This is a case where I'm glad I have the original newspaper clippings; they scanned better than the images I found on my favorite subscription newspaper website.
Margot Copeland, of Allison Park, won first place in this achievement test. My grandfather noted the date of this Pittsburgh Press article.
Tied for second place were John Trimble and Hugh Pendleton. Suzanne Collins came in fourth.
And here is another photo from the May 29, 1952, Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph of the top four winners.
According to the accompanying articles, this program had run almost continuously since 1916 and annually screened about 700 nominees for the honors. In the spring of 1952, about 520 high school students in Allegheny County took the exam and 91 of them received certificates of merit.
It appears that this Exceptionally Able Youth Program existed from 1916 to 1974, the year the organization dissolved and their records were donated to the University of Pittsburgh, with a finding aid available online. It was here that I found that the "goal of the EAY Program was to encourage students with great potential to further their education after graduating high school." (My mother went on to attend Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.)
To qualify to take the exam, students had to be ranked in the top two percent of their senior class. Margot was one of only nine in her high school senior class and achieved first place in this academic contest.
The presentation of certificates was made to the top award winners at Hotel William Penn by the president of the Civic Club of Allegheny. I don't have the certificates, but I'm glad I have these newspaper clippings!
This week's theme is Achievement.
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