Courtesy photo Eight Escanaba Junior/Senior High School recently received academic honors from College Board’s National Recognition Programs. Pictured from left to right are Gracelyn Wiles, Samantha Manninen, Gabriel Magreta, Sean Sullivan, Sushmitha Gowda, and Molly VanDamme. Not pictured are Angela Chapman and Elizabeth Adcock.

ESCANABA — Escanaba Junior/Senior High School is celebrating some exceptional high school students — 8 of the 72,000 students from across the country who earned academic honors from College Board’s National Recognition Programs hailed from Escanaba.

The National Recognition Programs honor the academic achievements of underrepresented students. They’re a way for students to showcase their hard work in high school. The programs not only benefit students, but the colleges looking to recruit diverse, talented students.

At Escanaba Junior/Senior High School, the eight students who received the academic honor were,

— Angela Chapman, National Rural and Small Town Award (NRSTA)

— Elizabeth Adcock, National Indigenous Award (NIA)

— Gabriel Magreta, NRSTA

— Gracelyn Wiles, NIA

— Molly VanDamme, NRSTA

— Samantha Manninen, NRSTA

— Sean Sullivan, NRSTA

— Sushmitha Gowda, NRSTA

The National Recognition Programs help students like the EJSHS seniors find ways to celebrate that what makes them unique.

The recognized students have a GPA of 3.5 or higher, are the top 10% of PSAT/NMSQT® or PSAT™ 10 assessment takers in each state for each program, or have earned a score of 3 or higher on two or more AP® Exams. They either attend school in a rural area or small town, or identify as African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, or Indigenous/Native.