Atmore resident Pia Gorme, a junior at the Alabama School of Math and Science (ASMS), has been selected to be a Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America (LEDA) Scholar, according to the ASMS website.

Gorme is one of 100 juniors nationwide that was selected for the program.

LEDA is a national non-profit organization that works to diversify the national leadership pipeline by helping high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds to gain admission to the nation’s most selective colleges and supporting their success at the institutions, according to the release on the website.

Gorme will spend seven weeks this summer at Princeton University, where she will receive leadership training, writing instruction, standardized test preparation and personalized guidance, according to ASMS’s website.

“I am part of the 14th cohort of LEDA Scholars,” Gorme said on the website. “Every year, 100 high school students nationwide are chosen to become LEDA Scholars. The LEDA Scholars program offers much more than the Aspects of Leadership Summer Institute. After the summer, LEDA will help me with my college application process during the fall of my senior year and will also help me throughout my college years.”

According to ASMS, Gorme learned of the LEDA program after two seniors compiled a list of free reputable summer programs that ASMS students could apply.

Gorme researched the program and learned that in order to be accepted into the program, students must complete an extremely competitive application that involved submitting academic information, test scores, a personal statement and essay, an additional writing sample, biographical information, extracurricular activity involvement, family financial information, and a formal interview.

After the application process was complete, Gorme was accepted to participate in the program.

Gorme said since living at ASMS, she’s gotten used to being away from home in Atmore.

“Since this is a seven-week residential program, the residential aspect of ASMS has prepared me to be comfortable with living away from home from my family and interacting with people of diverse backgrounds,” she said on the website. “Additionally, the rigorous coursework and leadership opportunities at ASMS has helped to develop critical thinking skills and to break out of my shell, which is part of what the leadership instruction at the Aspects of Summer Leadership Institute.”

Gorme is the daughter of Ditto and Kharina Gorme of Atmore.