The following ‘Golden Horseshoe’ winners for Jefferson County Schools have been announced: Avery Younis, Allyson Ward, Matthew Moore, and Patrick Rao from Shepherdstown Middle School; Johnathan Schattel from Wildwood Middle School and Bailey Price from Charles Town Middle School.

These top-scoring students will receive the prestigious award and will be inducted as “knight” and “ladies” of the Golden Horseshoe Society in Charleston on Friday, May 3.

The Golden Horseshoe contest started in 1929 when Phil M. Conley, President of West Virginia Education Foundation, proposed the idea to the state superintendent of schools. It recognizes students for their knowledge of West Virginia.

Each April, 8th grade students take a test prepared and scored by the West Virginia Department of Education on state government, history, geography, and economics. The winners are those receiving the highest scores in each county (the number of winners per county being determined by enrollment), as well as one from the Schools for the Deaf and blind at Romney.

Each year 221 students participate in the one-day awards ceremony in Charleston. Since the beginning of this competition, more than 15,000 students have been inducted into the Golden Horseshoe Society.