Forty-seven eighth graders from Fort Dodge Middle School will receive the Presidential Academic Excellence Award for outstanding academic achievement. The academic honors awards program will be held at 7 p.m. today in the Fort Dodge Middle School auditorium. There will be a reception following the ceremony.

The Presidential Academic Excellence Award is earned by eighth grade students who have met the necessary cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher during their 7th & 8th grade years and scored at the 85th percentile or above in math or reading in the 2016 Iowa Assessments. This is the 24th year that Fort Dodge Middle School students have been recognized with this honor.

Students recognized this year include: Chase Anderson, Drake Ayala, Eva Baker, Aidan Battcher, Isabel Beekman, Olivia Bell, Joshua Campbell, Jaydon Charlson, Kolby Chounthirath, Eadin Clark, Ava Clay, Kody Cook, Augusta Cook, Joshua Culver, Carter DeLanoit, Bethany Eddington, Noah Edman, B’Lanna Fisher, Milo Hamilton, Grant Harrison, Grace Hartley, Makierra Harvey, Kate Irving, Robert Jasper, Kennedy Johnson, Joseph Kelley, Foster Krug, Blaze Lo, Jasmine Lynem, Maddy Major, Joshua Meier*, Gracie Miller, Makayla Nelson, Logan Parker, Bethany Pyland, Miah Rees, Nathan Rethwisch*, Dallas Richardson, Jaedan Riley, Ryan Rowe, Brandon Sayer, Brock Sells, Taylor Smith, Dawson Spiker, Sawyer Springer, Abby Steding and Micah Stolp.

“The Presidential Academic Awards program at Fort Dodge Middle School is a proud and ongoing tradition that is a testimony to the efforts of this select group of students,” stated Marni Moody, eighth-grade school counselor at Fort Dodge Middle School. “The students who are presented this award have set an example for their peers showing what can be achieved with hard work and commitment. We are proud to acknowledge their dedication to outstanding academic achievement.”