Celebration of Excellence
The Helena Education Foundation’s Celebration of Excellence recognizes exceptional students who have demonstrated academic excellence, achievement, leadership or who overcame obstacles.
Distinguished Scholars are selected on the basis of criteria developed by students, teachers and administrators, including GPA, number of high-level courses, total credit hours and activities.
Distinguished Achievers are nominated by educators and selected anonymously by an HEF committee. Distinguished Students and Distinguished Educators are honored at an annual banquet in May.
Distinguished Scholars
Students earn the distinction of Distinguished Scholar by meeting a rigorous set of criteria developed by high school students, teachers, and administrators. The criteria includes grade point average, number of honors, advanced placement, and other higher level courses, and total credit hours.
Qualifications for Distinguished Scholars
Students must have a minimum of 14 credit hours of honors, AP, accelerated or college-level classes (eligible dual credit courses as listed) and a 3.7 GPA at the end of the 7th semester in order to qualify as a Distinguished Scholar, and a minimum 24 total credit hours by the end of the 7th semester . Credits for non-core classes are limited to 2 credits of advanced study per area, such as music, art, language, etc.
For more information, please contact the Helena Education Foundation at [email protected] or 443.2545.
Qualifying Classes for Distinguished Scholars 2026Distinguished Achievers
District educators nominate Distinguished Achievers based on excellence in a specific curricular area, leadership, service, or for overcoming obstacles to achievement.
Nominations are due by Friday, February 5th, 2027
Distinguished Educators
A Celebration of Excellence also honors the Distinguished Educators who had the most positive impact on their students’ academic journey. Each student writes a short message about why that educator was selected. Each educator selects a special book as a gift for the Distinguished Student.
The Helena Education Foundation salutes these fine educators and thanks them for sharing their talents, knowledge, creativity and love of learning with our youth. They make a difference in our schools and community, one student and one class at a time.
– A Distinguished Scholar
Thank you to our generous sponsors
HEF Learning Champion
HEF Mentors
