Each year, high-achieving seventh-grade students who qualify participate in the Duke University Talent Identification Program (TIP) Seventh Grade Talent Search.  These seventh-graders take above-grade level tests, either the ACT or the SAT,  to help educators and families gain greater insight into their academic abilities.

This year, 120 students in Shelby County Schools participated in the program. Based on their performance on these college-level tests, 45 students will receive state recognition and eight qualified for grand recognition.

The following schools had 2016 Duke TIP Award winners: Calera Middle (two state award winners); Chelsea Middle (one grand award winner, nine state award winners); Columbiana Middle (two state award winners); Helena Middle (two grand award winners and five state award winners). Montevallo Middle (one grand winner, two state award winners); and Oak Mountain Middle (four grand award winners and 25 state award winners).

Students invited to the State Ceremony, which was held May 8 at the University of Alabama, met at least one of the following criteria for the ACT or SAT. For the ACT, students must have scored greater than a 21 on the English, math, reading and science portions of the exam.  For the SAT, students had to score greater than 530 on math, 510 on critical reading, and 500 in on the writing portion.

Only about three percent of all the participants in the talent search nationwide qualify for grand recognition.  Students invited to the Grand Ceremony, which will be held May 22 at Duke University, must meet at least one of the following criteria on either the ACT or SAT. On the ACT, students must score greater than a 27 in science, 28 in math and on the composite score, a 29 in English, and 30 on the reading portion of the exam. For the SAT students must score greater than 650 on critical reading and writing; 680 on math, and 1850 on math plus critical reading plus writing.

The following students from Shelby County Schools qualified for the 2017Grand Recognition:

Chelsea Middle – Joel Young

Helena Middle – Lindsey May and Jacob Ritondo

Montevallo Middle – Kaitlyn Ozley

Oak Mountain Middle – Susannah Bulaga, Logan Camp, George Graham IV, and Cade May

The following students from Shelby County Schools qualified for 2017 State Recognition:

Calera Middle – Ethan Gray and Abigail Snyder

Chelsea Middle – Brantley Avery, Pranav Danasekar, Jessie Holsombeck, Bryson Jones, Thomas Ludwig, Reed Parish, Wesley Smith, Madison Taylor, and Joel Young

Columbiana Middle – Lillian Gilliland and Brianna Reeves

Helena Middle – Drew Chandler, Jonah Crutsinger, Lindsey May, Olivia Moon, and Jacob Ritondo

Montevallo Middle – Emily Lint and Kaitlyn Ozley

Oak Mountain Middle – Susannah Buluga, George Graham IV, Tristan Pestridge, Logan Camp, Emily Key, Audrey Richardson, Ismael Choucha, Maddox Macrory, Ian Rye, Evan Dubose, Cade May, Diya Samal, Brady Dunn, Henry Meads, William Stone, Carson Easterling, Samuel Miller, Avanish Thota, Caleb Flowers, Aubrey Morrow, Kaitlyn White, Ethan Forrest, Grace Parker, Brian Wortmann, and Kahled Zuaiter