Bowling Green, Ky. - Kentucky's brightest seventh-graders will be recognized May 27 at the Kentucky Recognition Ceremony for the 25th Annual Talent Identification Program (TIP) at Western Kentucky University.

TIP, through Duke University, is sponsoring a series of recognition ceremonies to honor some of the most talented seventh-graders in the United States. Kentucky students invited to the Duke TIP ceremonies earned standardized test scores that would be the envy of many graduating seniors and while only in the seventh grade.

The ceremony at WKU's Diddle Arena will begin at 2 p.m. State Rep. Frank Rasche of Paducah, chair of the House Education Committee, will speak at the ceremony.

Duke TIP sponsors both State Recognition Ceremonies and a Grand Recognition Ceremony, for the very highest scoring students. Students invited to the Grand Recognition Ceremony earned a math or verbal score on the SAT or the ACT higher than 90 percent of college-bound high school seniors.

Of the 73,254 who participated in the 2004-2005 Talent Search, 1,375 students, including 72 Kentuckians, met the criteria for the Grand Recognition Ceremony. Of the 3,689 Kentucky students who took the tests, 1,135 of them were invited to the Kentucky Recognition Ceremony at WKU.

The Talent Search is beginning its 25th year and is the largest program of its kind in the nation, representing participation from 6,150 junior high and middle schools in the Duke TIP 16-state region. More than one million students have completed the Talent Search since its inception in 1980.

The Talent Search identifies academically talented seventh-graders based on standardized test scores achieved while attending elementary or middle school. Candidates are identified and invited to complete either the Scholastic Assessment Test I: Reasoning Test (SAT) or the American College Testing Assessment (ACT) college entrance examination. Duke TIP then provides the participants with comparative information concerning their academic abilities and resources for unique educational opportunities.

One such opportunity is the Summer Program for Verbally and Mathematically Precocious Youth (VAMPY) sponsored by The Center for Gifted Studies at Western Kentucky University that is hosting the State Recognition Ceremony. VAMPY was Duke's first cooperative summer program more than 20 years ago.

For more information, contact The Center for Gifted Studies at (270) 745-6323. Parents and students interested in Duke TIP's Talent Search should contact the Duke University TIP office at (919) 684-3847 or visit www.tip.duke.edu.

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Tracy Inman at (270) 745-6323.