Eighth graders receive Golden Horseshoe honor

Warm Springs Middle School eighth grade students Trey Ratcliff, Logan Rothstein and Jeremy Walls were presented with the Golden Horseshoe Award on May 3 at a ceremony in Charleston.

State Superintendent Jorea Marple inducted more than 200 eighth grade Golden Horseshoe recipients as knights and ladies of the Golden Horseshoe Society at the ceremony. A reception followed the induction.

The prestigious West Virginia award is given to the top-scoring students on the Golden Horseshoe test in each county.

The exam tests students’ knowledge of West Virginia culture, citizenship, history, geography, government, civics, economics and current events. The test has been given every year since 1931.

According to a state Department of Education press release, the Golden Horseshoe originated in the early 1700s when Governor Alexander Spotswood of the colony of Virginia sent an expedition to explore what is now mostly West Virginia. Spotswood gave each explorer a commemorative golden horseshoe afterwards.

The Golden Horseshoe Award is considered one of the highest honors for a student from West Virginia to receive.