CHARLESTON, W.Va.– More than 220 eighth-graders were inducted into the Golden Horseshoe Society at the state Capitol Friday for outstanding performance on the test measuring students’ knowledge of West Virginia history and culture.
Joey Wiseman, the assistant director for Secondary Learning for the state Department of Education, said it’s a prestigious honor to be inducted as a “Knight” of the Golden Horseshoe Society.
“It is a big deal. We’ve been gearing up for this for several weeks now. The capitol complex is a buzz,” Wiseman said.
Wiseman said the students honored cleared several hurdles on their way to Friday’s ceremony.
“They study all year, it’s based on different questions and areas that they study all year in West Virginia history, which is what’s taught during eighth grade year,” he said. “Division of Culture and History writes the questions for the test. It ends up being 50 questions. And then we have winners from all the counties based on the population of each county.”
He says 223 students and 5 “honoraries” were inducted Friday. The Golden Horseshoe test has been administered in West Virginia each year since 1931 and is the longest running program of its kind in the United States.
The Golden Horseshoe gets its origin from the early colony of Virginia when Gov. Alexander Spotswood saw the need for exploration of the land west of the Allegheny Mountains, which later became the State of West Virginia. Spotswood gave each member of the exploration party a golden horseshoe as a memento.