Five Marion County middle schoolers named 2022 Golden Horseshoe Winners

Times West Virginian, Fairmont
·2 min read

May 13—CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Department of Education will recognize 221 eighth-grade students from middle schools across the state as 2022 Knights of the Golden Horseshoe on June 14 at the West Virginia Culture Center in Charleston. The event will be livestreamed on West Virginia Public Broadcasting stations.

Students will be inducted as a part of the 306th anniversary of the Golden Horseshoe legacy, recognizing them for their achievement in knowledge of West Virginia history. It remains the longest-running program of its kind in the country. Approximately 15,000 eighth-grade students have been recognized since its inception.

"Our students have worked diligently for this moment to become Knights of the Golden Horseshoe," State Superintendent of Schools W. Clayton Burch said in a press release. "It is clear their passion for knowledge and resilience to achieve this accomplishment will make them incredible ambassadors for the Mountain State. I look forward to all of their future success."

The state has administered the test each year since 1931 with 87 students honored from 46 counties in its first year. The exam focuses on Mountain State topics including civics, government, geography, culture and numerous other categories. A minimum of two students from each county and one student from the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind are selected for the award. The other honorees are selected from the 55 counties based on each county's eighth-grade population.

The WVDE will host three separate ceremonies to honor the 2022 Golden Horseshoe recipients on June 14, at the West Virginia Culture Center.

The first ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. and will recognize recipients from the following counties: Boone, Braxton, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Harrison, Jackson, Kanawha, Lewis, Lincoln, Logan, Marion, Putnam, Roane, Wayne and Wirt.

Marion County students to be honored June 14 are West Fairmont Middle students Easton Blair, Queden Thomas and Regan Hardway, Barrackville Elementary/Middle student Samuel Flower and Fairview Middle student Cooper Korsh.