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The photos started appearing on social media over the past couple of weeks, students from multiple grades in Ohio County Schools displaying the certificate showing they were among this year's George E. Stifel Award winners.
The award was the brainchild of Stifel, a successful department store owner and a member of the inaugural class of the Wheeling Hall of Fame. He felt it important to reward students in grades 5-12 for their outstanding work in the classroom.
Collectively this year, around 200 Ohio County Schools students received more than $200,000 in prize money checks for their academic achievements. It's a great feeling for those students to know their hard work has been recognized. It's also a great feeling for their parents to know that someone is making an effort to acknowledge their children's accomplishments. Many of the parents taking those award photos were former Stifel winners themselves.
These prizes are another example of the philanthropic spirit that has permeated Wheeling for more than a century. Our best have long believed it important to honor others.
It's also another example of the quality of student that Ohio County produces. As it has every year for decades, the Stifel Award shows the public that this county's students make the grade.