In January, state Superintendent of Education Dr. Tom Burnhamwrote in an editorial that “every community must demand the highestlevel of expectation for our state’s quality of education to reachits fullest potential.”

Friday morning, a group that understands those words better thananyone in Mississippi stood before him and repeated the phrase.That group was the Lincoln County chapter of Mississippi Scholars,who appeared before the state Board of Education to be commendedfor the scholarship-giving success they’ve organized in Brookhavenand Lincoln County.

“Being recognized by the state board is huge for Brookhaven andLincoln County,” said David Culpepper, the program’s fundraisingchairman. “It means we’re doing something right, and when you dosomething right, you get results. That’s a strong message for ourstudents and their parents.”

They didn’t come home with the key to the city and they didn’tget a raise – the Mississippi Scholars coordinators are allvolunteers. In fact, all they got was a certificate and a scant fewminutes to tell state education leaders about the localprogram.

And while the warm welcome from the state education authoritywas good for Mississippi Scholars, the information MississippiScholars shared may be even better for state education.

“(The Mississippi Department of Education) is considering astrategic plan to bring communities and schools together … andwhat Scholars does is exactly what the state is trying toaccomplish,” said Suzanne Hirsch, director of the MississippiSchool of the Arts.

Hirsch was the local Scholars participant who brought theprogram to the state’s attention, sharing the success stories ofarts school students. Every year, as many as one-third or one-halfof arts students participate in the program, she said.

“It really pushes them to go to that next level and think aboutcollege in a different way,” Hirsch said. “I contacted Pete (Smith,MDE communications director) and told him about Scholars and that Ithought it was a model.”

Smith said Lincoln County’s scholars program was a perfect fitfor the state board’s monthly practice of recognizing excellence ineducation because other communities can duplicate the program’sresults.

“Lincoln County has the model program,” Smith said. “It’s anexample of how the community and the business community cometogether to work with the education community. This is a primeexample of it, and Lincoln County is leading the way in thatregard.”

The local scholars program has definitely pulled the necessarycommunities, doing so last year with breakthrough success. Toencourage high school students to take advanced courses and preparethemselves for college requires incentives, the scholars programhas brought in the incentives.

Earlier this year at the annual scholars banquet, the programrewarded record numbers, doling out $106,000 in collegescholarships to 96 of the 168 participating seniors, who came fromboth public school systems and Brookhaven Academy.

Since it began in 2006, the local Mississippi Scholars programhas awarded $256,000 in scholarships.

Just as the model demands, scholars collected that staggeringamount from private donors, local businesses and almost everycollege and university in the state.

“It takes superintendents, principals, counselors, students,business leaders and everyone else to make our program assuccessful as it is,” said Scholars chairman Kenny Goza. “Withoutall of us doing something, we wouldn’t be at the level we’re at.The message here is Brookhaven and Lincoln County were recognized,not us.”