More than 30 Mehlville School District seventh-graders are being honored for scoring equal to or better than half of all college-bound high school seniors on the ACT or SAT college placement exam.

The students tested their knowledge recently through the Duke University Talent Identification Program, or TIP. Thirty-seven of the district’s students received State Recognition for scoring equal to or better than half of all college-bound high school seniors who took the tests, while six seventh-graders have been honored with Grand Recognition for producing scores exceeding those of 90 percent of high school seniors tested this year.

“The Duke TIP Program offers a great opportunity to many of our qualifying seventh-grade students,” WMS Counselor Ann Hinderberger stated in a district news release. “These advanced students and their families get a chance to better understand their academic abilities and to more effectively plan for high school and beyond.”

The district’s 37 seventh-graders will be honored at a State Recognition ceremony May 18 at Drury University. The six students who scored higher than most college-bound seniors are invited to attend the Grand Recognition Ceremony May 21 at Duke University.

“While these students typically do well on grade-level work, it is quite impressive to see how they stack up against the older students,” Hinderberger stated. “We are very proud of all of their accomplishments and hope they are able to use the information from this testing to help them plan a future full of challenging educational experiences.”

Students were selected by each middle school to participate in the TIP program based on their outstanding scores on standardized tests.