Ninety-six Beaufort County eighth-graders were honored Thursday, May 7 for being named Junior Scholars by the South Carolina Department of Education.

The students were recognized during a Facebook Live ceremony after the annual Junior Scholars Banquet was canceled due to the state-ordered shutdown of all schools and school-related events.

“We didn’t want the COVID-19 school shutdown to keep us from recognizing these 96 students who are being recognized by the state of South Carolina for demonstrating outstanding academic potential,” Superintendent Frank Rodriguez said. “We’re challenging them to reach that potential and to keep pushing themselves to succeed.”

The Junior Scholars Program was developed by the S.C. Department of Education to identify eighth-graders with exceptional academic talent and to develop strategies for inclusion into special programs. The program includes a process for screening, identifying and recognizing students with high scholastic achievement and intellectual ability.

Eligible students include those who score 550 or higher on the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing portion of the PSAT/NMSQT or those who scored 530 or higher on the Mathematics portion of the PSAT/NMSQT, those who participated in Duke University's Talent Identification Program (TIP) during their seventh-grade years.

Students who qualify as Junior Scholars receive an award of merit from the S.C. Department of Education as well as information regarding summer academic experiences sponsored by South Carolina colleges and universities. They can use that special recognition to bolster their applications to colleges and universities.

Beaufort County School District Junior Scholar honorees (listed by school):

<b>Beaufort Middle School</b> – T'Erre Adderley, Ella Glover, Ryan Lin, Essence McKnight, Adelaide Rogers, Elizabeth Sherbert, Langston Simmons, Connie Marie Taylor and Zoe Way.

<b>Bluff</b><b>ton Middle School </b>– Brodie Lanese, Maxwell Larkby, Ella Price, Thaddaeus Rios, Dylan Sampson, Destiny Skinner, Olivia Williams, Thabile Douglas, Hunter Darlak, Anthony Bynum, Jacob Brophy and Isaac Anaya.

<b>H.E. McCracken Middle School</b> – Caleb Allinder, Anna Andreoletti, Joshua Angulo Lopez, Elizabeth Barry, Noah Berkley, Sarah Butler, Simon Cali, Trey Collins, Luke Constantineau, William Corn, Blaine Cottingham, Mia Doty, Elena Ford, Ava Gerschutz, Mallory Gilmore, Aiden Harvey, Emily Henderson, Garren Keckley, Ciera Kiefer, Laura Lopez Reyna, Ana Maldonado, Tyler McMahan, Kirtus Miller, Zarek Miller, Katie Misner, Michael Patino, Ellory Pruitt, Alexys Sambroak, Paul Smith, Haylie Star and Carlie Woods.

<b>Hilton Head Island Middle School </b>– Mary Cahillane, Alexandra Coley, Lucas Fernandez, Matthew Garino, Benjamin Gutierrez, Jayro Hernandez, Nikhil Krishna, Thompson May, Susana Mogil, Fred Mouzon, Gray Rezzetano, Bryan Ruiz, Landon Schwartz, Zachary Starnes and Luke Stevens.

<b>Lady's Island Middle School</b> – Abigail Baron, Jordan Dilon, Noah Henry, William Keyserling, Tucker Mickel, Jack Nicka, Parth Patel and Nathan Tran.

<b>River Ridge Academy</b> – Hailey Aipperspach, Miller Hendricks, Alexander Lamb, Thiowa Maldonado, Ryan Mooney, Liliana Namdar, Sean Nguyen, Jacob Nix, Grant Pagatpatan, Jason Putnam, Michael Sands, Joshua Smith and Nathaniel Sorto.

<b>Robert Smalls International Academy</b> – Jaeli Maxey and Lin Widrick.

<b>Riverview Charter School </b>– Aiden Hovest, Juan Lopez, Creed Smith, Alexander Thomas, Daniel Trask and James Willis.