Fifty-seven elementary students and 75 high school students were honored at the West Bank Civic Association’s Fifth Annual Honor Roll Banquet on May 2 at West St. John High School.

Eight retired guests were also recognized.

“They were the pathfinders,” Mary Elizabeth Johnson, chairwoman and coordinator of the annual event, said of the retired guests.

Johnson spent 36 years working in the education field. She has since retired, but shared how eager the other retirees seemed.

“As teachers, you find very seldom people take time to give you praise,” she said. “They were happy that the West Bank Civic Association took time to thank them.”

Lucille Alexis, Hillary Bossier, Grace Cook, Flora Donald, Cleveland Farlough, Eloise Fiffie, Dorothy Gaines and Bessie St. Armand were the eight retired guests at the banquet. All are former teachers on the west bank and have an estimated 250 plus years of combined service in the school system.

West St. John High School senior Kylon Adams read the WBCA’s purpose statement, while eighth-grader Glasia Walker welcomed the crowd to the gymnasium. Each student in attendance received a medal for maintaining a 3.0 grade point average or above for the 2013-14 school year.

“All children can excel if they apply themselves,” Johnson said.

Orenthal Jasmin, a WSJH graduate who is now a lawyer, addressed the honorees as the keynote speaker. He stressed education and community as the attributes that make St. John the Baptist Parish a wonderful place to live.