Meet Whiz Kid: Hannah Reiss

Name: Hannah Reiss, 16

School: Decatur High School

Accomplishments: In just a few weeks, this rising senior will be on her way to
Valdosta State College to represent in the Georgia
Governor’s Honor Program in the area of biology.  She is one of 30 students who will study science in the honors program of 700 participants overall.

“Ever since I can remember I’ve been interested in studying medicine,” Reiss said. She’s participated in three talent identification programs for academically gifted youth. She attended her first at Davidson College where she took a psychology class. There she and her fellow students studied a woman who remembered everything and the consequences and challenges of having a crystal clear, perfect memory.

The following year at Duke University she studied medical anatomy where she and her classmates dissected a cat. During her third year in the program, also at Duke, she studied primate biology in a project observing Lemurs and their
grooming habits at the Duke Lemur Center. 

Reiss is also very interested in memory and learning techniques.  For her senior project she’ll likely combine a lab study and incorporate improving her own memory.  

“I do want to study medicine, but I’m not sure if I want to become a doctor," she said. "Lately I’ve been thinking about becoming a researcher. I’m
interested in neuroscience and the brain.”

As a senior, Reiss will serve as co-editor of Carpe Diem, Decatur High School’s media publication. She is on the school tennis team, plays the flute and the piano and likes to read.

The Georgia Governor’s Honor Program is a four-week summer residential instructional program designed to provide intellectually gifted and artistically talented high school students educational opportunities not usually available during the regular school year.