Mary Henkel Judson is editor and copublisher of the South Jetty. Contact her at southjetty@centurytel.net, (361) 749-5131 or P.O. Box 1117, Port Aransas, TX 78373. Cheers and kudos are in order for the students of Port Aransas Independent School District and the community of individuals, civic organizations and businesses that support them.

For starters, Tuesday, May 26, the PAHS computer science team brought home first place at the state UIL academic meet among Class 1A schools. Kasey Reed placed first individually. As a team, Reed and teammates Clark Wilson, Greg Anderson and John Eggleston outdistanced the second place team by 90 points.

Woo-hoo and congratulations on a job well done by the entire team and their coach, Laurie Barello.

The community exhibited its support of these students at the annual scholarship assembly on Friday, May 22.

There, 34 students were awarded more than $100,000 in scholarships. That’s a new record made possible, in part, by more individuals and businesses awarding scholarships. Yet credit also goes to the community of Port Aransas for its continued generosity extended toward today’s students and tomorrow’s leaders – especially in a soft economy.

Students can learn a valuable lesson from this: Hard work toward a good education is a top priority in this community, and it will be rewarded.

Students receiving scholarships certainly are rewarded for high academic achievement, but just as important are those students whose perseverance earned them just rewards. Port Aransas values both.

Kudos and congratulations all around.