By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–The Shelby County School System honored some of its brightest students on Tuesday, March 10, as dozens of awards were presented to students from high schools across the county who’ve achieved exemplary academic success.

A few of the awards presented were the National Merit Finalists, National Merit Semi-Finalist, National Merit Commended Students, Presidential Scholar Candidate, Advanced Placement Scholars with Distinction, Advanced Placement Scholars with Honor, Advanced Placement Scholars, PSAT Scholars, PLAN Scholars, ACT College and Career Readiness Awards and the 2015 top Valedictorians.

Students, parents, administrators and more packed the Helena High School Auditorium for the awards presentation where they heard from guest speaker Ameen Barghi, a former Oak Mountain High School graduate and Rhodes Scholar winner.

Barghi, currently a senior at UAB majoring in neuroscience with a minor in chemistry, gave the award winners some advice as they prepare to make the transition from high school to college in the coming years.

“Everyone kind of creates their own as they go through their career so this is sort of my highlights,” said Barghi. “The truth is whether you’re a sophomore, junior or senior and regardless of why you’re here your future is teeming with opportunities. You just have to find the right mentor and colleague or the right faculty administrator or someone who can hone in on what you’re really really good at and exploit it.”

Awards were given to students of many Shelby County High Schools but Oak Mountain High School students gathered the majority of them.

National Merit Finalists consist of students that score in the top one percent in each state on the PSAT. OMHS had four students awarded and Chelsea High School had one student.

Only Oak Mountain students were presented awards in the National Merit Semi-Finalist, National Merit Commended students, Presidential Scholar Candidate, Advanced Placement Scholars with Distinction and Advanced Placement Scholars with Honor categories.

The top Valedictorians were as follows: Raven Edwards of Calera High School, Christopher Robinson of Chelsea High School, Grant Beard of Helena High School, Meredith Goggins of Montevallo High School, Ian Jenkins and Matthew Tindal of Oak Mountain High School, Rebecca Tucker of Shelby County High School and Elizabeth Ross of Vincent High School.