They are our best and brightest.

And they got that way for a reason.

Today this newspaper profiles our annual All-Delco Hi-Q Team. Each high school that participates in Hi-Q, the nation’s oldest academic quiz competition, selects one team member to be named to the All-Delco team.
We pattern them off the All-Delco selections we make after every scholastic sports season.

You can read about these very special kids here.

It has always been one of my goals to extend the kind of attention we shower on kids who excel on the high school athletic fields to those who do similar superior work in the classrooms. Of course some kids do both.

Thus when I was approached a few years back by representatives from the Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union and the Delaware County Intermediate Unit to put together an All-Delco Hi-Q Team, I jumped at the chance.

Last year they added a very special new dimension, which I also heartily supported.

It’s obvious that these kids are gifted. It almost assuredly started at home. But it’s just as clear that their gifts were further honed by some special, caring teachers.

So when the idea of honoring local educators with the Excellence in Teaching Awards, I again told the organizers to count us in.

Read the results here.

You can also see and hear videos on our Web site in which both the students and teachers talk about their honors, what it means to them, and the way they go about their jobs.

I was especially interested over the weekend when I viewed the video of the teachers talking about what they do, how it is they became teachers, and the results of their labors.

I could not help but smile when I listened to Aidan Brett, a teacher at Springfield High School.

Over the years we have had our differences when it comes to the area of education. Some people insist we never miss an opportunity to show kids at their worst, and routinely turn a blind eye when they do something good.

Likewise, there are those who say we have an anti-education, anti-teacher policy. That has once again come to the fore recently in the long, tough talks involving the Springfield School board and its teachers.

The last two days we have cast a spotlight on both teachers and students who are at the top of their games.

It will be my pleasure to attend a dinner Thursday night in their honor.

By all means, stop by and say hello.

These are Delaware County’s best and brightest, both in the class and standing in front of them.

They deserve every bit of praise we can heap on them.