Published: July 02, 2009 12:12 am      

Most 2009 GHS grads reach scholar status

The majority of this year's Greenville High School graduates completed more rigorous coursework that earned them designation as “Texas Scholars,” the Greenville school district announced.

School officials said 164 of the high school's June graduates completed the required coursework and received Scholar designation. Texas Scholars is a business-led program designed to motivate all students to complete the more rigorous coursework required in the state Recommended High School Program (RHSP).

Texas high schools offer three levels of curriculum: minimum, recommended, and distinguished. Current students must complete at least the minimum requirements in order to receive a high school diploma.

The 77th Legislature, in 2003, established the RHSP as the default high school curriculum for students entering the ninth grade in the 2004-05 academic year.

The Texas Scholar Recognition Program was started in 1993 by the state's Board of Education as an attempt to encourage eighth graders entering high school to complete coursework above the minimum amount required to earn a high school diploma. To obtain Texas Scholar recognition, high school students had to complete the RHSP as established by the Texas State Board of Education.

The adoption of RHSP as the default coursework for all entering high school freshman triggered a transition for the Texas Scholar Program to the “Texas Scholars: High School and Beyond” initiative. The new program requires that all entering freshman complete at least two college credit courses to be considered for Texas Scholar recognition.

Students must also take four years of math and science credit.

The Greenville Chamber of Commerce has partnered with Greenville ISD in recent years to help recognize Texas Scholars graduating from Greenville High School. Texas Scholars received a Texas Scholar medallion and were also recognized in a special section in the Herald-Banner.

More information on the Texas Scholars program is available online at the Texas Scholars Web site (texasscholars.org) or the Greenville Chamber of Commerce Web site (greenvillechamber.com).