County's Top Students Often Unseen Compared To Athletes

The tension was evident as Highlands County's students squared off Saturday for school bragging rights. And it had nothing to do with athletics. It was all about brains and our top middle school students did a wonderful job answering questions that many adults wouldn't know.

Academic teams from all Highlands County middle schools competed at the Sebring Middle School auditorium in an annual event measuring students' all-around knowledge. Each grade level battled to beat the buzzer and then the day was capped off with a "varsity" contest with each school's top students vying for a title.

Sebring's Hill-Gustat won the varsity contest and the sixth-grade contest. Sebring Middle School won top honors in seventh and eighth grade contests. But the points separating all the schools was small, and every school had a strong showing with top students representing from throughout the county.

We're all guilty of heaping praise on the top athletes and ignoring top academic achievers. Sometimes the same students participate in both, but more often it's a different set of kids. That means one group is over-represented and the other is under-represented. It's not fair.

We should honor and cheer our top students who work incredibly hard to maintain top grades, and the parents and teachers who inspire and challenge them. Their exceptional efforts should never be overshadowed by athletics. Both should be celebrated.

Too many young people take a bad rap from older people who want to lump them into everything bad in society. The fact is, most of our young people stay out of trouble, do well in school and are going to college in record numbers compared to when most of their parents and grandparents went to school.

Just seeing the smiling faces of our county's top academic students having fun and challenging other schools was refreshing. With the help of our teachers and schools, we'll do more to promote our county's best and brightest in the future.