EDGARD — Education and reading are two important things for Skylar Edwards.

Skylar, 11, of Edgard is on the principal’s list, which means she has all As.

“It feels great,” Skylar said, a fifth grader at West St. John Elementary. “I’m proud of myself. I love school. My favorite subject is social studies. I like learning about history.”

The young student said she enjoys learning about slavery and important historical figures of that time.

“I didn’t know much about Harriet Tubman and through classes I learned more about her,” Skylar said. “I didn’t know much about slavery, and I was curious about it. I got to learn more about it through school.”

Skylar said she doesn’t have a least favorite subject in school, adding she loves all of them.

“I study a lot, I pay attention in class and I ask questions when I need to,” she said. “For students who aren’t great at studying, I would advise them to try their best and ask questions when they are confused.”

Even though she is only 11, Skylar already knows what she wants to do when she grows up.

“Education is important, because you might want to be something like a marine biologist someday and need to study and pay attention in class,” she said. “That’s what I want to be. I like animals, mostly sea animals. I love fish.”

Through her hard work and dedication, Skylar was recently named West St. John Elementary Student of the Year.

“I still think of myself as equal to my classmates,” she said. “I congratulated the people that I went against and they congratulated me too, one even hugged me. I was happy. I didn’t think I was going to win. I prayed a lot.”

To become Student of the Year, Skylar prepared a biographical report and was interviewed at the school.

Skylar competed on the District level earlier this month in the hopes of taking home the title of District Student of the Year.

“I think it went great,” she said. “The questions were really easy, there were six questions and five judges. The judges were really nice.”

Skylar and school officials are waiting to hear if she won District, which would means she moves on to the state-level competition.

Wendi Tierney is the technology coach at the school and was Skylar’s science teacher last semester. Tierney said Skylar asks questions when she is confused and always does her homework with a desire to get the best from herself.

“Any time she stumbled, it would make her work even harder to get where she needed to be,” Tierney said. “She is definitely a model student.”

Tierney wasn’t surprised Skylar distinguished herself as a candidate for the Student of the Year, adding her portfolio was impressive.

“I was so excited for her,” she said. “I’m really excited to see her move on and I feel she has a good shot at District.”

Tierney describes Skylar is quiet and reserved until you get her talking about something she loves, like reading.

“Her love for reading is a love that I have,” Tierney said.

“I used to teach English. We would sit and talk about what she was reading at the time if we had a chance. That love for reading is really where you get her to open up.”

Skylar said she enjoys reading books on Greek Mythology and was introduced to the genre after watching the film, “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.”

“Then, in fourth grade, my ELA teacher introduced me to the book, and the whole class read it,” Skylar said. “They have a whole series. I’m on the last book right now.”

The school library doesn’t stock the Percy Jackson series bit it does contain what she is thinking about reading next, “Lord of the Rings.”