of Matt and Lysette Daniels of Chalybeate.